XX .0^ HON. W. W. MORROW, AFTON, lA. Ex-President State Board of Agriculture. Present State Treasurer. Served as Director of Iowa Slate Agricultural Society year of 1899, member of Iowa State Board of Agriculture years of 1900 and 1901, as Vice-President of the Board year of 1902, and President of the Board years of 1903, 1904, 1905 and 1906. SEVENTH ANNUAL Iowa Year Book of Agriculture Issued by the Iowa Department of Agriculture 1906 LIBRARY NEW YORK BOTANICAL QAItDBN. DES MOINES EMORY H. ENGLISH, STATE PRINTER 1907 LIBRARY NEW YORK BOTANICAL QAROBN. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. OFFICE OF IOWA STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Des Moines, Iowa, March 26, 1907. To His Excellency, Albert B. Cummins, Governor of Iowa: Sill:— I have the honor to transmit herewith the Seventh Annual Iowa Year Book of Agriculture, for the year 1906. Respectfully submitted, JOHN C. SIMPSON, Secretary State Board of Agriculture. CD CO Q_ PREFACE. The Iowa Year Book of Agriculture is published by the State Department of Agriculture, and is for free distribution. It is issued during the spring, owing to a large part of the matter provided by statute to be published therein, not being avail- able until close of the calendar year. In this volume will be found the statistics of farm crops, weather conditions and rainfall for the year 1906, papers and discussions before the State Farmers' Institute, held in Decem- ber, 1906; papers read before a number of County Farmers' Institutes; timely and instructive articles from the press; valu- able information on various subjects of interest to the farmer compiled from literature sent out by the Department of Agri- culture at Washington; results of experiments conducted by the various agricultural experiment stations; live stock awards of the Iowa State Fair; secretary's report for the year, giving a comprehensive and complete statement of all financial trans- actions of the Department during the fiscal year ending November 30, 1906; extracts from the Iowa Swine Breeders' meeting. State Dairy Association meeting; State Dairy and Food Commissioner's Report; report of the committee from the State Board of Agriculture on adulteration of commercial feeding stuffs, stock foods and seeds, with bill passed by the Thirty-second General Assembly to remedy same; synopsis of State Board and Committee meetings during the year; reports of County and District Fair Associations; County Farmers' Institutes, together with a directory of societies, associations and other organizations representing agricultural interests in Iowa and other states. J. C. Simpson, Secretary State Board of Agriculture and Editor Iowa Year Book of Agriculture. Des Moines, Iowa, April 1, 1907. COMMITTEES. YKAR OF 1907. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: C. E. CAMEHON.. W. C. BROWN. J. C. SIMPSON. -AUDITING COMMITTEE: C. W. PHILLIPS T. C. LEGOE. R. S. JOHNSTON. COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS: R. T. St. JOHN M. MCDONALD. JOHN LEDGERWOOD. POWERS AND DUTIES OF BOARD: GOVERNOR ALBERT B. CUMMINS C. E. CAMERON. \V. C. BROWN. THE ADULTERATION OF FOOD, SEEDS AND OTHER PRODUCTS: S. B. PACKARD C. F. CURTISS. H. R. WRIGHT. DAIRY INDUSTRY AND PRODUCTS, INCLUDING FRAUDULENT IMITATIONS THEREOF: H. R. WRIGHT O. A. OLSON. L. M. REEVES. CONTAGIOUS DISEASES AMONG DOMESTIC .\NIMALS: P. O. KOTO R. S. JOHNSTON. H. L. PIKE. IOWA WE.VTHFR AND CROP SERVICE: J. R. SAGE, DIRECTOR DES MOINES. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Statistical Tables of Iowa's Principal Farm Crops Forepart. PART I. PAGE. Report of Secretary 7 PART II. Iowa Weather and Crop Report for 1906 27 PART III. State Farmers' Institute, 1906 59 PART IV. State Agricultural Convention, 1906 117 Synopsis of State Board and Committee Meetings, 1906 143 PART V. Report of Committee on Adulteration of Foods, Seeds and Other Products, AND Laws Recommended and Enacted by the Thirty-second General Assembly Regulating Same 165 PART VI. Proceedings of the Iowa Swine Breeders' Association 205 PART Vll. Proceedings of the Iowa State Dairy Association 257 PART VIII. Extracts from the State Dairy Commissioners' Report of 1906 349 PART IX. Official Report of Awards in Live Stock Departments, Scorings of Boys in Judging Contest, and Press Reports of Iowa State Fair of 1906, Together WITH Report of Awards at 1906 Mature Corn Show 361 PART X. Papers on Live Stock, Agriculture and Miscellaneous Topics, From Bulle- tins, AGRICULTURAL PRESS, AND PAPERS READ BEFORE COUNTY FARMERS' IN- STITUTES 477 PART XI. Horse Breeding Industry in Iowa. Law Governing State Enrollment of Stallions Standing in Public Service, with List of Certificates Issued TO May 1, 1907 665 PART XII. Financial Statement and Report of Agricultural Conditions by County and District Agricultural Societies in Iowa for the Year of 1906 739 PART XIII. Directory of Associations and Organizations Representing agricultural Interests in Iowa and Other States 829 STATISTICAL TABLES OF Iowa's Principal Farm Crops. CORN CROPS— 1880, 1885, 1890. Statistics Compiled from Reports of Secretary of Iowa Agricultural Society. a;,_; ^ . s ^ -a Year. 2 "3 ^ i •i^« 6 0) t) a s OJ baa ta:£! 6c Zv a ss; a £ o >a c < H < H a Total yield. Average farm value per bushel Dec. l. Total value. Acreage. 1896 39 29 34.5 86.3 40.3 26.2 34 31 36 37.2 41 312,692,210 239,452,150 289,214,850 .306,852,710 345,055,040 227,908,850 296,950,2.30 230,511,310 323,853,330 345,871,840 388,836,252 $.14 iS 43 Qifi ono 8,043,390 8, 25;?, 522 8,396,286 8,460,521 8,018,660 8,687,480 8,700,000 7,398,320 9,000,000 9,285,150 9,443,960 1897 „- .17 .23 .23 .27 .50 .28 .36 .35 .35 .33 40,706,860 66,519,400 70,429,410 93,164,860 113,954,000 83,432,700 82,984,071 113,348,665 121,055,144 128,155,143 1898 1899 1900 .. 1901 1902 - 1903 .. 1904 . 1905 1906 Average 35 300,654,452 $.29' $ 87,060,686 8,571,571 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. OATS— 1830, 1835, 18J0. Statistics Compiled from Reports of Secretary of Iowa Agricultural Society. O-r-J P "cJCJ _ :° b "^ 4) Year. >i o 1 tfies 'Si 01 s CS &11 cS . « . es ^ il 03 > n o > C4 t < H <; H < 1830 35 42,288,800 $.23 $ 9,496,424 1,179,680 188) -- 32.5 29 71,737,900 80,002,735 .21 .38 15,064,959 30,401,039 2,207,320 ISJO 2,758,715 OATS— 1896-1906. Statistics Compiled from Reports of Crop Service Division of Iowa State Depart- ment of Agriculture. =;- ,- 5S 0) b ^ 4) Year. >.'i> 0) Sues >, a) s !«X5 e3 > bo ts . a '" fr; a ei 0) >.a >a V -<< Cw «d H < 1896 23 73,4)0,000 $.12 $ 8,814,000 2,825,000 1897 30 132,517,150 .16 21,211,380 4,405,782 1898 32 13.3,915,340 .-21 29,383,220 4,299,243 1899 34.5 140,647,300 .19 26,722,980 4,039,557 1900 35 138,8 3,300 .20 27,763,460 3,991,690 n90i - - 1,2 114,833,000 .35 40,209,230 3,793,220 1902 -— 31 92,907,900 .24 22,297,000 3,770,624 **1903 25.9 99,012,660 .30 29,703,798 3,822,822 1904 29.4 118, 435, 5 ro .26 30,793,284 4,018,983 1905 - 33.8 146,439,240 .25 36,609,810 4,177,545 1906 34 31.2 142,036,530 .27 38,349,878 4,166,800 Average 121,734,272 $.23.3 3 24,834,651 3,940,430 'Short corn crop. **Esces.sive moisture. WHEAT— 1833, 1885, 1390. Statistics Compiled from Reports, of Secretary of Iowa Agricultural Society. 1 c. n • Year. 1 .11 .1 old. vlieal old. whea "^ K r ^ c c.; '' i S . T^ '^ •p a; S c s t' ~ u if = s '''tc "•— tyS "^ S a >^c •- -'C ~ '~ ~z-~ ^C cQ < vi< -^ ^Si r^S^ E^< ^ H < 1830 10.5 36,099,760 31,776,108 25,114,552 $.82 .61 $29,501,893 19,383,426 19,583,350 3,437,948 1885 12. 2,618,009 2,092,893 1890 ' 11.7 ! - .78 SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART I. WHEAT— 1896-1906. Statistics Compiled from Reports of Crop Service Division of Iowa State Depart- ment of Agriculture. 0) o 0) r^ 3 Year. ge yield acre, g wheat, ge yield acre. ^r wheat yield, g wheat. . a, >.2 a* .29 61 Avera per Sprin Avera per Wint 31 C3 '" oO e3 Hoj H^ << H 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 13. 17 13.4 13 14.8 16.5 12.7 11 14.3 13.3 15.3 17.6 13. 18. 12.6 16.9 9.1 14.3 14.4 20.2 15. 23. 13.4 16.4 7,047,235 12,941,600 19,152,352 19,574,792 20,280,280 17,429,230 12,680,800 9,481,350 7,080,430 5,155,760 5,603,880 12,402,519 3,351 1,671 3,168 226 1,018 865 825 1,435 1,017 1,253 1,566 550 454 ,916 ,040 ,070 ,770 ,045 380 000 020 050 1,490,754 398,785 613,054 321,268 900,830 288,350 295,000 532,845 916,730 097,430 408,780 169,930 13,903,909 $ 6,020,000 10,813,650 11,602,000 10,701,490 12,799,370 10,965,000 7,062,640 7,167,64S 7,044.809 4,614,321 4,579,697 $.64 if 8,488,238 739,245 1,222,974 1,484,682 1,559,931 1,492,630 1,188,239 1,021,28] 837,422 846,070 420,068 443,810 1,023,304 BARLEY— 1880, 1885, 1830. Statistics Compiled from Reports of Secretary of Iowa Agricultural Society. £r-I C O ^ Zo Year. 'Z6 2 2 * o 60 C3 >> tCJS > 5> So) C3 c o a ft o ^ y < y < 1880 23 4,600,000 $.42 .33 $ 1,932,000 1,893,241 1,722,254 200,000 212,485 152,682 1885 27 5,737,095 3,664,368 1890 24 .47 BARLEY— 1896-1906. Statistics Compiled from Reports of Crop Service Division of Iowa State Depart- ment of Agriculture. i'ear. 0) 3 61 rt £^ < 5 0) s tt.Q o o > ft Total value. 4) 60 cS o < 1896 1897 1898 29 25 27.5 25.6 25.3 24.2 25 24.7 25 ■ 27.5 26.5 15,881,618 14,076,850 14,138,000 14,719,310 12,695,200 14,654,410 15,380,910 12,179,790 12,317,710 15,566,770 14,858,830 $.20 .23 .30 .30 .33 .44 .33 .37 .34 .33 .36 $ 3,176,320 3,237,670 4,209,740 4,415,570 4,189,410 6,447,940 5,075,710 4,506,522 4,183,021 5,137,034 5,349,178 547,642 551,8'37 18)9 _ . 557,598 501,740 604,610 594,070 493,108 1900 . _ . . 1901 ... 1902 1903 1904 .. .. 1905 565,700 553,870 1903 Average 26 14,224,472 $.32 $ 4,539,374 • 543,469 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. RYE— 1880, 1885, 1890. Statistics Compiled from Reports of Secretary of Iowa Agricultural Society. 2'-' « 9 "q -a U d) q; Year. o rt oj bi>a bt.Q 6C « . Hi ■- !r! « 0) t.ft o o t) ■< H < H «< 1880 14 15 574,000 1,710,000 $.38 .42 $ 218,120 718,200 41,000 1885 114,000 1890 16 1,608,960 .51 820,570 100,560 RYE— 1896-1906. Statistics Compiled from Reports of Crop Service Division of Iowa State Depart- ment of Agriculture. 2-h' 11 Year. >. 0) "3 a 3 ticj tt£i 60 « . =s , ei a 9i > p. o > n o o < H < H < 1896 16 1,891,716 $.25 $ 483,680 121,670 1897 15 3,490,344 .34 1,186,710 226,198 1898 16 3,370,550 .38 1,280,800 210,309 1899 16.3 2,061,160 .40 824,460 126,236 1900 15.6 1,621,130 .43 697,300 103,680 1901 15.8 859,630 .48 859,630 54,. 390 1902 17 882,830 .40 353,132 55,150 1903 15.6 1,923,060 .44 846,146 123,273 1904 15 1,517,090 .54 819,228 99,590 1905 18 1,283,500 .52 667,420 71,305 1906 17.5 1,093,160 .48 520,719 62,530 Average 16.2 1,817,652 .42 % 776,384 114,030 SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART I. HAY— 1880, 1885, 1830. Statistics Compiled from Reports of Secretary of Iowa Agricultural Society. Year. r^ « r3 « T*^ 7;ia •g r3 r^ f^ ^^ v; ''■_2 M 0) o -i- O > O crH ■^ H < E-i c-l 1.5 4,991,3.35 6.84 34,140,731 3,327,557 *No authentic data obtainable. > HAY— 1836-1905. Statistics Compiled from Reports of Crop Service Division of Iowa State Depart- ment of Agriculture. Year. Tame Hay « "1 ■1- o Wild Hay -^ CO c: S -w o — a o kH $33 5 - 18)6 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.8 1.9 1.5 1.8 1.3 Average . 1.58 4,299,064 3,376,440 3,362,287 3,852,561 3,852,941 3,609,010 3,711,680 4,439,040 5,216,404 4,499,090 6,477,300 4,892,950 1.5 1.3 1.2 1.2 1. 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.2i 2,325,000 1,939,117 1,645,419 1,458,195 1,530,050 1,268,700 1,202,860 1,191,345 1,091,590 1,313,310 1,110,690 1.23 1,461,479 5,701,440 5,301,320 5,498,080 5,311,130 5,139,060 4,980,380 5,641,900 6,407,749 5,590,680 7,790,610 6,003,640 $4.50 4.50 4.30 5.75 6.50 8.25 6.80 5.75 5.62 5.50 7.50 $3.30 3.70 3.50 4.90 5.00 6.30 5.50 4.95 4.50 4.50 5.50 5,760,544 $5.90 $4.70 $32,160,528 $22,782,000 22,304,000 22,281,000 29,350,000 .31,120,000 38,712,000 36,787,322 35,891,480 30,197,040 41,535,045 42,805,920 3,800,960 3,315,972 4,104,967 3,742,655 4,078,960 3,608,450 3,391,408 3,651,894 3,707,298 4,692,925 4,418,600 3,834,917 FLAX— 18S0, 1885, 1890. Statistics Compiled from Reports of Secretary of Iowa Agricultural Society Year. 2 0) o > & c . a-T-4 Is c: . ?- £ „ a; be 1880 .. .. 10 1,0.34,200 $1.00 .34 1.10 $1,034,200 2,503,293 3,276,989 103,420 *1885 1830 ! 10.5 2,929,081 283.722 'No other data. 6 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. FLAX— 1896-1906. Statistics Compiled from Reports of Crop Service Division of Iowa State Depart- ment of Agriculture. Year. 0) S tecs i; '■-> o o > ft Total yield. a_ ^-' m O 3 SCO Total value. Acreage. 1896 9.5 10 10.5 11.2 11.7 18.8 8. 8.7 11 9.8 10.7 1,946,720 2,498,600 2,376,600 1,597,790 1,222,980 916,890 755,350 355,160 591,140 173,770 205,280 $ .95 .87 .80 1.04 1.50 1.29 1.00 .78 1.15 .90 .97 $1,135,000 2,173,782 1,901,280 1,661,898 1,834,470 916,890 725,350 277,024 679,811 156,393 200,091 199,128 1897 1898 249,882 225,014 1839 142,175 1900 108,850 1901 104,140 1903 94,767 1903 40,823 1904 51,370 1905 . 17,732 1906 19,160 Average — 10. 1,149,116 1.02 $1,041,998 113,912 POTATOES— 1880, 1885, 1890. Statistics Compiled from Reports of Secretary of Iowa Agricultural Society. a^rd' « u > * r- Z(^ Year. 2 aj tecs btX! '^ fea rt . ei a c 01 t> a ^ o ZJ ^ f< .^ H ^ 18S0 1885 1830 95 82. 