450 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The Armour six-horse team divided popular attention with the air 

 ship. If aerial navigation advances much farther in its invention we 

 shall presently have a race of people hump-backed in the chest. It 

 was not a spirit of worship that turned eyes heavenward and inclined 

 heads, necks and shoulders so far backward as to threaten the dis- 

 turbance of the center of gravity. It was the air ship that actually 

 sailed the skies. It did this when the engine worked all right, and 

 the quality of the gasoline was good, and the sun did not contract the 

 gas bag too greatly, and the wind did not blow more than eleven miles 

 an hour. But many thousands saw for the first time a dirigible 

 balloon, under seemingly perfect control of the aeronaut. The first 

 successful flight was made on Monday afternoon from the fair grounds 

 to the State House a couple of miles away, where descent was made. 

 Rising again he circled the great gilded dome of the State House, 

 saluted the statue of peace on the tall monument and then winged 

 his way back to the grounds. A turbine wheel driven by a gasoline 

 engine furnished the motive power and a large fan-like rudder made 

 the balloon as responsive as ai^ ocean liner to her helm. 



The six-horse team of gray Percherons, to the yellow and brass- 

 trimmed wagon of the packers, brought eyes to the ground. Farm- 

 ers had here an object lesson that impressed itself indelibly. They 

 could gather an idea of the kind of horse that brings the big prices 

 on the market and could see why he had to be that kind of a horse. 

 The Armour team was one of the most instructive, as well as one of 

 the most interesting, exhibits of the fair. 



The Iowa State Fair is essentially a farmers' fair. The attendance 

 is palpably from the farm. A great center of urban population is not 

 available from which to draw gate receipts, as in some other states. 

 Des Moines is a growing city, but if attendance from that city were 

 depended on to speed the turnstiles, gate-keepers would not be overly 

 busy. It seems well within the limits of fact to say that a larger per- 

 centage of gate receipts come from farmers at this fair than at any 

 other similar State institution. And consequently it measured up to a 

 high degree in its distinctive educational feature. The fair is for 

 the farmer and he knows it and appreciates it. It is one of the events 

 of the year for thousands of Hawkeye agriculturists. The lessons of 

 the judging arena are intently studied. Thousands cling to their seats 

 all day long while the classes are under review, watching earnestly 

 the work and endeavoring to increase their knowledge of approved 

 form and quality. The same story is writ in large letters all over the 

 grounds. The other live stock depai'tments, the machinery field, the 

 agricultural and horticultural building were continually filled with 

 farmers who evidently were seeking instruction as well as entertain- 

 ment. All in all, this fair is fulfilling in large degree the end where- 

 unto it was established, and its effectiveness as an educational agency 

 should be further enlarged and strengthened by the equipment that 

 is now lacking. 



The reverberations of Iowa's opening gun in the fall campaign will 

 not cease their significant echoes until the homeward march is begun 

 from the International at the close of the season. 



