ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XII 829 



prospective prize winner, and you then have some idea of what the visitors 

 of the Iowa state fair were treated to, for days, in the big live stock 

 judging pavilion. Prof. Curtis, superintendent of this department, is 

 authority for saying that there has never been a better horse show in 

 the country. He was especially proud of the display made by Iowa 

 breeders and horse owners. Out of twenty-eight exhibitors of American- 

 bred Percheron horses, numbering 334 head, twenty-four of these exhibitors 

 were Iowa breeders. 



Special pains were taken this year in this department to encourage 

 the home breeder of the draft class of horses. This spirit of home enter- 

 prise in the breeding of horses meets with a responsive endorsement from 

 the general public. There was one barn on the fair grounds set apart 

 for farmer-bred horses, and it was filled to the limit of its capacity. This 

 stable of horses was a credit to the farmer-bred horse industry. Iowa 

 has taken an advanced step in the horse breeding business, as may be 

 noted in this show, and which is also emphasized in its horse population 

 of last year, 1,447,000 head. 



BEEF AMI DAIRY CATTLE. 



The cattle show exceeded 800, and represented all the standard beef 

 and milk breeds. There was some difference of opinion, of course, among 

 ringside critics as to the quality exceeding that of last year. Those most 

 interested in the show, however, adhere to the belief that each year's 

 results among the breeders indicate a steady advance towards a higher 

 standard of animal type. This is the reasonable and charitable view to 

 take of a work that is so positively progressive and that has such vast 

 creative influences brought to bear for improvement as is found today in 

 the breeding of cattle. This is the beginning of the show season; there 

 is yet great opportunities for improvement between now and the close 

 of the winter shows. 



The display of dairy breeds was proof that the great demand for dairy 

 products is being carefully observed by that branch of trade. People 

 are being educated to an appreciation of the fitness of things in produc- 

 tion. The once despised cow beast, that could not be turned profitably 

 into beef, is today respected for her specialty work and her adaptability 

 to a special line of industry that has a money-producing power that stands 

 close to the front in its profit-earning capacity. The dairy bred cow, 

 under the pressure of high prices, has demonstrated the wisdom in her 

 creation, and she has established herself under the scriptural decree that 

 everything is made for a purpose, and because she is not a flesh-producer 

 and beef-maker does not argue her unfitness for a special industry for 

 which she was designed by nature to fill. 



THE CROWNING HOG EVENT. 



The swine display at the Iowa state fair is always looked forward to 

 as the crowning hog event of the fair season. Iowa can boast of more 

 than twice the hog population of any other state in the United States, 

 except Illinois, which has only 530,000 in excess of half the swine popu- 

 lation of Iowa. This astonishing excess in numbers of hogs produced in 