491 10,165,000 12,874,000 8,332,352 $.35 .40 .81 3,557,750 5,149,600 6,749,205 107,000 157,000 170,048 POTATOES— 1836-1906. Statistics Compiled from Reports of Crop Service Division of Iowa State Depart- ment of Agriculture. 1896 _ 87. 60. 76. 98. 78. 37.4 91. 53.8 125. 84. 101. 14,814,795 10,051,910 12,538,410 15,252,934 10,850,900 5,098,460 12,051,670 6,082,694 14,255,680 9,352,190 . 11,697,500 $.21 .45 .31 .24 .40 .90 .34 .75 .28 .50 .48 $2,962,950 4,523,360 3,826,900 3,660,714 4,340,360 4,588,610 4,095,650 4,562,020 3,991,590 4,676,045 5,614,800 170,285 1897 1898 163,248 164,456 1899 - . 154,243 1900 149,680 *1901 _- 136,300 1902 138,484 **1903 113,433 1904 . - 113 250 1905 111,335 1906 115,310 Average 81. 11,095,194 .44 $ 4,276,636 139,033 *Very dry. »«Very wet. PART I. REPORT OF SECRETARY John C. Simpson FOR YEAR ENDING NOVEMBER 30, 1906 TO STATE AGRICULTURAL CONVENTION ASSEMBLED IN ROOMS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE STATE HOUSE, DECEMBER 12, 1906. Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Convention: In compliance with the wishes of the State Board of Agriculture I desire to make a brief report of the work of the Department for the past season. No funds having been provided for carrying on the work as outlined in Section 1657, Chapter 3, Code Supplement of Iowa, the Department can onlj' make such investigations, etc., as can be made with little or no expense. Seeing the great need of some legislation in regard to pure foods, the Board a few years ago set aside a small amount from the state fair fund to meet the expense of an investigation along this line. The report of the pure food committee through the Board of Agriculture was presented to the Thirtieth General Assembly, together with a draft of a pure food bill. This Assembly did not see fit to enact any legisla- tion for purer foods. Further investigations were made by the Board, and again the report of their findings and a draft of the pure food bill was presented to the Thirty-first General Assembly during the winter of 1906. The bill as presented, with a few alterations, was passed and became effective July 4th of this year. The provisions of the bill com- bined the offices of the State Dairy and Food Commissioner, whose duty it is to see that the law is enforced. The full report of the committee from the State Board, together with an exact copy of the bill as finally passed by the Thirty-first General Assembly, is published in the Iowa Year Book of Agriculture for 1905, pages 135-153 inclusive. No provision being made for the publication of any bulletins containing a report of (7) 8 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. the investigations made by the Beard, the expense of the bulletin con- taining the report, as presented to the General Assembly, had also to be met out of the State Fair fund. The statute provides only for the pub- lication of the Iowa Year Book of Agriculture, but leaves it to the State Executive Council to say how many copies shall be printed. For the past three or four years three thousand copies of the Year Book have been printed annually. This year the book was from four to five months late, owing to the great amount of work in the hands of the State Printer and his inability to get it in type earlier. I believe that provision should be made to meet the expenses of the department in the investigations which it makes, printing of bulletins, etc., without using the State Fair funds for this purpose. Until the State Fair grounds are fully equipped the surplus State Fair fund is needed for that purpose. The department, through its committee on adulteration of foods, com- mercial food stuffs, seeds and other products, has been carrying on some investigations relative to the adulterations of commercial stock foods the past year. Their report will be submitted to the Board at its first meeting, and their findings will be presented to the Thirty- second General Assembly in January. A great many complaints are received from parties against the adultera- tion of grass and other seeds, claiming they are mixed with all kinds of seeds from obnoxious weeds. This matter will probably be given at- tention by the Department during the next year. THE STALLION SERVICE LAW. The stallion service law was enacted by the Thirty-first General As- sembly and made it the duty of the department to carry out its pro- visions. It provides that every owner or keeper of pure bred and reg- istered stallions standing for public service, or kept for sale or ex- change, who represents said stallion or stallions to be pure bred or reg- istered, must cause the same to be registered in some stud book recog- nized by the Department of Agriculture at Washington, D. C, and obtain a certificate of registration of such animal. This certificate is then to be forwarded to the secretary of the Iowa State Board of Agriculture, whose duty it is to pass upon the correctness and genuineness of such certificate. If found to be correct the secretary is then to issue a cer- tificate under the seal of the department. This law became effective on the 4th of July, 1906. Hundreds of bogus certificates issued by fake reg- istration associations have been sent in for examination, showing that the people have been greatly imposed upon by unscrupulous parties who make it a practice to issue these fake certificates for no other purpose than to misrepresent and defraud. As the law now stands, any party who owns or keeps a stallion for public service, or cale, and represents him to be a pure bred and registered horse, must show a certificate issued under the seal of the Iowa Department of Agriculture or be sub- jected to the penalty. There is nothing in the provisions of this law which prohibits the standing for public service of a grade or cross bred SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART I. 9 horse, but he must not be represented to be other than a grade or cross bred. The last reports in the State Auditor's office showed six thousand and seventy-nine stallions in the State. At the close of the fiscal year, De- cember 1st, but eighteen hundred and thirty-seven certificates had been issued. As the service season for 1906 was practically over before the law went into effect, the number to be enrolled will probably be increased to a large extent before the next season opens and will probably run up to three thousand. Should the enrollment reach this number it would still leave more than fiftj' per cent of the stallions standing for public service in the State as grades or cross bred. This law as enacted, while not perfect, will inform those having mares to breed of the true situa- tion in Icwa, and this should eventually eliminate from use the grade and scrub stallion; the grade stallion has no place or use as a sire. "While the grading up process may be secured by breeding a grade mare to a pure bred horse, and again breeding her foal to a pure bred horse, further progress will instantly stop if the mare is mated to a grade or scrub stallion. We believe the present law should be amended so that the abuses now practiced in issuing stallion bills may be corrected. Many of the hills as printed, while not actually violating the law, violate the spirit of it at least. I would recommend that authority be given the department of agri- culture to publish a bulletin at least once or twice a year, giving a list of the stallions and owners to whom State certificates have been issued. The owners of stallions all over the State are demanding that some legislation be enacted which will protect them for the service fee. Many of the states have upon their statute books a law giving the stallion owner a lien upon the colt and mare until the fee is paid. The fee generally is not due until after the colt is foaled; this being the case, many times the mare has changed hands and the stallion owner has often great difficulty in collecting his fee. I would recommend that a committee be appointed at this meeting, or at the meeting of the board, to draft a bill along these lines and see that the same is presented to the next session of the Legislature. farmers' institutes. The interest in the county farmers' institutes is constantly growing.. Eighty cf tha ninety-nine counties of the State held institutes and re- ceived State aid to the amount of $5,614.53 during the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1906. This was an average of $72.69 to the county, the maximum amount appropriated for each county being $75.00. I believe that the manner of reporting should be changed so that all reports shall be filed through the office of the department of agriculture. If this change was adopted a great deal of useful information could be secured. The reports should then be compiled and published in bulletin form for free distribution, as the law now stands, the itemized expense account is filed with the county auditor, and by him with the State Auditor. The State Auditor issues a warrant and sends it to the county 10 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. treasurer, who in turn delivers it to the proper institute officer. Addi- tional reports are sent in to this office, but as the law is not mandatory in this respect, they are often not sent in at all or come in too late to be of any special benefit. The law, if changed, should read so that the reports must be filed at some date, say late in the spring, after the in- stitutes have been held. They could then be compiled, published in bul- letin form, and ready for distribution before the institute season again opened in the fall. This change would not add much, if any, work to the duties of the reporting officer, and, if anything, would facilitate his work by having the blanks all prepared and sent out by the department, the same as is now done with the county and district fair associations. The institutes are no small factor in the agricultural education of the people, and a vast amount of useful information hag been imparted through them. I believe the $75.00 now allotted to each county is too small and should be increased by the next general assembly to at least $100.00. COUNTY AND DISTRICT FAIR REPORT FOR 1906. The county and district fair associations throughout the State were generally more successful than for a number of seasons past. Greater interest was taken in the exhibits and a larger attendance was reported. While the exact data was not received as to the attendance, the financial reports would indicate that it was over one half million. Eighty-four fairs reported and received the State aid. One more society reported, but owing to some discrepancy in the papers the State Auditor has not yet paid the State aid. The financial report of one other society had to be sent back for correcting and has not been returned, so that only eighty-three reports are shown on the financial statement to date. The total receipts from all sources amount to $316,565 — an increase of about $60,000 over the receipts of the eighty societies reporting in 1905. The average receipts were about $3,800; $16,393 was received from the State, or an average of $197.50 for each fair. The total value of the fair grounds and improvements is shown to be $489,702, or an aver- age of $5,950 for the eighty-three societies. The eighty-three county and district fairs paid out in premiums $58,397, or an average of $700 each; this shows only a small increase over 1905. The largest amount paid out in premiums by any one society was $1,616.50; the smallest being $281. Ten of the fairs reporting report receipts of $6,000 or over; fifty- five societies report an indebtedness of $99,707, or an average of $1,817. Sixty-three societies report money on hand to the amount of $18,017, or an average of $2G6. There appears to be a greater interest manifested in the county and district fairs of the State, and we predict that with ordinary circumstances the fairs will be even more successful in the next few years. