520 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
circus or hippodrome variety, including each evening a parade of prize- 
winning horses and cattle. The circus features were mostly in the nature 
of exhibitions of educated animals, horses, mules, cattle, hogs, and even 
sheep. It was both instructive and entertaining and the seating capacity 
of the pavilion was taxed to the utmost each evening. These entertain- 
ments proved very popular and will probably be continued and improved 
another year. They also serve to keep the crowd fairly well scattered 
and prevent serious congestion. 
IOWA STATE COLLEGE EXHIBIT. 
The exhibit of the Iowa State Agricultural College attracted great at- 
tention and was one of the most instructive exhibits on the ground. The 
building formerly occupied by the secretary and treasurer of the fair was 
turned over to the college and was found none too large for its purpose. 
Among the different departments of agriculture represented here were the 
farm crops, the farm machinery, the dairy, the extension, and the horti- 
cultural. Each department was in charge of a specialist along that parti- 
cular line who was ready to answer all questions concerning the exhibit 
of which he was in charge. Among the most instructive exhibits was the 
collection of weeds and weed seeds. Many spent a profitable half hour 
here learning the names of our common weeds and the appearance of the 
weed seeds ordinarily found in clover and alfalfa. The college is to be 
commended on the practical nature of their exhibit. 
BREEDER'S GAZETTE, CHICAGO, ILL. 
All signs did not fail in dry weather this time. The signs of tne 
Zodiac have jumped the fence, but the signs of the times still continue to 
cast shadows before that find their complete confirmation in the event. 
A show of unusual strength and impressiveness was expected at Des 
Moines, from all prophetic indications, and the realization was complete. 
The fifty-fourth annual exhibition of the Iowa State Pair made glorious 
history in the annals of cornbelt agricultural fairs. Neither the flood nor 
the drouth of the present growing season prevailed against it. 
The improvement of these grounds proceeds apace. The pace is not 
as rapid as the requirements demand, but it moves on all-fours with finan- 
cial possibilities. The rehabilitation of a state fair grounds to accomo- 
date in modern style the aggregations of exhibits which annually assemble 
at Des Moines is a gigantic task, and nobly is Iowa meeting the emergency. 
Much has been done, much remains to be accomplished. The net total 
added to the equipment, which will stand for long years to come and 
serve to identify these grounds as among the best fitted in America, was 
the administration building and a new horse barn. The administration 
building was a tardy recognition of the unsparing, unselfish and taxing 
labors of the executive officers of the fair. The public — and even the pigs 
