414 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



looks only on the surface and who attends mainly out of curiosity, but 

 to the person who attends for the purpose of learning what he can and 

 to study the progress that has been made in things agricultural each 

 succeeding fair is different; each one is an improvement over those 

 which have gone before, not alone in magnitude, but in quality. We 

 must either improve or go backward. There is no standing still for 

 western people. The Iowa State Fair sTiows the advance made each year 

 in our work of improvement in live stock, grains, fruits, machinery, and 

 everything else connected with the agriculture of the State. There is 

 no place the farmer can go to get such an accurate idea of the progress 

 made as at this fair, and this very fact furnishes the stimulus needed 

 by the breeder and the manufacturer. 



The stranger can get an accurate idea of the Iowa people by simply 

 studying the crowd that attends the State Fair. He will not need to 

 watch them very long before he concludes that they are prosperous, 

 honest, even-tempered, good-natured, and happy. There is no disorder- 

 liness, no drunkenness. On two different days last week there were 

 more than sixty thousand people on the grounds. That is an immense 

 crowd of people to transport back and forth and to take care of in the 

 buildings and on the grounds surrounding the exhibits, but everybody 

 took the crowding with good nature. Iowa people are seen at their 

 best on occasions like this. 



Notwithstanding the increased accommodations for the live stock 

 display, it was necessary to house some of the stock in overflow tents. 

 Every stall and pen was crowded. In the opinion of some who are qual- 

 ified to judge, the horse exhibit has never been excelled at any show, 

 while there were over three thousand hogs on exhibition. The live 

 stock pavilion was crowded to its utmost capacity whenever the judging 

 of the stock was in progress, and the strength of the stock industry in 

 this State is witnessed by the fact that the seats in the live stock 

 pavilion contained as many women as men. 



One of the most instructive and interesting exhibits of the entire 

 fair was that made by the Soil and Agronomy Departments of the Iowa 

 Agricultural College in the Agricultural and Horticultural Building. The 

 chief feature of this exhibit was a large map of Iowa made of soil taken 

 from the different soil formations of the State. It was made on the 

 floor and was probably twenty by fifteen feet. Each county was marked, 

 and those looking at it were thus able to see at a glance the differ- 

 ence in the soil of different sections. This map was surrounded con- 

 stantly from nine o'clock in the morning until six in the evening, and 

 we venture to say, interested more people in the study of soil than 

 anything that has been done in this State for some time. Having seen 

 this map they will be better able to understand the bulletins issued on 

 soil subjects by the College. Another interesting feature of the Soil 