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART I. 11 THE IOWA STATE FAIR. I desire to again call attention to the erroneous impression held by some in regard to the Iowa State Fair. There are yet a few people who do not understand under whose auspices the State Fair is held; others deliberately wish to convey the wrong impression. The Iowa State Fair was first held in 1854 under the auspices of the Iowa State Agricultural Society. The Iowa State Agricultural Society was afterwards organized under the statutes of Iowa and became a part of the State; the State fair continued to be held under the auspices of this society until the year 1900. By an act passed by the Twenty-eighth General Assembly there was created a new department of the State, known as the Department of Agriculture, and by this same act the Iowa State Agricultural Society was legislated out of existence. The Department of Agriculture is managed by a board which is styled the State Board of Agriculture. The personnel of the Board is as follows: Four ex-officio members, being the Governor of the State, the State Dairy and Food Commissioner, the president of the Iowa State College of Agri- culture and Mechanic Arts, and the State veterinary; a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and one member from each of the eleven congressional districts. Section 1657-d, Chapter 3, of the Code Supple- ment of Iowa, sets forth how and by whom the members shall be elected. Section 1657-i places the ■ control of the State Fair grounds with the board of agriculture with requisite powers to hold annual State Fairs and exhibits of the productive resources and industries of the State. Section 1657-g makes it the duty of the executive council of the State to annually appoint a committee, consisting of three members, whose duty it is to examine and audit the books of the department and report to the Governor. In addition to an examination of the books by this committee they are annually gone over by an expert accountant regu- larly employed by the executive council, who examines all the various departments of the State. A full and complete statement of the re- ceipts and disbursements is also made to the annual State agricultural convention and published in the Iowa Year Book of Agriculture as a matter of public record. An examination of these sections above re- ferred to will bear out the statements I have made, and should set at rest all thought that the State Fair is not held under the auspices of the State. The Iowa State Fair is a creation of the State, and as such is as justly entitled to receive State aid as any other State institution. We believe we can say without fear of contradiction that a larger per- centage of the taxpayers come in more direct contact with the State Fair than with any other State institution. There are thousands upon thou- sands of taxpayers of the State who are just as anxious to secure a broader education and knowledge as the young man ready to enter col- lege. He can send his children to school and to the colleges (I am speaking now of the farmer), but his only opportunity for broadening and further educating himself is through the agricultural press, the farmers' institutes and the county and district fairs, or other meetings 12 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. of a similar nature, sucti as stock shows, horticultural meetings, etc., and by attending the Iowa State Fair, which is the university for them all. Some of you, I have no doubt, have heard or seen criticisms upon the legislature for apropriating funds for further improving the State Fair grounds, no more, I should say, than you see or hear about any appropriation measure. I ask you, in all seriousness, if you believe this to be a just criticism. How can you expect to build up a great State institution if funds are not forthcoming for improvements? It has been said by some that it is a Des Moines institution. It is no more a Des Moines institution than the university at Iowa City is an Iowa City institution, or the Normal School at Cedar Falls in a Cedar Falls institu- tion, or the School for the Deaf and Dumb at Council Bluffs is a Council Bluffs institution. It is true that the fair is permanently located at Des Moines, but to be successful it must of necessity be located near some city or town. It cannot be moved from town to town with any more degree of success or judgment than you would move the university from place to place each year. In the work of improving the State Fair grounds the State has been saved thousands of dollars by the fact that the surplus or profit derived from holding the annual State Fairs has been expended for further improvements. The amount expended from this fund in the past six years has exceeded $120,000. No fund is now needed for the actual maintenance of the State Fair, the receipts for many years exceeding the disbursements by many thousand dollars but there is still great need of immediate improvements to provide proper equip- ment. In addition to the $120,000 which has been expended in improve- ments upon the grounds within the past few years, the department has been able to establish a sinking or emergency fund of $15,000. That the State has no better asset in a State institution than the Iowa State Fair is attested by the immense exhibits which are made and the great crowds of her people who annually attend. I have visited many State Fair grounds and' expositions of other states, and while I can honestly say that the Iowa people have nothing to be ashamed of in their State Fair, I cannot say as much for the equipment upon the grounds. The improvements upon all the State Fair grounds I have ever visited are far superior to our own. Large sums of money have been expended the past few years in equipping the State Fair grounds in Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Toronto, Canada, Missouri and many other states. The Missouri State Fair was permanently located at Se- dalia only five years ago, and several hundred thousand dollars have been expended in improvements since that time; the buildings are all of brick and steel construction. The equipment on the State Fair grounds of Illinois, Ohio and Toronto, Canada, are all models of excellence and are in keeping with their other State institutions. There is no use fighting the Iowa State Fair; you cannot drive it out of existence. It is as permanently established as the rock of Gibraltar and will be held annually long after the present generation nas passed away. You may SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART I. 13 retard its progress to a certain extent, but it will continue to go on the future just as it has in the past, commanding greater respect as it grows older. The Iowa State Fair is essentially a farmers' fair. A larger per- centage of the attendance comes from the farmers than at any similar institution, therefore measuring up to the highest degree in its educa- tional advantages. While the fair is not held for the benefit of the farmers alone, they appreciate it to its fullest extent. The lessons of the judging arena are studied closely by them, as are the exhibits in the farm implement and other departments. They seek every opportunity for gaining knowledge which will be of benefit in improving existing conditions; they can see the word education written in large letters all over the grounds. The State Fair has arrived at that point where it is fulfilling to a large degree the purposes for which it was established, and its effectiveness as an educational agency can be further strengthened by adding equipment which is now lacking. STATE FAIR OF 1906. The fifty-second annual State Fair was in keeping with the times and will go down in history as being the most successful, from every point of view, of any of its predecessors. The exhibits in nearly all depart- ments increased amazingly, and in those departments where no increase was made the improvement in quality was noticeable. A very conserva- tive estimate would place the number of cars of exhibits upon the fair grounds this year at between five and six hundred. To prepare for and install an exhibit of this immense proportion necessitated a vast amount of labor, and incidentally caused the expenditure of a large sum of money. The only regretable and unpleasant feature in connection with the installation oi this mammoth exhibit was the lack of proper buildings for its display. The building in which an exhibit is shown and the manner of its arrangement add very materially to its attractiveness and its educational value. Elsewhere in this report, when published in the Year Book, will be found a statement showing the number of entries and exhibitors in various departments. It is enough here to say that the exhibitors were far more numerous than ever before, there being in the neighborhood of eleven hundred of them represented at this year's fair. The attendance at the State Fair this year was, in round numbers, 188,000. This was an increase of twenty-two per cent over 1905, sixty per cent over 1904, and about one hundred and ten per cent over 1901. This annual increased attendance shows conclusively the stability of the institution, and will undoubtedly continue to grow. There is no reason why the attendance for the week should not reach 300,000, and we be- lieve this number will be reached within a very few years, with favor- able conditions. The receipts of this year's fair were $110,929.85. This is an increase of twenty-six per cent over the receipts of 1905. While the receipts in nearly every department showed a small increase, it is most noticeable in the sale of tickets and the amount received from the sale of privileges. The increased percentage from the sale of privileges is about the same proportion as the percentage of increased attendance. 14 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. The total expense of the fair this year, including all premiums paid, etc., was $72,459,39, showing a net profit of $38,470.46. There were other expenses incidental to the work of the department amounting to $2,946.02, and improvements made at the fair grounds to the amount of $30,035.33. This makes a total of $105,4 « a a"" H 03 a. 2 o ai fa 1 fa . Eh 3 o a 2 $ 116.79 28,616.55 34,244.93 30,372.25 28,963.11 29,657.23 39,976.34 $ 36,622.10 50,712.91 63,084.71 59,838.56 66,100.36 84,786.25 110,929.85 $ 7,000.00 1,000.00 38,000.00 1,000.00 48,000.00 1,000.00 1,000.00 % 6,710.22 2,753.82 3,037.06 3,140.79 2,622.03 2,840.92 3,717.16 $ 50,332.32 54,466.73 104,121.77 63,979.35 116,722.39 88,627.17 115,647.01 $i2,666!66 15,000.00 15,000.00 15,000.00 15,000.00 138,366.70 94,351.60 145,685.50 118,284.40 153,623.35 for past six years $ 435,452.64 $ 90.000.00 $ 18,111.78 % 543,564.42 _ •••••• SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART I. F AGRICULTURE FOR YEARS OF 1896, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905 ANI xpenditures, together with Amount Expended for Improvements, Repairs, etc., and r the years named. Disbursements Profits of F£ m a 3 ■d 1 © =« tn sa£ U b 1 •^ * « o ^ m " O III Total for year Cash on hand Previous year's busi- ness or outstanding warrants o a 2 o -. 6,404.29 9,203.83 ;l,736.31 ;3,813.13 14,691.68 ;8,730.89 ;l,703.94 $ 15,351.06 13,925.87 20,073.34 21,989.56 28,485.42 34,408.62 40,315.60 $ 7,471.95 13,378.73 63,457.12 17,855.77 59,641.11 11,;^63.09 30,035.33 $*14,019.88 2,313.44 2,608.69 1,704.83 3,195.43 3,345.27 3,385.87 $ 53,247.28 48,821.87 107,875.46 65,363.29 116,013.64 78,447.87 105,440.74 S 152.84 34,244.93 30,372.25 28,963.11 29,657.23 39,976.34 50,294.87 $ 16.48 118.99 25.20 14.63 139.81 112.26 $ 53,400.12 83,083.28 138,366.70 94,351.60 145,685.50 118,284.40 155,623.35 $ 36,622.10 50,712.91 63,084.71 59,838,56 66,100.36 84,786.25 110,929.85 $ 31,807.3 33,129.7 41,809.6 45,802.6 53,177.1 63,139.5 72,459.3 9,879.78 $159,198.41 $196,331.15 $ 16,503.53 $521,962.87 $435,452.64 $ 309,518.0 ♦Overdraft of 1895 for $2,798.17. 26 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. PASTURE SCENE— MAKSil ALL COl'NTY Courtesy Hon. W. P. Arney PART 11. Report of the Iowa Weather and Crop Ser- vice for 1906. John R. Sage, Director. CLIMATOLOGY OF THE YEAR 1906. Barometek. — The mean pressure of the atmosphere for the year 1906 was 30.05 inches. The highest observed pressure was 30.79 inches on February 5th at Dubuque. The lowest pressure was 28.71 inches on January 3d at Dubuque. The range for the State was 2.08 inches. Temperature. — The mean temperature for the State was 48.7°, which is 1° above the normal. The highest temperature reported was 102° on July 21st, at Atlantic. The lowest temperature reported was 32° below zero on February 10th, at Inwood, Lyon county. The range for the year was 134°. Peecipitation. — The average amount of rain and. melted snow for the year, as shown by complete records of 107 stations, was 31.23 inches, which is .49 of an inch below the normal, and 5.28 inches below the average amount in 1905. The greatest amount recorded at any station for the year was 44.34 inches at Ridgeway, Winneshiek county. The least amount recorded was 20.63 inches at Elliott, Montgomery county. The greatest monthly rainfall was 11.10 inches at Thurman in Septem- ber. The least monthly precipitation was 0.20 of an inch at Baxter and Sibley in February. The greatest amount in any twenty-four con- secutive hours was 7.60 inches at Thurman on September 16th and 17th. The average number of days on which .01 of an inch or more of rain fell was ninety-two. Wind and Weather. — The prevailing direction of wind was northwest. The highest velocity reported was fifty-eight miles per hour in Sioux City, from the northwest on March 21st. The average daily movement of wind was 205 miles. There were 163 clear days; 97 partly cloudy, and 105 cloudy days; as against 164 clear days, 98 partly cloudy and 103 cloudy days in 1905. (27) 28 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. MONTHLY SUMMARIES. January. — The monthly mean temperature for the State, as shown by the records of 125 stations,, was 24.6°, which is 4.8° above the nor- mal. By sections the mean temperatures were as follows: North- ern section, 22.7°, which is 5.1° above normal; Central section, 25.2°, which is 6.0° above normal; Southern section, 25.9°, which is 3.4° above normal. The highest monthly mean temperature reported was 31.8° at Red Oak. The lowest mean reported was 19.4° at Charles City. The highest temperature reported for the month was 69° at Keokuk, on the 20th. The lowest temperature reported was 19° below zero, at Charles City, on the 8th. The average of monthly maximum temperatures for all reporting stations was 53.2°. The average of the minimum tempera- ture was — 9.3°. The greatest daily range of temperature was 49° at Sibley. The average of greatest daily ranges was 36.8°. The average precipitation (rain and melted snow) for