EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART IV. 189 



that could scarcely be detected, of the straight furrows of a uniform depth 

 and width, the surface of the plowed ground so even and uniform that 

 a straight edge would touch every furrow when laid across the plowed 

 ground. 



By all means let us have a plowing contest at our state fair, offering 

 a good premium, not to the manufacturers of plows, but to the plowman, 

 and the young farmers of Iowa will then see that agriculture is a science, 

 and that it requires as much ability and skill to do the work on a farm 

 in a proper manner as it does in any of the learned professions. No 

 wonder our young men are leaving the farms; there is no incentive for 

 them to remain and follow in the ruts made by their fathers. The young 

 men of today are aspiring and they see nothing in farm work that offers 

 an opportunity for advancement, the most ignorant hired man doing his 

 work about as well as his employer. 



This condition should no longer exist and we should strive by every 

 means in our power to raise the quality of the work upon our farms to 

 such a high standard that our young men would see in farm life the 

 greatest opportunities to show their skill and make them proud of the 

 high calling of a farmer. 



Fence building — even the digging of post holes in a scientific manner — 

 is something that few farmers can do. The setting of the post, the brac- 

 ing of the end posts, the stretching of the wire, would make an excellent 

 subject for a contest at our state fair. Everyone who has the least con- 

 ception of a straight line and a well built fence will agree with me that 

 the greater part of our fences are far from being a credit to their owners. 

 The loss from injury to live stock every year is a serious matter, and the 

 greater part of this loss would be prevented by fences properly erected and 

 kept in good repair. 



The stacking of grain in such manner that the stacks would shed rain 

 as well as the best shingle roof would be an object lesson to the farmers 

 of Iowa, who evidently for a lack of knowledge in the art of stacking — 

 for it is an art — follow the pernicious custom of threshing from the shock. 

 The losses that have been sustained by allowing grain to stand in the field 

 waiting for the threshing machine would, if prevented by proper and 

 prompt stacking after the grain was harvested, in a few years pay and 

 discharge in full every mortgage on every farm in Iowa. 



Let the fair management raise some small grain, and offer a premium 

 for the best erected stack at the next fair, and thus create an interest 

 in this all important worli. 



And what can I say of the hay and the straw stacks to be seen in 

 Iowa — heaps of hay and straw thrown together without skill, built in 

 such manner that the wind and the rain are invited to come in, and make 

 themselves at home, with all the hospitality possible accorded, and the 

 wind and the rain accept the invitation so generously extended and do go 

 in, and not only go in, but also take possession, and the loss to the farmers 

 of Iowa every year from this cause is incalculable. 



Here is one more attraction that could be added to the state fair, a con- 

 test in stacking hay or straw, a liberal premium to be given to the one 

 who builds the most artistic stack, and proves after heavy rains that it 

 is absolutely water-proof. 



