542 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGKICULTURE 
for further comparison the ringside was unable to tell which was the head 
end of the line. Burroughs' junior yearling boar annexed the champion- 
ship ribbon, defeating Francis & Sons' aged board. The ribbons were 
divided among a good many breeders, with Winn, Chiles, Burroughs, 
Francis & Sons, Walgamuth and Wellington sharing the best ones. 
More Duroc- Jerseys than of any other breed were seen at this fair. 
Eighty-nine breeders brought out 896 entries to compete for honors, and 
79 of these live in Iowa, while the rest came from South Dakota and Ken- 
tucky. Iowa breeders gathered in most of the ribbons. The classes were 
large, over 50 coming out in the junior boar class. So many hogs scat- 
tered promiscuously through a large crowd in the ring made the judging 
very difficult. N. H. Gentry, Sedalia, Mo., tied the ribbons. In giving 
Model Chief 2d the championship he picked a capital representative of 
the breed. 
Chester Whites numbered 442 animals shown by 35 exhibitors. They 
were unsurpassed in quality by any other breed. Several breeders, now 
in the ring, chose Iowa for their initiation into the State Fair circuit. Th0 
strongest competition was between Reese and Leavens, with the latter 
rather ahead, finally taking three championships and leaving only the 
boar championship to Reese. The breed made a very strong show. W. 
Z. Swallow, Waukee, Iowa, awarded the prizes. 
Hampshires made the strongest show in the history of the white-belted 
breed. Eight exhibitors contributed the entries. Prof. J. J. Ferguson, 
with Swift & Co., Chicago, assigned the positions. Outstanding showyard 
character, distinguished the winners in every class, and the champions 
were real fancy ones. 
In point of numbers the show of bacon breeds is of minor importance, 
yet 115 Tamworths and Large Yorkshires were entered, and among them 
w^ere animals which the judge, Prof. J. J. Ferguson, pronounced as good 
as the breeds afford. According to students of the industry Iowa will 
never produce many bacon hogs until the packers are willing to pay a 
premium on them sufficient to justify their production. It is further 
argued that the feed grow^n in Iowa produce lard hogs cheaply, and if the 
bacon breeds are fed the same kind of feed only a few^ generations will 
be necessary to turn them into fatbacks. The crossing of Tamworths on 
lard types, however, is becoming popular in some sections, and the pigs 
thus raised are prime favorites with the packers. They make good 
killers. 
THE SHEEP SHOW. 
Twenty-six exhibitors from eight different states, bringing in all 640 
sheep, made the exhibition the largest and truly the best dsplay of sheep 
ever seen in Iowa. While the accommodations for sheep are limited, 
fair treatment and a liking for keen and worthy competition brought to 
Des Moines the strongest importers and breeders of the Middle West with 
the best they have been able to produce and to w^rest from Old Country 
shepherds. In all ten breeds were represented, but outside of the Shrop- 
shires, Oxfords, Cheviots, Lincolns and Rambouillets, there was very lit- 
tle competition. 