the State, as shown by records of 132 stations, was 1.52 inches, which is 0.57 of an inch above the nor- mal for January in Iowa. By sections the averages were as follows: Northern section, 1.20 inches, which is 0.44 of an inch above normal; Central section, 1.79 inches, which is 0.75 of an inch above normal; Southern section, 1.57 inches, which is 0.52 of an inch above normal. The largest amount reported was 4.71 inches at Ridgeway. The least amount reported was 0.28 of an inch at Inwood. The greatest daily precipitation reported was 3.87 inches at Ridgeway on the 3d. The aver- age number of days on which .01 of an inch, or more, precipitation was recorded was 5. The prevailing direction of the wind for the month was northwest. The highest velocity reported was 50 miles per hour, from the southwest, at Keokuk, on the 3d. The average number of clear days was 14; the average of partly cloudy days was 6, and of cloudy days 11. February. — This has been the warmest February since 1898. The mean temperature for the State as shown by the records of 125 stations, was 23.6°, which is 4.2° above normal. By sections the mean tempera- tures were as follows: Northern section, 20.2°; Central section, 23.5°; Southern section, 27.2°. The highest monthly mean was 31.6° at Red Oak, and the lowest was 17.3° at Charles City. The highest temperature reported was 66° at Red Oak on the 22d, and the lowest was 32° at Inwood, on the 10th. The average of monthly maximum temperatures was 56.4°, and the average of minimum temperatures was — 13.1°. The greatest daily range was 59° at Sibley, and the average of greatest daily ranges was 38°. The average precipitation for the State, as shown by records of 132 stations, was 1.29 inches, which is 0.28 of an inch above the normal for February. By sections the averages were as follows: Northern section, 1.01 inches; Central section, 1.23 inches; Southern section, 1.62 inches. The largest amount reported was 2.91 inches at Mount Pleasant, and the least reported was 0.20 of an inch at Baxter and Sibley. The greatest daily percipitation was 1.48 inches at Webster City, on the 13th. The average number of days on which .01 of an inch or more precipita- tion was reported was 5. The prevailing direction of wind was south. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II. 29 The highest velocity reported was 50 miles per hour, from the north- west, at Sioux City, on the 3d. The average number of clear days was 14; partly cloudy, 7; and cloudy, 7 days. March. — The monthly mean temperature for the State, as shown by the records of 123 stations, was 27.1°, which is 5.7° below normal. The mean temperatures by sections were as follows: Northern section, 25.3°; Central section, 27.6°; Southern section, 28.4°. The highest monthly mean was 30.7°, at Red Oak, and the lowest monthly mean was 22.8°, at Sibley. The highest temperature reported was 65° at Pacific Junction on the 1st, and the lowest reported was 14° below zero at Thurman on the 17th. The greatest daily range was 42° at Bedford and Thurman. The average of greatest daily ranges was 32.1°. The average precipitation for the State, as shown by the records of 129 stations, was 2.34 inches, which is 0.46 of an inch above normal. The averages by sections were as fol- lows. Northern section, 2.56 inches; Central section, 2.14 inches; South- ern section, 2.31 inches. The largest amount reported was 4.55 inches at Burlington; and the least amount reported was 0.58 of an inch at Ames. The greatest daily rainfall reported was 2.55 inches at Denison on the 3d. The average number of days on which .01 of an inch or more was reported was 10. The prevailing direction of the wind was northwest. The highest wind velocity reported was 58 miles an hour from the northwest, at Sioux City, on the 21st. The average number of clear days was 7; partly cloudy 7; cloudy days, 16. April. — The monthly mean temperature for the State, as shown by the records of 121 stations, was 52.5°, which is 3.1° above normal. By sections the mean temperatures were as follows: Northern section, 50.5°; Central section, 52.5°: Southern section, 54.4°. The highest temperature reported was 94° at Ida Grove and Onawa on the 24th. The lowest temperature reported was 22° at Clinton and Webster City on the 1st and at Odebolt on the 6th. The average monthly maximum temperature was 85.4°, and the average monthly minimum was 26.3°. The greatest daily range was 51* at Denison and the average of greatest daily ranges was 42.4°. The aver- age precipitation for the State, as shown by records of 128 stations, was 2.42 inches, which is 0.46 of an inch below the April normal. The aver- ages by sections were as follows: Northern section, 2.06 inches; Central section, 2.43 inches; Southern section, 2.76 inches. The lai'gest amount reported was 5.55 inches at Glenwood, and the least amount reported was .53 of an inch at Independence. The greatest daily rainfall reported was 2.75 inches at Sheldon on the 13th. The average number of days on which .01 of an inch or more was reported was 8. The prevailing direction of the wind was southeast. The highest velocity reported was 42 miles an hour from the west at Sioux City, on the 25th. The average number of clear days was 14; partly cloudy, 9; cloudy days, 7. May. — The monthly mean temperature for the State, as shown by the records of 122 stations, was 60.8°, which is u.l° above the normal for May. By sections the mean temperatures were as follows: Northern section, 58.8°, which is 0.5° below the normal; Central section, 61.1°, which is 0.6° above the normal; Southern section, 62.6, which is 0.6° above the normal. The highest monthly mean was 65.5°, at Keokuk. The lowest monthly 30 IOWA DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. mean was 57.4°, at Hanlontown. The highest temperature reported was 95°, at Odebolt, on the 11th. The lowest temperature reported was 24°, at Estherville, Britt and Iowa Falls, on the 7th. The average monthly maximum temperature was 87°, and the average monthly minimum was 28.9°. The greatest daily range was 52° at Preston, and the average of greatest daily ranges was 39.8°. The average precipitation for the State, as shown by records of 129 statinos, was 3.54 inches, which is 0.70 of an inch below the normal for May. The averages by sections were as follows: Northern section, 5.38 inches, which is 1.40 above normal; Cen- tral section, 3.15 inches, which is 1.09 below the normal; Southern section, 2.09 inches, which is 2.42 inches below the normal. The largest amount reported was 10.72 inches at Hanlontown. The least amount reported was 0.89 of an inch at Elliott. The greatest daily rainfall reported was 4.24 inches at Northwood on the 14th. The average number of days on which .01 of an inch or more was reported was 11. The prevailing direction of wind was southwest, and the highest velocity reported was 48 miles an hour, from the west, at Sioux City, on the 17th. The average number of clear days was 13, partly cloudy 10, and cloudy 8. June. — June was slightly cooler than the average, the mean tempera- ture for the State as shown by the records of 125 stations being 67.9°, which is 1.7° below the normal. By sections the mean temperatures were as follows: Northern section, 66.2°, which is 2.0° below the normal; Cen- tral section, 68.1°, which is 1.4° below the normal; Southern section, 69.4°, which is 1.8° below the normal. The highest monthly mean was 71.7° at Bella, and the lowest was 64° at Sibley. The highest temperature re- ported was 99° at Greenfield and Odebolt on the 16th and at Clarinda on the 16th and 17th. The lowest temperature reported was 37° at Atlantic and Earlham on the 13th. The average monthly maximum was 93.1° and the average monthly minimum was 43.4°. The greatest daily range of temperature was 48° at Audubon, Bedford and Ida Grove. The average of greatest daily ranges was 36.4°. The average precipitation for the State, as shown by records at 132 stations, was 3.92 inches, which is 0.63 of an inch below the normal. By sections the averages were as follows: North- ern section, 3.81 inches, which is 0.63 of an inch below normal; Central section, 3.44 inches, which is 1.16 inches below normal; Southern section, 4.50 inches, which is 0.12 of an inch above the normal. The largest amount reported was 8.27 inches at Albia, and the least amount reported was 1.48 inches at Keokuk. The greatest daily rainfall reported was 5.20 inches at Thurman, on the 18th. The average number of days on which .01 of an inch or more was reported was 8. The prevailing direction of the wind was northwest. The highest velocity reported was 49 miles an hour, from the west, at Sioux City, on the 6th. The average number of clear days was 15; partly cloudy 10, and cloudy 5. July. — The monthly mean temperature of July for the State as shown by the records of 122 stations, was 70.9°, which is 3.5° below the normal. By sections the mean temperatures were as follows: Northern section, 69.7°, which is 3.5° below the normal; Central section, 71.0°, which is 3.3° below the normal; Southern section, 71.9°, which is 3.8° below the normal. The highest monthly mean was 75.8°, at Tipton; and the lowest monthly SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PAET II. 31 mean was 67.1°, at Sibley. The highest temperature reported was 102° at Atlantic, on the 21st; and the lowest reported was 42° at Washta, on the 7th and 8th. The greatest daily range of temperature was 46° at Washta, and the average of greatest daily ranges was 34.6°. The average of monthly maximums was 93.6°, and the average of monthly fiiinimums was 48.8°. The average precipitation for the State, as shown by the records of 131 stations, was 3.04 inches, which is 1.31 inches below the normal. The averages by sections were as follows: Northern section, 3.04 inches, which is 1.17 inches below the normal ; Central section, 3.09 inches, which is 1.14 inches below the normal; Southern section, 3.00 inches, which is 1.62 inches below the normal. The largest aittount reported was 7.05 inches at Independence, the least amount reported was 0.28 of an inch at Tipten. The greatest daily rainfall reported was 2.82 inches at Little Sioux, on the 25th. The average number of days on which .01 of an inch or more was reported was 8. The prevailing direction of the wind was northwest. The highest velocity reported was 36 miles an hour from the northwest, at Keoknk, on the 22d. The average number of clear days was 18; partly cloudy days, 10; and cloudy days, 3. August. — The monthly mean temperature for the State, as shown by the records of 116 stations, was 74.1°, which is 2.1° above the normal. By sections the mean temperatures were as follows: Northern section, 72.6°, which is 1.9° above the normal; Central section, 74.2°, which is 2.6° above the normal; Southern section, 75.4°, which is 1.8° above the normal. The highest monthly mean was 77.4°, at Ottumwa; and the lowest monthly mean was 70.9° at Estherville. The highest temperature reported was 101° at Odebolt, on the 16th. The lowest temperature reported was 33° at Washta, on the 27th. The average monthly maximum was 95°, and the average monthly minimum was 43.6°. The greatest daily range was .47° at Washta. The average of greatest daily range was 34.2°. The average amount of precipitation for the State, as shown by records of 125 stations, was 3.95 inches, which is .38 of an inch above the normal. The averages by sections were as follows: Northern section, 5.14 inches, which is 2.04 inches above the narmal; Central section, 3.98 inches, which is 0.26 of an inch above the normal; Southern section, 2.74 inches, which is 1.16 inches below the normal. The largest amount reported was 10.51 inches at Sib- ley, Osceola county, and the lowest amount reported was 0.92 of an inch at Allerton, Wayne county. The greatest daily rainfall reported was 4.00 inches at 01 in on the 6th. The average number of days on which .01 of an inch or more of rainfall was reported was 9. The prevailing direction of the wind for the State was southwest. The highest velocity of wind reported was 32 miles per hour, at Sioux City, on the 1st. The average number of clear days observed at all stations was 17; of partly cloudy days there was an average of 9, and cloudy days 5. September. — The monthly mean temperature for the State as shown by the records of 111 stations was 67.2°, which is 3.4° above the normal. By sections the mean temperatures were as follows: Northern section, 65.3°, which is 3.0° above the normal; Central section, 67.3°, which is 4.0° above the normal; Southern section, 68.9°, which is 3.1° above the normal. The highest monthly mean was 71.9° at Ottumwa, and the lowest monthly 32 IOWA DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. mean was 62.8° at Sibley. The highest temperature reported was 100° at Clarinda, on the 9th; and the lowest reported was 27° at Washta, on the 30th. The average monthly maximum was 93.2°, and the average monthly minimum was 37.4°. The greatest daily range was 50° at Washta, and the average of greatest daily ranges was 34.2°. The average precipitation for the State, as shown by records of 121 stations, was 4.16 inches, which is 0.85 of an inch above the normal.