NINTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XI 573 
was an appreciable improvement in the quality which proves to be the 
great educator of the fair. It is here farmers can come and see the 
value of breeds and the result of feeds and where he can make practical 
comparisons of such animals as may be of interest to him and he can 
see the possibilities. Men have learned that what one man can do an- 
other can do under like conditions, and it is this that is spurring stock 
breeders to do their very best. 
Only a brief while ago the horse barns at the fair were empty and no 
one could interest any breeder of horses. They were a drug on the market 
and the transition state was just taking place from a poor grade of com- 
mon horses to something better. At the close of that period farmers un- 
derstood the problem and asked for something better and this has in- 
duced an exhibit of some of the best horses in the world. Iowa farmers 
have also found that it is almost as essential to have good mares as to 
have good stallions and this has called out the greatest exhibit of mares 
America has ever seen. The old horse barns have been switched about 
remodeled, and new ones have been built until there seemed to be no 
vacant stall in all the buildings required to house the one thousand hea-' 
of horses. 
The Beatrice Creamery Company had one of the most attractive feature-^ 
on the ground. It was located in the dairy building and consisted of a 
sculpture figure made of butter. The figure showed a Jersey cow at a 
drinking trough where- a small boy was pumping water for the cow to 
drink while a. second boy was milking a stream of milk into a pig's 
mouth, and the countenance of the pig as well as the kink of his tail 
showed infinite satisafction while the boy seemed to be very much pleased. 
The sculptured figure was the work of Prof. Daniel of St. Paul and is 
really a work of art. 
Occasionally we heard persons say that they tire of state fairs, stating 
that they all looked alike to them, and when such people were sounded it 
was found that they held complimentary tickets to the state fair and 
that they had about as much idea of the scope and magnitude of a state 
fair as they had of science of an undiscovered art. The farmers and their 
wives never tired looking at the many features of interest to them and 
all pronounced it a great educational feature worth going many miles 
to see. In our inquiry about the fair we ascertained that all up-to-date 
farmers of the state were very much impressed with the permanent 
structures that were being put up from time to time and feeling proud 
of such a fair, they felt that the legislature should not withhold a liberal 
hand in making provisions for such buildings as were very much needed. 
All joined us in the belief that a new grand stand was very much needed 
and such of our visitors who had seen other state fairs wondered why 
Iowa was not just a little more liberal toward this one of her best and 
most useful state institutions. 
As we stood in the agricultural hall, recently built, and saw the fruit, 
grain and dairy displays in this building we could not help but observe a 
need for each of these interests having a separate building. Certainly the 
grains, grasses and vegetables of this great state are most important, 
and no one but a simpleton, who can not see further than a "punkin show" 
