716 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



The building of the Iowa State College of Agriculture was the mecca 

 of thousands of rural visitors to the fair and because of the diversity of 

 exhibits and the practicalness of the instruction given was well worth 

 the interest it occasioned. Daily lectures were given on general agri- 

 cultural and home economics topics by members of the faculty, attract- 

 ing large crowds. The exhibits covered a wide range, from a soils map 

 of the state, showing the various "drifts" and the prevailing crops, to 

 models of silos and lighting plants, noxious weeds, engineering appli- 

 ances and hog cholera preventive. The various booths were in charge 

 of members of the faculty and students who were unfailingly courteous 

 in replying to questions. The manner in which the Iowa farmer is 

 neglecting his best opportunities was pointed out in striking placards. 

 The college exhibit is, in brief, a week's short course in agriculture and 

 economics. Many a farm housewife, who has no other or better oppor- 

 tunity, here obtains the fundamentals of scientific cooking, thanks to the 

 lectures delivered by Miss Campbell, Miss Knowles and others, while the 

 interest thus quickened is continued by means of the bulletins gladly 

 sent to those who are interested. Next to the stock barns and machinery 

 hall, it is doubtful if there is any building on the grounds more inter- 

 esting or more worthy of a visit than the one devoted to the state 

 college at Ames. 



Having won high rank in the breeding of live stock it is highly com- 

 mendable that the state of Iowa should at last have begun to pay atten- 

 tion to the rearing of children. Under the auspices of the Iowa Congress 

 of Mothers, a baby show was held at the fair grounds last week, at 

 which some 250 children under the age of three years were examined 

 for physical and mental qualifications, prizes aggregating $200 being 

 awarded the most perfect. The examination was conducted by a corps 

 of skilled medical experts, each child being subjected to a close examina- 

 tion which disclosed any physical defect. At the same time each child 

 was subjected to a careful scrutiny by a mental expert, to detect the 

 readiness with which the mind of the little one worked, mental quickness 

 counting with physical perfection in the final score. The prize last year 

 was won by a two-and-a-half-year-old boy, a resident of Des Moines, 

 making the contest this year more strenuous in the effort to find an 

 Iowa-reared child who would surpass the physical and mental qualifi- 

 cations of last year's prize winner. All too little attention has been paid' 

 heretofore to this most important matter of the citizenry of the state, so 

 that the present movement is in every way commendable. Backed as it is 

 by the leading club women and medical practitioners the movement 

 should make such headway as to interest the entire state and in the 

 course of time bring about a higher standard of rearing children, which 

 shall make the people of Iowa take still higher rank both in a physical 

 and mental way. The work at Des Moines last week was under the di- 

 rect charge of Mrs. Mary T. Watts, of Audubon, former president of the 

 Iowa Congress of Mothers. The scorers included Dr. Lenna Meanes, of 

 Des Moines; Dr. Margaret Vaupel Clark, of Waterloo; Dr. Velura Powell, 