* By sections the averages were as follows: Northern section, 5.40 inches, which -is 2.01 inches above the normal; Central section, 3.47, inches, which is 0.22 of an inch above the normal; Sonthern section, 3.61 inches, which is 0.31 of an inch above the normal. The largest amount reported was 11.10 inches at Thurman, and the least amount reported was 0.64 of an inch at Mount Vernon. The greatest daily rainfall reported was 7.60 inches at Thurman, on the 16th and 17th. The average number of days on which .01 of an inch or more fell was 8. The prevailing direction of the wind was southeast, south and southwest. The highest velocity reported was 48 miles an hour from the west, at Sioux City, on the 15th. The average number of clear days was 16; partly cloudy, 8; and cloudy, 6 days. October. — The monthly mean temperature for the State, as shown by the records of 117 stations, was 50.5°, which is 2° below the normal. By sections the mean temperatures were as follows: Northern section, 48.4°, which is 2.5° below the normal; Central section, 50.8°, which is 1° below the normal; Southern section, 52.4°, which is 2.3° below the normal. The highest monthly mean was 54.4°, at St. Charles. The lowest monthly mean was 43° at Rock Rapids. The highest temperature reported was 87° at Ames and Bedford on the 13th and 20th; the lowest was 7°, at Elkader, on the 31st. The average monthly maximum was 78.9°, and the average monthly minimum was 20.4°. The greatest daily range was 56° at Wood- burn, and the average of greatest ranges was 36.3°. The average pre- cipitation for the State, as shown by the records of 126 stations, was 1.96 inches, which is .45 of an inch below the normal. The averages by sec- tions were as follows: Northern section, 2.82 inches, which is .63 of an inch above the normal; Central section, 1.85 inches, .which is .60 of an inch below the normal; Southern section, 1.20 inches, which is 1.41 inches below the normal. The largest amount reported was 4.25 inches, at Lar- rabee, and the lowest amount reported was .50 of an inch at Allerton. The greatest daily rainfall reported was 2.60 inches, at Pocahontas on the 22d and 23d. The average number of days on which .01 of an inch or more was reported was 6. The prevailing direction of the wind was northwest. The highest velocity reported was 50 miles per hour, from the northwest, at Sioux City, on the 8th. The average number of clear days was 14; partly cloudy 7, and cloudy days 10. November. — The monthly mean temperature for the State, as shown by the records of 115 stations, was 35.4°, which is 0.2° above the normal for November. By sections the mean temperatures were as follows: North- ern section, 33.6°, which is 1.0° above the normal; Central section, 35.5*. which is 0.5° above the normal; Southern section, 37.1°, which is 0.9° below the normal. The highest monthly mean was 38.8° at Keokuk. The lowest SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART II. 33 monthly mean was 31.2 at Sibley. The highest temperature reported was 76° at Corydon, Oskaloosa and St. Charles, on the 6th. The lowest tem- perature reported was 5° below zero, at Woodburn, on the 22d. The aver- age monthly maximum was 69.6°, and the average monthly minimum was 8.7°. The greatest daily range was 47° at "Woodburn, and the average of greatest daily ranges was 32.4°. The average precipitation for the State, as shown by records of 123 stations, was 2.03 inches, which is 0.72 of an inch above the normal. The averages by sections were as follows: North- ern section, 1.80 inches, which is 0.55 of an inch above the normal; Central section, 2.17 inches, which is 0.76 of an inch above the normal; Southern section, 2.11 inches, which is 0.82 of an inch above the normal. The larg- est amount reported was 3.86 inches at Preston; the least amount reported was 0.35 of an»inch at Washta. The greatest daily rainfall reported was 2.00 inches at Preston, on the 25th. The average number of days on which .01 of an inch or more was reported, was 8. The prevailing direction of the wind was northwest. The highest velocity reported was 48 miles per hour, at Sioux City, on the 1st. The average number of clear days was 9; partly cloudy, 7; and cloudy days, 14. December. — The monthy mean temperature for the State, as shown by the records of 116 stations, was 25.7°, which is 2.7° above the normal for Iowa. By sections the mean temperatures were as follows: Northern section, 23.5°, which is 3.5° above the normal; Central section, 24.2°, which is 1.1* above the normal; Southern section, 29.5°, which is 3.9° above the normal. The highest monthly mean was 31.6°, at Keokuk, and the lowest monthly mean was 19.9° at Elkader. The highest temperature reported was 65° at Allerton, Chariton, Corydon and Clarinda on the 5th and 12th. The low- est temperature reported was ^9° at Washta on the ISth. The average monthly maximum was 50.3°, and the average monthly minimum was — 2.7°. The greatest daily range was 43° at Iowa City, Keosauqua, Mount Pleasant and Stockport. The average of greatest daily ranges was 32.6°. The average precipitation for the State, as shown by the records of 113 stations, was 1.43 inches, which is .18 of an inch above the normal. By sec- tions the averages were as follows: Northern section, 1.12 inches, which is .07 of an inch above the normal; Central secticn, 1.47 inches, which is .13 of an inch above the normal; Southern section, 1.71 inches, which is .34 of an inch above the normal. The largest amount reported was 2.81 inches, at Independence. The least amount reported was .37 of an inch at Esther- ville. The greatest daily rainfall reported was 2.15 inches, at Bloomfield, on the 30th. The average number of days on which .01 of an inch or more was reported was 6. The prevailing direction of the wind was northwest. The highest velocity of wind reported was 47 miles per hour, from the northwest, at Sioux City, on the 13th. The average number of clear days was 11; partly cloudy 7, cloudy days 13. 34 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II. 35 i4 i-H OJO CO O CD O OCi O C! f-( 0> OO O O O C3 «0 0CntDS5000< I CO O OO «! C! U t-: l^ U i^ u 22525£'S,2-25°°°'^'®°°°°° ooooooooco O O O O O O (D O O O O O O O O O O CJ o o o o otj O OO tj oo OOOOOOwOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOCO o) a> 0) CD o o o o )CDi-tOit^t*OC5ClCOC5C5t^aiOiC5CSCaC*COC50 OOC^CiCiClClCiC^b-Ot^Clt- gs<>. « ? — ^4- J;" oj oa73c3«iOS„S>"SZlxJO 3 a; i4Ki-ji-)iJ(-]pJhJ»=3SS<5SZ^^OOOOOOO(iiP-ift<0H C3^ '^ », ° a '-' tj o »— O cj J O Cl O CD O CO CD i •|^OCOOOOCOOOiHTHCDrHOiOOSOrH< ' Ol O OOOOiH lllll g| S a a s S S S S ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ S ^ ^ S S 53 g Sg s s OOOeOMOOoswOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOwOO tDOSt-OJO)a>Osai00050CnC310J-^0105CJt-05ClC5t-OC5t-000>t~OOOOOi-lt- gssa^si^-^sg^sssg§gssmiss§§§mi^| MC3»M?5ooaaaaoooucoQaQQQO 36 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. en frn cd O. ►J 03 05 CD (O O IH O O OS O O fH O O t^ O <0 O O C5 rH O C5 W rH OOOOO-mOOOOO OO-i^OOOOOCOOOO OOOOOwOOOOO OOwOOOOOOOOOO )C>CiOOC005t*Clt-Cst-E>C5COC;C>t^0001Cil:~005C35 eao3cjoJeScSe3c3c!cjcicSrtcieJcSo3cirtc3cj«cSc3« '« fl ft*j a i3 .21 i-ior-ii-icnoasmto iDa) .D £i ,Q .D .a J2 J2 o o o o o o o < o to o o o o CO ^ CO iH O O ©*J o o o Jb OOOw 0) 3 '-s|flfl5o£go«c QQHSHHfefeUOOOOOOWKKKKRSSSMw SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II 37 CLIMATE AND CROP REVIEW, 1906. The year 1906 was exceptionally favorable for agriculture and other Industries in Iowa. The tabulated records of all stations show that the mean temperature of the State was 48.7°, which is 1° above the normal. The winter was mild and favorable for the protection of fall seeded crops, and for the care of farm animals. The average amount of precipitation for the year was 31.23 inches, which is about half an inch below the normal for Iowa. The distribution of rainfall was variable, the heaviest amounts being reported in the eastern half of the northern section, and the least amounts were in the southern section. But in all these parts there was sufficient moisture to produce more than an average yield of the great staples on which the prosperity of the State depends. January was 4.8° warmer than the average, and February also brought an excess of 4.2°. Both months had a small excess of precipitation. March was relatively much colder, the mean temperature being 5.7° below the normal. The snow fall was heavier and the weather was more stormy and inclement than during the preceding winter months. Condi- tions were not favorable for field work, and farm stock required more care and forage than usual at that period. The last five days of the month were springlike. The mean temperature of April, 52.5°, was about 3.1° above the normal; and the rainfall, 2.42 inches, was .46 of an inch below the normal for the State. The first half of the month was showery and cloudy; but the latter half was generally fair and warm, affording good conditions for spring plowing, which progressed rapidly, with the soil in good tilth and warm enough to insure germination of grain and grass. At the close of April the season was about normal in respect to the growth of grasses and foliage. Farm work, however, was somewhat belated by wet weather in March and the early part of April. May was about normal in temperature, the mean being 60.8° for the State. There were sharp fluctuations in temperature, with frosts in all districts about the 6th to the 9th, and on the 28th, though not materially harmful to vegetation and fruit. The average rainfall was 3.54 inches, which is 0.70 of an inch below the normal for the State. The distribution was unequal, the northern section having an excess of 1.40 inches, while the central section was deficient 1.09 inches, and the southern section was deficient 2.42 inches. In portions of the southern section the dry weather was somewhat unfavorable for pastures, meadows and spring seeded crops. The conditions, however, were favorable for planting corn, and the mois- ture was sufficient to secure a good stand. June was slightly cooler than normal, the mean temperature being 67.9°, which is 1.7° below the normal. The average rainfall was 3.92 inches, which is 0.63 of an inch below the normal. In the southern section, where there was greatest need of moisture, the average was 4.50 inches. The greater part of the rainfall came in the latter half of the month, affording timely relief from drouthy conditions prevalent in nearly all districts. The dry weather in early June was favorable for corn, which made a fine growth and had been thoroughly cultivated. There was suf- 38 IOWA DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. ficient moisture in the soil to maintain a healthy growth of the corn plant, and at the close of the month nearly all fields gave promise of a heavy yield. Oats, barley and wheat made fairly good stands, but headed out shorter than usual. The hay crop was lighter than usual, but the Quality was excellent. As a whole, June was an ideal month for farming operations, and the staple crops were above the ten-year average on July 1st. The average daily temperature in July was 3.5° below the normal for the State, the mean being 70.9°. The nights were cool, but the day temper- atures were sufficiently high to maintain the normal growth of com and other immature crops. The average rainfall was 3.04 inches, which is 1.31 Inches below the normal. The cool nights brought on heavy dews, and the humidity of the air was about normal, serving to mitigate the drouthy conditions in districts where the rainfall was lightest. The dis- tribution of rainfall was quite unequal, ranging from less than two inches in about one-fourth of the State to more than 5.00 inches in a large area. The driest areas were in the southeast and the northwest quarters of the State. Except in a very small area there was sufficient moisture to main- tain a healthy growth of corn, which was generally well advanced and promising at the close of the month. Hay and small grain were harvested in good season, under favorable conditions to maintain a good quality of these crops. There was less than usual damage by windstorms and hail in July. August was the warmest month of the season, the average temperature for the State being 74.1°, which is 2.1° above the normal. It was 3.2° warmer than July, which is usually the warmest month of the summer in this latitude. The average rainfall was 3.95 inches, which is 0.38 of an inch above the normal. The distribution was unequal, the northern sec- tion having nearly twice as much moisture as the average of the southern section. The larger portion of the rainfall came in the first decade, and the balance of the month was favorable for harvesting, threshing and other field work. At the close of the month the corn crop was in a very satisfactory condition, and much of it well advanced toward maturity, giving promise of more than an average yield. The summer months were favorble for apples, peaches, cherries and most of the small fruit crops, and garden truck. September was warmer than usual, with more than the normal amount of rainfall, and excess of sunshine in the larger part of the State. The mean temperature was 67.2°, which was 3.4° above the normal. The aver- age rainfall was 4.16 inches, or 0.85 of an inch in excess of the September normal. The northern and western districts received much more than the other parts of the State. The bulk of the rainfall came in the second decade, and the balance of the month afforded ideal conditions for farm operations, and the normal ripening of corn and other late maturing crops. The month was wholly exempt from damaging frosts. Conditions were favorable for fall plowing, and seeding fall wheat and rye. .All crops were well matured at the close of the month. