EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 167 



Forty-two Short-Horn breeders from eight different states entered 

 305 animals. A few years ago this list in itself would have been con- 

 sidered an excellent show. The total number of individual cattle entered 

 was 805, with 1,146 entries; horses, 472, with 1,132 entries; 3,000 hogs, 

 and about 450 sheep, giving a grand total of over 4,700 animals listed 

 for entry in the four live stock departments. 



As live stock is one of the chief sources of wealth for the Iowa 

 farmer, it is the hub around which our fair must be built to give it sta- 

 bility. The managing board of the fair has given due cognizance to this 

 fact by so arranging the prize list that the best stock exhibit may be 

 brought out. About seventy per cent of all cash premiums is paid out 

 in the four stock and the poultry departments, amounting the past sea- 

 son to over $18,000.00. Nor must one lose sight of the farm implement 

 exhibit. This year the show covered about forty acres, and was made 

 by about three hundred exhibitors. Inquiry of the exhibitors in this 

 department will convince you of the interest taken in their exhibits by 

 the visitors. 



Special effort has been made by the management to interest the boys 

 and girls. For the past four years a scholarship of $200.00 cash has 

 been given for a boys' judging contest at the fair. This was augmented 

 this year by a second prize of $100.00 and a third of $75.00 cash pre- 

 mium; in addition, a cooking contest for girls was inaugurated with a 

 scholarship of $100.00 for first prize, $50.00 for second and $25.00 for 

 third. A lively interest was taken in both these contests; in the former, 

 thirty-eight of Iowa's best boys took part, and in the latter, ten girls. Some 

 half dozen students now at the State College at Ames have received as- 

 sistance through their ability to win one of these coveted prizes in the 

 past. 



The amusements were of the same high standard that has char- 

 acterized this department in the past. 



The attendance shows a slight decrease from 1906 — about nine per 

 cent. This was nothing more and indeed much less than could be rea- 

 sonably expected with a twenty-five per cent increase in railway rates 

 and unfavorable weather during the week, there being rain on three 

 of the five days. While the decrease in attendance was only about nine 

 per cent, the loss on number of passengers brought in by the various 

 railway companies was from twenty to thirty per cent (one road re- 

 ported an increased traffic). This brings out very clearly one point, 

 viz., that the visitor is slowly beginning to realize that it is an utter 

 impossibility to cover the ground, to any degree of satisfaction, in one 

 day, he therefore maKes his plans to spend two or more days at the 

 fair. This, and the fact that the city people are awakening to the fact 

 that the Iowa State Fair and Exposition is more than a pumpkin show, 

 accounts for the small percentage in decreased attendance as compared 

 with the larger f)ercentage of decrease of visitors brought in by the 

 railroads. While the receipts from the ticket sales show a correspond- 

 ing decrease, the receipts from other sources were slightly larger, leav- 

 ing a net decrease of only about six per cent in the total receipts of the 

 fair over 1906. 



