ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK -PART XII 769 



A valuable departure which attracted much attention was the individual 

 farm exhibits. Entries were of two classes, those from farms over eighty- 

 acres, and those under eighty. All the exhibits were tastefully arranged 

 and furnished great variety, showing the wonderful range of products 

 which the Iowa farm can produce. The farm exhibit feature is a step 

 in the right direction. We hope to see it continued with even stronger 

 competition next year. The variety of products shown, originality, taste 

 in arranging, counted largely in the awards. 



The Agricultural College presented In what was formerly the woman's 

 rest building a very interesting and instructive exhibit. Thousands of 

 Iowa's farmers had impressed on them in a way impossible to forget 

 many truths of the gospel of good farming. All were much interested in 

 the Iowa soil map; each delighted to find whether he lived in Wisconsin 

 drift, Missouri loess, Iowa drift, or what not. Picture representations 

 were made of all sides of farm life — farm crops, soils, domestic economy, 

 animal husbandry, dairying, etc. Iowa maps showed the great increase 

 in winter wheat growing, from slightly more than a million bushels in 

 1904 to nearly three million in 1909. In 1904, winter wheat was confined 

 to the southern half of the state, but the 1909 map showed winter wheat 

 grown in nearly every county. 



A graphic representation gave the advantages of fall sown alfalfa over 

 that sown in the spring; of drilled alfalfa over that sown broadcast; and 

 of the inoculated over the uninoculated. A chart gave the essentials for 

 alfalfa success as drainage, seed bed, manure and inoculation, fall seed- 

 ing and drilling. On another side of the same booth were samples of 

 different varieties of oats, giving date ripe, percentage lodged, yield, and 

 weight per bushel of each variety. The next booth contained object 

 lessons in crop rotation and manuring. There were two bales of clover 

 hay, 2.65 bushels of corn and a sack of 19.5 pounds of oats, all of which 

 actual experiment has shown resulted from the application of one ton 

 of manure. A chart made from corn kernels presented the fact that a 

 five-year rotation with manure gave a yield of corn ranging from 33 to 55 

 bushels, while a five-year rotation without manure gave a yield ranging 

 from 37 to 21 bushels, and continuous dropping from 31 to 9 bushels. 

 Another chart gave the profits from four years of straight corn farming 

 as $84.40, but from a rotation of corn, corn, oats, and clover, as $93.90. 



The Horticultural Department had samples of spray nozzles, spray 

 pumps, spray mixtures and charts showing the great benefits resulting 

 from spraying. Orchard heaters, which are built for the very purpose 

 of preventing such fruitless years as the present, were -on display. 



The Domestic Science Department, under charge of Miss Knowles, 

 presented samples of tireless cookers, waffle irons, etc., as well as charts 

 illustrating the nutritive values of our common foodstuffs. 



The live stock booth should have been helpful to the thoughtful feeder. 

 There were samples of tankage, shorts, oil meal, bran, etc., etc., with 

 percentage composition. 



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