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II. 39 October was exceptionally fine, having more than the average number of clear days, and less than the average amount of rainfall. The average temperature for the State was 50.5°, which is 2° below the normal. The average rainfall was 1.96 inches, which is 0.45 of an inch below the normal. Nearly all the rainfall occurred in the ten days from the 18th to the 27th. In the first half of the month conditions were unusually favorable lor drying out the bulky corn crop, and husking was begun somewhat later than usual. There were but few days too wet for work in the fields. All late maturing crops were harvested under favorable conditions. November was slightly above the normal in temperature and precipita- tion. The monthly mean temperature was 35.4°, and the average precipi- tation was 2.03 inches, which is about 0.72 of an inch above the normal. During the first half Of the month conditions were fairly good for husking corn and other field work, and at the close of the month the bulk of the largest corn crop ever produced in Iowa was well secured, in the latter half of the month snow flurries, and alternate freezing and thawing, hin- dered work to some extent. December was about 2.7° warmer than usual, the average temperatuie being 25.7°. The average precipitation, which was mostly in the form of rain, was 1.43 inches, or 0.18 of an inch above the normal. As a whole, it was unusually mild and favorable for outdoor work and the care of stock. The year 1906 closed as it began, with moderate temperature and favor- able weather conditions, typical of the most productive year known in Iowa during the last quarter of a century. 40 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. <='Q?2<='<=5'=*<^'=>OOOOOOOOOOOOOOQOOOOOOOOOO (MTHCOOC*OOr-li-HOiC*OTHiHi-(r]HmcJr-ICOr-(OiOCOf-(?HCOO©*Oi— IWW t- N U^ « ooooooooooooooooc •*rHl>C0CirHOTH00-*fHOM*'X)6iaj- J iC O O O CO rH C vn(0'*O(^00iCi0i-lO»f^cpoj0i'*^Z>OC5t>Q0«0(N'^(NOOCDb-C0C000I--m )'*iO(M-*co(Mc^'^(N«6««^:-*ticoG>4eQ ICO-^COurj-^-^CNirHinrHkn H p o o H o o H pq to o 05 o o < o 'S80JBJ0J ooooC)e>ooc>oooooooo_ (?i t-- T-t ( ■S8JDB 'XatiBa r-(rH05iH(MOOOIM»OOOOiH«001WCfio6'*OOiH'*COCOCO:OiO C^ in rH C5 OOOOOOOpOOcDOOQOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I> CO CD lO rH I )COOOO--DOOTmc*COC ■S3J0B '8:CH T-('^-*rH'*OiOiOCO Oii-H i-HCDtH gs CO CQ i> 00 'sajDB 'saeo OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOQOO i-ICiCiMrHr-ti-l-*G0lO0053lOCCif^C000i>W-<*QOOOOOQOOO<: >iOt-CiCDmcOWi-(Q000L 3COC0i-lvn00i-ooooooooooooooooooooopooooooooo . .- .. . - . . - -, "5 0« W .-H i to rH Cco-^"«*> 3 = rt SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART II. 41 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOQOQOQOOOOOOOC>000000000000«3©0000 C«^>=5cOO-*r-(-t'rHi-H05MOC*^C^U^Oi-HSi-HOOO>-IC'iT--(«OiN«.-HrHt--,-HC'*Cnt-^ (N C5 C-i r-< r-l i-H tH r-l t- i-l 0» r-t CO (^i CO i-H i-H C'OOOOOOOOOOOOOC)OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOpOOOOOOOO<^OOOOpO »H-^C00100?OrHinT-Ht-~^Ot--lOrHOJCOOOi-HOOi-HiWi-H.-HO;Oi(^i--T--t-CC»M5^C'iC-COU5C5cOC^C--01C^rH OSlAOTffrHCQrHOC^. >-H'^t-r-HOaiCi'^OC4'^OOi-Hi-Hin'^00X"^rH':D'^OOMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOC;OOOOOOOQOOOO© O(M00'<*iL'--3''O: THWrHur^OlOCDrHi-Hr-li-IOiOi-li-lCDi-lOi-l^ ■ CO CO -f i--" O :d t- :-cOc ^OOOOOOOO [iricoooswi-ico o o o o o o Nt>rHcoir'oooO(i>ir:iQOOQOCOC; ;c*<:iOO««t-t-(3at-oco i >cQirioo'r)«coiS'<*}co«ojioo>iHir364c>iOiir5t I> rH i-H f-t CD -* tH i-l o^c^L'-'vOfH.-li:•-OGCQv^ Tt*"^fH"^oWi— to^rH,— cooic^coot-^otcocour'-1•OlHCOOcoc:r-lC^:OlOTHOcoo(^^o^c^■^c■^vr^fH<:o^I— 1^ o: o w 1-1 o OS r • ir:it>C5Cib--t-cooc 'CDr-OlAi-400t-Oi-tr-tOI>< o o o o o o ,-. ^ ^ ,-1 O CO 00 O I- CO CO C-i^ Co'oo" rH ^ tCOCQ.-it-ir>00T-ii-(COC5rH H O rH rH O* rH C* 42 IOWA DEPAETMENT OF AGRICrLTURE. oooooooooooooooooo i-HC0i-00COT-lrHi— ICOOin>COir2i-HC^U^i-IOOOt>- ^'(^^c^c^lo'u:^'oo o w o o ^^^^^^fH -^lo . _. .. .. _.. . „ . - -J 5!j ^ i-^rtOOOOOOOOOOOOOQOO >i-li-(COC:COCOC^rHCOC0CC00C^c5rHC* 'S9JDB *A9IJBa i-H ^- e» Tji 1-1 oooooooooooooooooo '^Ci'^ot^cocot — ri 1-1 i ; CO C-- -^ CO 'S9JDB '9itH rn' i-HOOiCOrHrH C4CO i-l •s9aDB 'saBo )OOOOOOQOO COCOW'-'OC'SOC'JC^OOi-iCii^COCOtHiSrH OO-^iOCOt-QOOOCDi-lOSCOOcOON* !eOtOiOir5i-li-lr-liH«COi-ll>-rH'*rH(?Ji-l.— rHCOCO o oi o o c^ cr5 ci cf oj oi 1-H o of ir »r" .-T o cT s o t-- i-H in i> CO ■ 00000 C^ CJ r-t b- »-t GO I-l CO c; o fh'ic in w ci O) w do CI w 00 Oi C; m o rH « -^ w « « *S9J0B •jB9ll^ J9;UIAi ^ 00 Q O O _ - , >• CO CT M G*J CO T-( i"^i-Hino"^Oi-H t-. -w O -i2 .— -*!- c3 ^ ^ cs ^;- ^ ' /- /' .- .~ " ^ ^ ^ SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART II. 43 CROP REPORT, JUNE 1, 1906. Reports received June 1st from county and township correspondents of tne Iowa Weather and Crop Service made a very favorable showing as to the area planted and the average condition of the staple crops of this State as compared with preceding years. Corn. — The aggregate area of corn planted this season appears to be 9,443,960 acres. These figures indicate an increase of 145,000 acres as compared with the area harvested last year, and a decrease of about 99,000 acres compared with the acreage shown by the State census covering the year 1904. The average condition of the corn crop on June 1st was placed at 99 per cent for the State, as against 90 per cent in 1905 and 1904 on the corresponding date. Wheat. — The area of spring wheat is estimated to be 357,250 acres; and winter wheat 65,560, making a total wheat acreage of 442,810 acres. This indicates a loss of 74,464 acres since 1904, as shown by the last State census. The estimated condition of the crop is 98 per cent, which is about the same as last year. Oats. — Total acreage sown, 4,166,800 acres, a decrease of 148,830 acres as shown by the last census. Condition of the crop 96 per cent, a gain of one point above last year. Barley. — Acreage sown, 558,870 acres; condition of the crop 96 per cent, the same as last year. Rye. — Acreage of rye sown, 62,535 acres, a slight decrease compared with the census year. Condition of the crop, 97 per cent, or one point below last year. Flax. — The acerage of flax is reduced to about 19,160 acres, showing a reduction of 5,837 acres since 1904, according to the census figures; con- dition of the crop, 94 per cent, same as last year. Potatoes. — The acreage of the potato crop is estimated to be 115,310 acres, which is about the average of recent years. Condition of crop, 101 per cent. Meadows. — Acreage of meadows, including all cultivated hay crops, 3,518,750 acres. Condition of hay crop, 92 per cent. Wild Hay. — Acreage, 899,850; condition, 90 percent. CROP CONDITIONS, JULY 1, 1906. Following is a summary of reports received from correspondents of the Iowa Weather and Crop Service, giving estimates of the condition of the staple farm crops on July 1, 1906: 44 IOWA DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Corn, 99 per cent; wheat, 94; oats, 84; rye, 93; barley, 91; flax, 92; potatoes, 94; hay (tame), 75; pastures, 88; apples, 70; grapes, 85. On July 1, 1905, the estimates were as follows: Corn, 92 per cent, wheat, 94; oats, 96; rye, 96; barley, 98; flax, 95; hay, 101; pastures, 105; apples, 65; grapes, 88. CROP CONDITIONS, AUGUST 1, 1906. Following is a summary of reports received from correspondents of the Iowa "Weather and Crop Service giving estimates of the condition of staple farm crops August 1, 1906: Corn, 99 per cent; spring wheat, 93; oats, 90; flax, 95; hay, 79; pas- tures, 83; potatoes, 91; apples, 70; grapes, 94. Last year, at corresponding date, the estimates were: Corn, 94 per cent; wheat, 93; oats, 97; flax, 78; potatoes, 92; pastures, L03; apples, 40; grapes, 91. FINAL CROP REPORT, 1906. TOTAL YIELD OF SOIL PRODUCTS— VALUE AT FARM PRICES DECEMBER 1. Tabulated reports by counties afford ample evidence that the season of 1906 brought bountiful crops on the well tilled farms oi Iowa. In respect to the aggregate of yield and values of staple products, a new record has been scored for this foremost agricultural State. Corn. — The estimated acreage of the corn crop, based upon the returns of the State census of 1905, is about 9,443,960 acres. Carefully revised estimates of the yield by counties show an average for the State of 41 bushels per acre, and the total output for the State appears to be 388,348,920 bushels. This is about 42,000,000 bushels above the highest total credited to the State by the State bureau in any previous year. At the average farm price, 33 cents per bushel, the corn crop is now worth $128,155,143. As the greater portion of this crop will be consumed in the State, and marketed in form of live stock and dairy products, the potential value of this great cereal is 10 to 15 cents per bushel above the present selling price. The quality of corn that has been harvested in good season is above the average. It is a good crop to keep, so far as may be practicable, for the lean years that may come in the near future. Winter Wheat. — The average yield of winter wheat was 23 bushels per acre. Total yield, 1,566,050 bushels. Average farm price is about 67 cents per bushel; value of crop, $1,049,253. Spring Wheat. — Average yield per acre, 15 bushels; total yield, 5,603,880 bushels. Farm value, 63 cents per bushel; value of crop, $3,530,444. Oats. — Average yield, 34 bushels per acre; total crop, 142,036,580 bush- els; farm price, 27 cents; total value, $38,349,876. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II. 45 Rye. — Average yield, 11\^ bushels per acre; total crop, 1,093,160 bushels. Farm price, 48 cents; total value, $520,716. Barley. — Average per acre, 261/2 bushels; total yield, 14,858,830 bush- els; farm price, 36 cents; total value, $5,349,178. Flax Seed. — Average per acre, 10.7 bushels; total product, 205,280 bush- els; farm price, 97 cents; total value, $200,091. Potatoes. — Average yield per acre, 101 bushels; total product, 11,697,500 bushels; average price, 48 cents; total value, $5,614,800. Hay (Tame). — Average per acre, 1.3 tons; total yield, 4,892,950 tons; farm value December 1, $7.50 per ton; total value, $36,697,125. Hay (Wild). — Average per acre, 1.2 tons; total yield, 1,110,690 tons; farm price, $5.50; total value, $6,108,795. Pasturage and Grazing. — This includes pastures, grazing in meadows and grain fields after harvest and in cornfields in fall and winter. Having given this matter much study, making it a subject of interview with many of our best informed farmers, I am willing to stand committed to the proposition that the value of pasturage and grazing is above, rather than below, the total value of $90,000,000, with which it has been cred- ited in the following table: TABULATED CROP SUMMARY Crops Corn Winter wheat Spring wheat Oats Rye Barley Flax seed Potatoes Hay (tame) Hay (wild) Pasturage and grazing Buckwheat Sweet potatoes Sorghum and broomcorn. Timothy and clever seed . Alfalfa and millet Sweet corn Fruit crops Garden truck Total Products Total . 388,348,920 hus. 1,566,060 bus. 5,603,880 bus. 142,036,580 bus. 1,093,160 bus. 14,858,830 bus. 205,280 bus. 1,697,500 bus. 4,892,950 tons 1,110,690 tons Estimated Estimated Estimated Estimated Estimated Estimated Estimated Estimated Estimated Farm Value Dec. 1 $ 128,155,143 1,049,253 3,530,444 38,349,976 520,716 5,439,178 200,091 5,614,800 36,697,125 6,108,795 90,000,000 85,000 150,000 195,000 1,800,000 550,000 750,000 6,300,000 5,000,000 $ 330,495,421 The above figures take no account of the increment of value derived from the consumption of the soil products in the live stock industry of this state. 46 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. g H '^ P O O CD eq ■^ I T-H O ^■^ S 2^ o < 2 S g Ph o < P5 f> <1 a " (-.£3 snoj 8J0B aad sno x snoj iBlOX jad snox siaqsnq IBiox ; 8J0B J8d : eiaiisna siaqsnq IBIOX 8J0B J9Cl siaqsng siaqsnq IBIOX ajDB jad siaqsna siaqsnq IBIOX ajOB jad siaqsng eiaqenq IBIOX ajOB jad siaqsng siansnq IBIOX ajOB jad siaqsng siaqsnq IBjox ajDB jad siaqsng eiaqsnq IBJOX aJDB jad siaqsna C O O Q O O C in '^ 00 in 05 CO c ^lH■*O^-r-^OOCDCO00Ci Q o CD CO 00 ( CO rH CC i-H r-l i-t i-( r^ r-l CO ^P O O ^ CN C < m ■'1' in in ' [ CO Cvi O m CO O V ■ in o o o o © ift OOOQOOOOOOQOOC 05co-I^Q'*"r^c^JOQ(^^ooco^>c -*t>r-HlO0^COrHCO0000CO00CDl M^OSl^t'COCOCOt^C^ )COCO£~CO'*COrlHlCCOlOlCC - in t~ oi 00 <3 "~ in CO O CO rH CO ■*" ■ noE-coin-^cococ^ i«inoocoinincomooioiniccooooo-*r-(ooin^OTojo©co( • mincoc;coi't-oo(Mini-^T ^^>t*ooalcoOlnm-.t^r^co' ^ocjoincoQO coiHWinosCicoci o oo o o< i Q O O O Q X 1 o o o o ■C^C^COOOOt^QCOCOrHin-^iHCONinCOC c3 ^ jt^coOicDoincocscrs Oic5i-oiH ■ ■ r-l CO C'i C* com"0(>ioc>oooooorHmcQc*coooinin^moQinin iwino « 0» -M « CO CO CO CO CO « C4 CO Oi C5 CO Oi C>i CO O* 04 « « CO CO Ci C* I CO (M C4 Soi;ooooooooooooooooQO<5^2Q'52°'=>S ■^-^incOOmCOCOOOOOOrf'^COCOOOCOOCO'-OQinOQCOOO -*C07^-*C:OC^OiC0C000C^(MM'OT-(rHOC»0000»rr'^C0'^l-t>O^^C:> t-lC4CC05iHCDr-ICOWC* t-COrHCO»-HC^rHt-C^i-H(Mr-COOOiC^Oil>r-t OOCDTHOOOt-OOC^OCOOOOQOOSQOC^Oinc^OC i-l— -CQr-IOJrHi-IWNi-HrHWi-fi-ii-HrHWT-IC^MT ooin 00 o 00 00 > O O O Q C > f-i o OT in c J o o o o c? ^ o o CO o in tH iH rH rH iH f-H (N rH Cvi Ci iH c* rH t-h COWCOTOCO'^COCOCOCO^C^CO M e«M^co«cococo g in t* ic o CO CO CO « CO CO g o ,162,620 ,380,400 ,578,300 ,905,700 ,207,720 .1!) 