442 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



tions were not what they should have been. Interest in the sheep in- 

 dustry is on the increase, and we look for a much larger exhibit next 

 year, and it is hoped that provision will be made to accommodate every 

 man who desires to show his stock. 



A large agricultural building is needed as much as the horticultural 

 and agricultural building was two years ago. Iowa must begin to de- 

 vote more attention to exhibits of farm products. The Iowa State Fair 

 grain and general farm exhibit is not equal to similar exhibits at other 

 State fairs, and there is no reason on earth why it should not be. Our 

 fair has developed along live stock lines more than along the lines of 

 general farm exhibits. While it is very gratifying to be able to say 

 that we have the greatest live stock fair in the country, it would be 

 equally gratifying to say that we also have the greatest general agri- 

 cultural and horticultural fair in the country. 



Farmers must insist upon more liberal treatment at the hands of 

 the next General Assembly and no one should interpose objection. 

 Iowa is distinctly an agricultural State. If the farmers are prosperous 

 the whole State is prosperous, and every taxpayer should be willing to 

 help make the State fair, which is one of the greatest, and in some 

 respects, the greatest educational institution in the State. It may not 

 be amiss to state that the farmers have a right to ask for such State 

 support as they see fit to ask for; they are the people who pay the 

 taxes. They are the people who contribute over three-fourths of the 

 money the legislature disposes of and they want some of it for their 

 great fair at Des Moines. 



EXHIBITS. 



It will be impossible for us to give a full description of the differ- 

 ent exhibits; we can only mention a few of the more important ones. 

 One of the most interesting exhibits in the horticultural building was 

 that made by the Iowa State College. Prof. Holden had a number 

 of cornstalks on exhibition from fields that had been in corn for one, 

 two, three and four years in succession. These stalks illustrated in a 

 very striking manner the effect of the corn root worm. The stalks 

 from the field that had been in corn only one year were large, vigorous 

 and had strong roots; those from the field that had been in corn for 

 two successive years wer.e smaller and the root development not so 

 strong; those from the field that had been in corn for three successive 

 years were still smaller and the root development weak, while those 

 from the field that had been in corn for four successive years were 

 very much stunted, bore nubbins instead of good ears, and were so 

 weak that a comparatively small wind would break them down, and 

 their root development was very weak indeed. The lesson that these 

 stalks taught was a very valuable one and thousands of farmers com- 

 mented upon the striking difference in the stalks from the different 

 fields. Prof. Holden also had large drawings of the more common in- 

 sect pests that affect corn, which showed the life history of each, which 

 also taught valuable lessons. The soils department of the Iowa State 

 College had the map of the State of Iowa made of the soils from differ- 

 ent sections. The soils for this map had been collected frOm all over 



