ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XII 833 



sion of Superintendent Ledgerwood. There were more than a dozen 

 states represented in their contributions to this great collection. 



THE GRAND au.mv ENCAMPMENT. 



The old soldiers of the war of the Rebellion, in their annual reunion 

 on the Iowa State Fair (hounds, introduces one of the most interesting 

 exhibitions of organized human sympathy and brotherly love to be found 

 in the association of men in this or any other age. The mingling of joy 

 and sadness at the coming of an old comrade or the announcement of 

 his having passed beyond the line of conflict were the emotional expres- 

 sions to be witnessed on every hand in this large congregation of the old 

 boys in blue. The quick step, the erect figure that the sound of the 

 fife and drum instills temporarily into the movements of these gray-haired 

 veterans is little less than the influence of supernatural power. Tuesday 

 of the week of the fair was old soldiers' day, and the Grand Army button 

 was the ticket of admission. These old guardians of liberty were made 

 the honored guests of the State of Iowa. 



DABGE EXHIBIT OF CATTLE. 



All departments in the cattle division showed a nice improvement over 

 last year and most of the breeds made stronger showing, although one 

 or two seemed to be hardly up to the 1909 assembly. Stock were uni- 

 formly well fitted and the English Shorthorn judge pronounced himself 

 well pleased with the cattle after having seen them all. Herds from every 

 state in the corn belt were on exhibition, although Iowa made the strongest 

 exhibit and captured fully half of the prizes. Over 800 head were entered, 

 which shows quite an increase over last year. The winners in all breeds 

 will be watched as they follow the circuit and a great deal of interest 

 will 'be attached to the final meeting place at the International, where all 

 come together again for a last rub. 



GKEAT SHORTHORX SHOW. 



Always a feature of the stock show at Des Moines, this great breed 

 added new notches to the totem pole this year, the grand array of breed- 

 ing shorthorns calling forth extravagant praise from no less an authority 

 than the celebrated English breeder, J. Deane Willis, who pronounced 

 the show a wonder, and unexcelled anywhere in the world. Mr. Willis 

 is one of the best known English breeders of shorthorns, and as judge of 

 of shorthorns at the 1910 Iowa state fair, gave splendid satisfaction, and 

 earned enthusiastic, commendation from the many exhibiting breeders. 



While the number exhibited has been equalled at former fairs, the 

 quality was probably more uniformly good than at any time in recent 

 years, and many times a hairbreadth might be said to have represented 

 the difference in merit between contending entries. 



In the aged bull class the ever-wakeful Frank Harding sprung a sur- 

 prise in the imported white bull, White Star, an outstanding winner in 

 class and later made grand champion bull of the breed. Only imported 

 about ten days previous to the Iowa fair, and lacking somewhat in flesh 

 necessary to best show conditions, this grand bull made a wonderfully 

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