1,610 ,623,300 ,986,900 ,826,900 ,991,260 ,703,850 ,408,800 ,607,820 i 5 ,102,350 ,194,080 ,690,800 ,639,620 ,393,160 ,955,880 ,378,960 .402.900 1 o o oo II \ CO "^COCirH-tJi — •-*'*l>iOir5iOCOlAOOlC«lftCOQF-lt-COQOlftm'00000<5000QOQt; oo-*cviCDocoiniftf^<>j(0®l>c5<: > t- '^ ci o i>i i 3 Ol T-4 i-H CO CO CO lo 1 1- CO CO CO Q CD m lO b- CO lo CO 00 (D c» I in CO ■<* oo t-o ,B CS>- ^■eo.^ -DSiScs O 0) 5 OS2 'J^ cj < > o o o oo o < t— £> o ^J' r^ c rH M 1 O rH C^ CO CO 0DC0OOQ0cHC4O ~ST3 I II fl Soil l^a j: S-S !: %^ ^ ^^-.2 '.— > 'tj c: c: a. c; .14 SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II. 47 SOOOOOOOQOOOOQQOOOOOQOOOQOOOOQOOOOOOOOQOOOQOOOOO iH-^C^CD"CCO!OOiO-^rH:DOOCD^-+**HCCO®r-HCOi-HW^'-HCOr-tQC'JWi-'i-HCii-<©CJW rHNe*0QrH«r-lt-O0'Xi^'^i-H CiC-OiiOCOi-- Ol-^-^CO O'*'C0in00O--r:000i-(rH(M0*'H«'-<'*iCCC00CD'^ THiHC40«C0rHr-IDlr-lrH S r-t CO rHCOCOiH OOOOC>JirOO^>^OOi0OC^'C>CiiOmcstOOOOC4OC»>^Ol-^Qf-Hcoco «OCOOO■^■^C^COCOCO■^CCCOCOCOlf5^2CO-<*OOln■^COOlCl?5"^00(^JCTCOtovO»n•^CO'^rHC^ cooo'io"iSr55'irrM"TH"^"S"co~^*"QOo^ OOOO^OOOOOOOOOOOOQOOOOOQQOOQOOOOOOOOOQ222'^222SS OQOO5oOOQO>'^5i-OOu0C0ift-t'Oo3oOOiSO>?^OQ--+'WQOOO00OOOO0JO »HCooocoSr:^-•^r:aD05lr^ocZ}coco^-c^ooo-*c■*ooclOot"-'*'*ooocoiC1Hoococ^o^c^ OOOLr^OOClTC■^U7-1HC^Cl^-Q'^tD!^iO'MCOCOCOOil^^rSrt4Ci(^W^-^0<^0(X)COCO^O^H^- 00CDiO<:DO< 'Ot>OlCi>l-^CO'^mot-Cli--IO<'— l-*rHOXl^00i-iiniOCDC:rC; t--C:t--THC^t>Ci0D«lOC-'-HOC000lA i-Hr-*rHr-l Ci r-i tH r-t .rHrHCOi-lrHi-tOT W iHrHr-i r-(»-( i-Hi-lrHOi 1 O O C:' O O : iiOiO rOQOlOf-»i>-OiO'f>f . -?; CO O ^ r: c > C5 O rH i> CO O 0'T-Qicio»roc^cpcooin>r-QcpQooo<5<::50QQ< SooOr-'COOcociCioo>J^oot^OOo5oi-'Sooccc;oo5ic S CD o CO o o in CD CO '^ T-H lO , C Q O O O c t CO Ci t- QO c^ c- r; OOOOOOOOQOOOOO ocoooooQOOooc^icocoovrs c^oaiO>o?oooo5ot^cooow i-H CO »C Ci O CO O " < CO »f^ Ci O > CO m rH ) Oi ■* CO CO ( 1 CO in i^ o ^^ < ■ c^-^c^cir-COCOi-HSoOCO?iO-H^ ' OJ GO N t- -^^ I— I -^ ^^ X> CO : OOi-tOCrii-<;Oi-lOrH JOOOQOOQOOc • ^ o I CJ O* -H CO ^ iH m CO i-H -* CO )C0C0t^C0QC^CDW-1*C0O00OC0C5Or-»^-^C0iC00O»^»C lrHlMr^IHe5oJ1-^I-HC«i^H(^irHC^trH««C^<^i5*rH.-^I--^^HrHr^l-^c5^-^'--'^'-^'-H«C^i^^W >0020000000': > OJ f-1 O CO t-l ■ < 00 w c O C- - |> ITS rH :0 i> CO t tHiH'^Oi0Dt— C0e4t-O5C^"*00i>C0O0:OiOSC0- ^cooOO'^4lr^ocooo J-^lOCOOOCMi-lG^CO 1 CO Ci ^^ CO o c COrHCOiOOOOCO-^Clt-OO'WOOif^OiCOOOOcomi-HiCOi^OCOirrif^ ScOCOCOCOCOCOCOcOCOCOCOCOWCO^COCOOiCOCiCOCOCOCO'^iCOCOC'iCOCO CCOCO(M(MC0-5'C0COC0C0CO< )OOOQOOOOOOQOOOOOOOOOOOOO^OOQOQOOO:z:OOOOOOOOOQoOO S■^■^OWQOt-n■^lOOOOCO^f^■^OQ-t^lnc^i^f^OiO':^CO>^~'?^Q■-r'■-^ ■•iHOOiCiCOC^CO— 'i— IC0-^'rt^-^O'^'^C^OC>*r-(C--G0O00'ZJ"^C0-^C0Q0C0in--t' :r. t'CO'^-^OOOOiC^COi— 1^0500 c:it-^-lc^^cooc:^lf^'^*co(^iI-H- >0'^t^C100rHt'COCOO> ^ ^- o o CO CO ■ OOCOOOiOOO-flOCOinc^COC — i-ooot-cooooocoocoiniixMooaoococcov^oociio fOQ-t^t--cOoopir'Com-5'* tCOOOOCOO'^JCOCOiOrHOlOC* :OC0C0OlW00OC5OC0t-'^J> eaoiCOCO-*-^-^ — CO-^CC-^lCWi-nCO-^COOTCOOi'^COCOlOC^vOtMC^COCO-^'^m'^CJlftT-fCOCOCOC^'^COb-COlOOO OC0C<>'^C^QOC0*^C^i0WOOC0»n(NQiCC0l0CDL0C:OCC0lAt-O-^CiC0C0'«OrHc0O0>t^C0Cib-C0OOO ■^co"*:0'^-^-^'^coMHcO'^"^'^co'^>*'^cO'^co"*"*co-^-r'-jfcoco"^'^"*"^'^'-t'co':j^ 000=!QOQ0 :i:0000 CDC3^-^iftir-icoc;5 — o-*«co ooo5e>^coiocif-a)coi>c;ci 28S§ CO {> c:i to 11 O O Q O O M •* o OO iH CO CC 320 570 800 680 140 580 150 600 G40 510 50O 680 700 420 440 150 380 400 360 670 740 epc^Cic^oicoci'<*'Oi>co(>cj 05rHiH i-HOi rH;OWC^COCO M- t^ I-H G* r-1 «> lO 00 00 g lnco^:co(^*-woo^-L-tHC:-^ (Om'«*'c^immcomcoio-*coco -S^ CO -* 00 2»; -* o ■* c* in e«t>ioccooooirsin;o««oOD>co^«io-»>cDi>r-T)i CO Ci CD rH do CO CO CO C4 CO 5hS! t~ ^ rH = a ^£ 2 £ s s _|illJlW-lM-l|il«l-Lll-HI— (l-jl-sl-,!-:!-. is ^5 ^ 3 --* c3 oj o +j a ow., S3oo'C43t^t^^i^aai3»5;:9, gV),2 48 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. K^ Eh (^OD snoj OOOOQOOOOOOOOOOOQOOOO f-^COW-^00eD(MT-tl>l-i-HQ0i-(^(NiH^iH^t'^ - -.CO-^fHrHCOlrtaseitHtNiHTHtMTHCSSOOSOi ) CO 00 < ci n ( 8J0B J8(J SOOX ooiAcoei-^oirtirtoooe^ooinoomoim SUOJ IBIOX ooOOoQoooogOQOOog; o5 ^OCO(?5o*rHt--^"*(MC^COrHC:CJC dad suox i-HC-ilft'^0»00C0CDlftO(M'*'*C0O00lCC0O00Q0 staqsnq IBIOX > c o o o o o t < — o o 3; O O ! [ •?( O t- OD r^ O t C-. & 00r-tO000COCDt-Ci^00£>'*00;DiHU^i OOSoOC«i-lS~. 000^. lStt>c3sro0J06OrHOOiH siaqsnq iBaox siaiisna o o siaqsnq IBJOX : 00 -f -* CO 10 i-i « < 3J3B jad eiaqsng > •* -^ r-l X O to IN I Oi rH CO W CO W r- < ;ajW^oOOl'^"■^OC^c/:col^O■^cDOO ) O O O O O Q < sioqsnq siaqsna ITS i-( 00 r-l T '^ W O 00 O O -ti < CO in t- n-i'coSStococD5SSS^ ffic5oOiHO)io(NOOoovcini-ii-iotoO'^>Aio>Bco • OCiir^OO-f-fCOt'O'^'-HCOCOCO-n'-n'COCOCi jCiO^Cli-HCOCiOOOOOCOf^if^rHr-tOi^^'^'^SS )CO(M**00Ol"^COT-ICOCOCO0000o:it'OJC0rHU^CO ■^C^-^CO-^CDlCilCC ) O CO f^ » T C ((?«(MCOCOCSi' C^J 00 -* CD C ) CO -* "* O I iH « N 00 t-H rM CO CO 00 C4 ■* C* CO ■* ( ;s§ w Q -n^ o K c» rH 55 00 CO CO Oi Ift -iT-^ CO r-t CO ■rJ4 CO CO O CO CO co,cd O 5W OJ S^ O m H a'O^-a gdooa»oo9 b'S 2eScjoicsa).l::.Sooi^ SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II, 49 50 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART II. 51 52 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART II. 53 54 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. '^^j^zy^ SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART II. 55 56 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART II. 57 5.S IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. PART III. Proceedings of the State Farmers' Institute and Agricultural Convention Held in the Kooms of the Department of Agriculture Des Moines, Iowa, Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 11-12, 1906. December 11, 1906, 9.30 a. m. The President : The meeting will please come to order. The first upon our program will be the address of welcome, by Hon. Henry Wallace, of Des Moines. Mr. Wallace: Members of the State Farmers' Institute: It is cer- tainly a great pleasure to me to have the opportunity of welcoming you to Des Moines. We are building a city here. They say we have 100,000 population now. I don't believe it. They say we will have 200,000. We may, and we may not. We have been taking stock of our resources. We have an abundance of coal all around us; but the unfortunate thing is, that for every ton of coal we take out, there is that much less; there is no more made. We have shale; but when we dig a ton of shale, there is that much less. We have stone, to enable us to manufacture cement out of the shale, which we hope to do by and by; but that is liable to the same objection. We have the capitol here, and that is something, a good thing to have the representatives of the State come around and watch the officers and see that they do right. We have schools and colleges; a good many elements of growth and greatness. But as we come to look into the matter closely, these, after all, are not much, except as backed up and sustained by the farmers of Iowa. We think we have in the farms of Iowa an asset of permanent value, provided they are properly handled. You know, I don't believe the Almighty has spent millions of ages, per- haps, in fitting Iowa as a home for man, and then expected it to be worn (59) 60 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. out in a generation or two generations. I believe he had an eye to the babies that are coming hundreds of years from now, to be fed and sus- tained by the soil of Iowa. Therefore, we look to the soil of Iowa for our great permanent asset. Des Moines without Iowa is nothing. Iowa could have another Des Moines, if it was out of existence. The difference between the soil and the mine is this: When you take something out of the mine, there is that much less. The farmer is the creator, a creator, not in making something out of nothing, but in making values out of pre- existing material, the abundant, superabundant, moisture, sunshine and heat. Every blade of grass, every pig and calf, is a new creation, fresh from the hand of God. It is our business and your business to create out of the sunshine and heat, and the electrical currents, food for the hungry nations. And how much food you will create, how well you will dischai-ge that duty, how well the farmer shall prosper, depends altogether upon the education which this association furnishes, comprising, as it does, the professors of the Iowa colleges, the editors of agricultural papers, manufacturers, mem- bers of farmers' associations, and of the great breeding associations; upon these, I say, the future prosperity of this State depends for all time. Therefore, friends, it is a great pleasure for me to welcome the rep- resentative men who stand for this future developmnt of the State. I do not know of any other men, or any other class of men, whether kings or potentates, or presidents, or members of congress, who are so worthy of a welcome to the city of Des Moines as the members of this association. Therefore we meet you with glad hands. We are glad to see you, as we are glad to see other representatives of the great business interests of the State of Iowa. We have had an astonishing period of prosperity. We know it is here, and we hope it is here to stay. I am sure that to a great extent depends upon the people you represent, who till the fair lands of the State of Iowa. Gentlemen, I give you a hearty and cordial welcome. The President: The response to the address of welcome will be made bv Senator B. "W. Newberry. ADDRESS. SEX.\TOK B. W. XEWBERRV. STRAWBEKRY POINT, lA. Mr. President: On behalf of the members of this institute, represent- ing the great agricultural interests of our State, I have the pleasure to voice their great appreciation for the generous welcome to this Capital City — the mecca for all great gatherings of lowans, so fittingly and elo- quently extended by one of Iowa's favorite speakers and leading agricul- tural journalist. Agriculture has always been the greatest of our established industries, but agriculture is more than an industry; it is a progressive science. Our government is lending its powerful aid in promoting and extending all lines of this great industry, with the purpose "to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before" or where none grew at all. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART III. 61 The investigations in the laboratory and the experiment stations of the agricultural department have been of incalculable benefit to our coun- try, and the good work has but commenced. The irrigations of the desert and waste places, the cultivation of many of the food products of other lands and adapting them to our own soils, the encouragement of tree planting and the preservation of our forests, the rescue and protection of animal and plant from scourges and diseases, the discovery and produc- tion of new food products, the prevention of the adulteration of foods and drugs and the precluding of the use of diseased unwholesome or uncleanly meats and other foods, and the ascertaining and imparting the best meth- ods to be pursued in all branches of agriculture, are some of the efforts put forth by the agricultural department of our government. Iowa is acknowledged to be the foremost agricultural State in the Union, and the agricultural interests should ever be given that just and full recognition that their magnitude and importance demand. We do not have to remind the people of Iowa that they inhabit a goodly land and filled with milk and bread and butter. They have known that for a long time. And this year we have some corn. In fact, it is only occasionally that we have to go down into Egypt or Missouri for corn. Last year, accoixling to the Year Book, we raised more than 346,000,000 bushels of corn, and this year the government and state experts agree that we will have at least 40,000,000 bushels more than last year. The efforts of Holden, Cownie, Wallace, Atkinson and other apostles of corn selection and corn cultivation have apparently been effective in the larger acreage and the larger yield. And if their instructions are followed by all our farmers Iowa's production of corn will soon be doubled. But corn is not Iowa's only crop. We raise annually nearly 7,000,000 hogs, which aggregates more than Illinois and Missouri combined. We nave a million and a quarter of hcrses and nearly 5,000,000 of cattle. We raised last year 184,000,000 bushels of oats and a large amount of other cereals; 5,000,000 tons of timothy hay, besides a vast acreage of clover, wild hay, millet and other forage. The hens of Iowa laid nearly 80,000,000 dozen of eggs, worth ten and three-fourths million dollars, besides the value of fowls was over eight millions. We made over 82,000,000 pounds of butter. Figures where they reach the millions are bewildering. This is somewhat of the present measure of Iowa as an agricultural State. With all harvest productions Iowa is capable of greatly increasing them. The methods of farming are continu- ally improving and land values are constantly increasing. With farm lands at $100 and upwards per acre the methods of the Iowa farmer must necessarily be more exact and his efforts more intense. Seven years ago the Twenty-eighth General Assembly very wisely passed a law reorganizing the State Agricultural Society and establishing the State Agricultural