522 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
sands are each year turned away from the doors of the Iowa pavilion 
while the judging is in progress. It is just as much of a mathematical 
impossibility to crowd into the pavilion all who desire to see the judging 
as it is to compress two quarts of water into a one-quart jug. The mag- 
nificent swine section is not yet finished, but while waiting for funds with 
which to carry out the complete design the board should without fail pro- 
vide seats for spectators around the judging rings and keep them from 
literally swarming over the judges and exhibitors as they did last week. 
Every thinking farmer who visits the Iowa State Fair and notes the 
modern conveniences for the care and the exhibition of live stock returns 
home an earnest advocate of the continued rebuilding of these grounds 
until accommodations are wholly adequate to the demand of exhibitors 
and spectators. 
Coming within the shadow of the live stock pavilion the official figures 
tell eloquent tales of an interest and enthusiasm that neither time nor 
tide can touch, that neither financial disturbance nor unfavorable seasons 
have discouraged. Over 800 cattle were on the grounds, contributed by 
80 exhibitors. The record runs somewhat, although not measurably, 
above the totals of last year. The most notable features are the superbly 
high level of the quality and the better balance of the exhibit by breeds. 
Shorthorns were about 100 less in number than in 1907 and by that much 
the better in average excellence. Herefords doubled the number of their 
exhibitors, reaching up to a total of 18 who made entries, and thus a better 
balance was presented. Red Polls and Polled Durhams made record-break- 
ing displays, number mounting up into an impressiveness that was telling, 
and quality running brim-full. Aberdeen-Angus were about an average in 
numbers, but distinctly higher in class than on recent annual occasions, 
while the Galloways were somewhat fewer in numbers, but of admirable 
quality. In the dairy division deficiency falls again to be recorded. It 
is idle to philosophize on the fact that with all the greatness of the state 
in dairy production neither its exhibit of dairy cattle nor of products 
rises in volume to the dignity of a lively county fair. 
Automobiles were parked around the swine department and the live 
stock pavilion and encountered on every driveway, and the high-Wheeled 
autos especially built for country use were plentifully in evidence, and yet 
the number of horse exhibitors exceeded last year by about 25 per cent 
and reached the total of 87. And by actual entries there were 765 horses 
on exhibition. Numbers of course carry weight in such a presentation, 
but that weight is markedly increased when it is stated that broadly 
speaking the excellence of the exhibits as a whole was perhaps never ex- 
celled at this fair. There were those who put the case more strongly, but 
we are apt, in the enthusiasm of the present, to forget the impressions 
of the past. There were some weak spots in the horse exhibit, but it will 
take high rank as a whole in the annals of such exhibitions. Overflow 
barns were hastily erected. 
When a thing is full it cannot be fuller. That is the chronic condition 
of the swine department at Des Moines. On no ground in the world are 
porcine accomodations so substantial, so elaborate, so commodious and so 
convenient. Seating accommodations at the ringside are alone lacking. 
