436 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



hibit of farm machinery, farm implements, farm tools and appliances of 

 one kind or another for the aid of farm operations, the mind then be- 

 gins to comprehend the importance of the farm. 



The increased interest on the part of manufacturers and dealers in 

 farm machinery may be guessed at, when we say that in addition to the 

 large acreage platted and staked for machinery last year and which ac- 

 commodated one of the largest machinery exhibits ever made at a State 

 fair, up to that date, required an additional five acres for the show of 

 1907. In addition the open ground which is filled with tents and tempo- 

 rary sheds and buildings for housing these displays, there is a regular 

 machinery town built. It is laid off in streets where permanent machin- 

 ery exhibition halls are erected and equipped with all the comforts of the 

 modern State fair building. The State fair management owns four very 

 large buildings in this section from which exhibition space is sold at so 

 much per square foot floor space. There are in addition to these more 

 than a score of exhibition buildings erected and owned by manufacturers 

 from various parts of the country, who use them each year free of rent or 

 charge of any kind. 



A special attraction in the machinery department is the Pittsburg Steel 

 Wire Pence company, manufacturing wire fencing; welding the wires by 

 electricity instead of looping or weaving the wires. The novelty of this 

 work is the attraction. The machine which is used weighs eight tons 

 and is said to have incurred an expense of $3,000 to put it in operation on 

 the Iowa fair grounds. This is only one of the many interesting and 

 startling features of manufacture that is being carried on for the en- 

 tertainment and edification of the visitor. 



The Iowa Agricultural College made quite an educational exhibit under 

 the auspices of the experiment station, with Professors Beech and Little 

 in charge. They showed up some fifty varieties of apples from the sta- 

 tion. Some of these were Russians that had been imported by Professor 

 Budd away back in the '80s and had been tried and tested over a large 

 extent of territory and were proven to have much value. Others were 

 hybrids and seedlings and were produced by different plant breeders and 

 also the outgrowth of the work of the experiment station. They exhibited 

 many varieties of plums, many of them showed crosses with very marked 

 distinction, and one could see that with the line of work in hand by the 

 college that great good would l)e accomplished in the future in building up 

 fixed types of fruits adapted to our different soils and climatic conditions, 

 that we even have in Iowa. Professor Beech exhibited some fine samples 

 of the Craghead gooseberry, which is attracting a good deal of attention 

 at the present time in Utah and western states. It is no doubt a hybrid, 

 but shows strong markings of the native wild gooseberry, only in size it 

 is larger than Downing, perfectly smooth, with a very thin skin, with a 

 delicate pulp and few seeds. The professor thinks that it is worthy of 

 trial by the fruit growers and experiment stations of our State. H^ 

 thinks there is no doubt but what it will prove hardy and if it does it will 

 prove an acquisition to our small fruit list. The Beta grape which was 

 exhibited will also have a great future for planting away up in the Da- 

 kotas and Minnesota. It is only an improved, large variety of wild grape, 

 but it is so compact in bunch, healthy of vine and foliage, and able to 



