176 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Johnson gave alfalfa a little boost when he said : 



Last spring we sowed a hillside that would grow very poor corn 

 with alfalfa, and it is just wonderful to see it now. I can get about 

 two tons to the acre, and a dealer paid me $9 an acre for the first crop 

 and it certainly ought to get another crop just as, good as that is this 

 year. This shows what the poor soil will produce in alfalfa. 



Mr. Wallace said : 



Alfalfa is not a pasture except for hcgs. It is simply a hog pas- 

 ture, and cattle and sheep should be kept out. The college here Is try- 

 ing to get a carload of alfalfa and have offered $12 a load. 



Mr. Turner brought up the question of State fair premiums : 



There is a question that I thought nnght be of interest to the breed- 

 ers, and that is with regard to having the State act with the associa- 

 tion in the matter of premiums. Now, I believe that on hogs they have 

 nothing eycept Fix months, six months and under one year and one year 

 and under two, and it seems to me that it would be a good plan to get the 

 association to change this so that the hog that is thirteen months will 

 not have to compete with the hog that is twenty-three months, and give 

 them a better chance. If this association would take some action to 

 request this change it would please a good many. 



Mr. Johnson said : 



This matter has been acted and passed upon and it was promised 

 the grand sweepstakes prize would be abolished and an extra class pro- 

 vided. The premium list has dropped I he sweepstake prize, but failed 

 to give the extra class. 



The matter was referred to the committee on resolutions. 



Hon. F. D. Coburn of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition had 

 been placed on the program for a talk on the coming World's fair 

 at St. Louis. Being unable to attend, he sent a paper, which was 

 read. 



The dates contemplated for the swine exhibits are from Octo- 

 ber 3 to October 15, 1904, but our preliminary schedule is of 

 course subject to revision. The dates proposed for all live stock 

 exhibits extend from August 22nd to November 5th. It is 

 planned to have the cattle shows over by September 24th, thus 

 giving ample time to get them out of the way before the swine 

 people will w^ant the room for their exhibits. 



A feature being considered is the holding of public sales under 

 the auspices of the different breeders' associations. This is al- 

 ready attracting the attention of breeders and the associations are 