Department for the specified object of "the promo- tion of agriculture, horticulture, forestry, animal industry, manufactures and the domestic arts," which department is placed under the manage- ment of a body known as the State Board of Agriculture. And it is made the duty of such board "to look after and promote the interests of 62 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. agriculture, of agricultural education and animal and other industries throughout the State; to investigate all subjects relating to the improve- ments of methods, appliances and machinery and the diversification of crops and products; also to investigate reports of contagious diseases among domestic animals or destructive insects, or fungus diseases in grains, grasses and other plants; the adulteration of foods, seeds and other products, and to report the result of investigations together with recom- mendations of remedial measures for prevention of damages resulting therefrom. And it is made the duty of the Iowa Experiment Station to co-operate with the department of agriculture in carrying out these investigations." So it is apparent that the State Board of Agriculture has a vastly wider field of operation than the holding of a State fair annually, even as great and successful as these fairs have been under the present manage- ment. Since the establishment of a State Department of Agriculture, the State board has rendered commendable and efficient service. In the realm of legislation numerous remedial measures have been proposed and advocated by the board. Among those that have received legal enactment may be suggested the State Highway Commission, the property tax in lieu of the labor tax in the working of highways, the use of the King drag on public roads, the pure food law, measures beneficial to the dairy interests, laws pertaining to drainage, the encouragement of tree planting, inspection of registered cattle brought into the State, State registration of pure bred stallions, the protection of birds and their nests, the inspection of nur- series and nursery stocks, and others. The usefulness and importance of the State Department of Agriculture will become steadily more and more apparent in the passing years. The law further provides that "in connection with the annual State agricultural convention the board may hold a State farmers' institute for the discussion of practical and scientific topics relating to the various branches of agriculture, the substance of which shall be pubished in the annual report of the board." And such institute is now in convocation. These institutes are primarily educational. Great advancement has been made among farmers the past few years. Farming is no longer looked upon as a mere occupation. In no line of endeavor does education and skill count for more. In no vocation is there such a varied field of action and sure reward. The rural population is a great safeguard in the maintenance of law and order and justice in a republic. Iowa is fortunate that she has no city exceeding 100,000 in population. Neither has she very many million- aires. With her population and wealth so evenly distributed, graft and vice, want and penury are reduced to the minimum. President Roosevelt in his recent message says: "It is a mere truism to say that no growth of wealth, no industrial development, can atone for any falling off in the character and standing of the farming population. During the past decade this fact has been recognized with ever increasing clearness." The standing of the Iowa farmer in character, wealth and intelligence was never higher than the present. The Iowa farm and the occupant SEVENTH ANNI^AL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 63 thereof must always be counted as the most potent factor in our com- monwealth. In closing, permit me to read a choice poem on Iowa written many years ago by Rev. H. M. Powers, then residing at Davenport, and w-hich was recently rescued from oblivion by our worthy friend, Henry Wallace: "Midst land where mighty torrents run, With placid brow and modest mien. With besom glowing to the sun Sits the majestic prairie queen. Imperial rivers kiss her feet. And free winds through her tresses blow% Her breath with unsown flowers is sweet. Her cheeks are flushed with morning's glow. "Strong is her beauty, what cares she For jeweled cliffs or rills of gold; For seats along the sounding sea, Or storied monuments of old. Her bends are strong, her frame secure, Her praise on lips whose praise is dear. Her hands, her heart, her purpose pure, And God in all her landscape near. "Ah, splendid in her ample lap Are annual harvests heaped sublime, Earth bears not on her proudest map A fatter soil, a fairer clime. How sing her billowy seas of grain. Hew laughs her fruit on vine and tree, How glad her homes in plenty's reign, Where love is Lord and worship free. "Land of the generous heart and brave, Thy hosts leaped in the fiercest fray. When bled our noblest sons to save Our mighty realm to freedom's sway. Thy children, known where honor lies, The deeds that greatness consecrates. And en their stalwart virtues rise The pillars of a peerless state." The President : The next will be a paper by :\Ir. C. G. ]\Ie.ser- ole, secretary of the Iowa Farmer.?' Co-operative Association. 64 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. FARMERS' CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS, Vv'HY THEY ARE OR- GANIZED AND WHAT THEY ACCOMPLISH. C. G. MESEROLE, COWRIE, IOWA. In discussing co-operative practice on the part of farmers in handling grain, it at once becomes necessary to consider transportation and ware- housing. Between the producer and consumer there is, and always will be, the barriers of distance, and the facilities of warehousing and conditioning of grain; and we are ready to admit that these items of necessity have a legitimate place in the determination of values, and I shall leave it for my hearers to determine whether or not these items have been justly fixed or fairly maintained. One instance of such justice will suffice to show the power and dispo- sition of these masters of Iowa's agricultural destiny; twice within the past three years has the bulk of Iowa's crop paid a transportation tax on the basis of 12 cents per hundred pounds to the Mississippi river, while the grain of the Nebraska farmer was transported to the seaboard, a dis- tance six times as great, on the basis of 11 V2 cents per hundred pounds, and yet the relations of the railroads and the elevator interests were such that only a fraction of the difference was given to the Nebraska farmer. Some might ask, what has all this to do with farmers' co-operative associations? My answer is this: The line house elevator system, which absolutely controls the terminal elevators at the market centers, through their connection with the transportation companies, were able, and as a matter of fact did, for some time, dominate and control the local markets not only of Iowa but of all the grain belt states. Toiling in the shadow of these great evils, the farmer has prospered in a measure; but this small measure of prosperity has been forced from the bosom of the soil by perseverence and self-denial; but the greater pos- sibilities for profit to himself were often made apparent to him by the rapid and sure advance in prices after he had disposed of his holdings. We must not suppose that the average farmer did not realize what the effect of these conditions were upon his chances for financial development, the problem with him then was a remedy, as an individual he could do nothing, railroads refused to furnish cars, commission men refused to sell his grain, he was told if he wanted to ship grain he must provide him- self with an elevator. What more natural result could be expected than the establishment of cooperative grain companies? But the farmers of Iowa, ever cautious, ever conservative, but ever practical as well, have not made as much haste in this work as the results of the earlier experiences would warrant. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 65 For twenty years it was being demonstrated that such institutions coukl be made profitable, and the testimony of all farmers connected with the co-operative plan of handling grain is that it has been the means of increasing the price of grain to the producer from 2 to 5 cents per bushel and still allow a margin of profit sufficient to pay the running expenses of the business. Let us be conservative and place the figure at the lowest estimate, and then see what the result will be. Place Iowa's corn crop at 350,000,000 for this year, allow one-half of this for feeding, place a farm value of 30 cents on this 175, COO, 000 of corn, and the elevator tax at the country end would reach the proportions of $3,500,000; add to this the tax on other grains of an equal amount, and you have the enormous sum of $7,000,000 which might be saved to develop Iowa's resources by co-operative handling. And yet, with each succeeding year of co-operative practice, new and greater possibilities appear. In order to call to your attention some oi the evils of the warehousing system, which comes as a result of the alliance between the railroads and the elevator interests, I shall trespass on your time long enough to read you some extracts from an address made by William T. Baker, who was president of the Chicago Board of Trade for five years, a man too honest to be useful to the elevator interests, and fearless in his denunciation of their methods: EXTRACTS FROM PRESIDENT BAKER'S ADDRESS, JANUARY, 1895. "Next to the incubus of the bucket shops is the tyranny of the elevator monopoly, which, from a fair and legitimate beginning, has grown to such proportions within your association as to threaten its very existence. And it is a broader question than the survival of the fittest among groups of business men and interests in this exchange. It concerns every merchant and every common carrier engaged in the great commerce of this city, and every farmer who contributes to make that commerce possible. The ware- housing of grain is only an incident in its transit from producer to con- sumer. Its natural and healthy function is in accepting on storage the overflow of the season of freest movement that the channels of commerce may not be clogged or obstructed, and safely caring for the same while waiting a demand. But in Chicago the accumulation and storage of grain has come to be the chief end and aim of potential and dominating forces. The alliance between railroads and elevators has resulted in reaching out after millions of bushels not naturally tributary to us, and when gath- ered here preventing it by such tricks of trade as you are familiar with from ever getting away again as long as storage can be collected on it. This policy has resulted in such congestion of grain here as to depress prices to the lowest point in history. For it is not the Chicago stock alone that this market has to carry. Its very volume invites dealers in every market in the world to make sales here against holdings elsewhere, which they would not dare to do but for abnormal accumulations brought and held here by unnatural means. Cargoes of wheat bought on European account in Austxalia, India, Russia and Argentina, as well as stocks at all 5 66 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. other points of accumulation, are sold against here, so that our market feels the weight of the entire world's surplus. This condition is 'only- made possible by the enormous and unnatural hoard brought and retained here to satisfy the avarice of half a dozen corporations, the largest of which is owned in London. A system that permits the proprietors of pub- lic elevators, directly or indirectly, to deal in the property of which they are custodians, is essentially immoral. The temptation to reserve for themselves the best of a grade is one to which the law never contemplated that they should be subjected. Indeed, the principal motive of the ware- house law was to prevent their ownership or control of grain in public warehouses. Yet it is notorious that during the past year the proprietors of elevators have had for sale and have sold millions of bushels df grain at a large premium, net one cent of which in equity belonged to them. The grain bought elsewhere by elevator proprietors is promptly sold here to you for some future delivery, so they become the custodians of your property, which, however, you can only get on payment of such premiums as the urgency of the demand may enable them to exact. It is an unwel- come task for me to criticise the methods of any class of our members, but this is an occasion for plain speech and honest, earnest effort to restore to this association its vanishing glory and traditions. The elevator mo- nopoly is the same blight on legitimate business that anti-option legislation would have been if enacted. The old-time open competition of thousands has been superseded by new conditions under which each railroad terminating in Chicago is practically controlled by a single buyer. Special rates are made to favored individuals who have the further advantage of elevator control, so that rates charged to the public are rebated to themselves, thus enabling them to outbid or undersell all competitors. This charge of three-quarters of a cent per bushel for the first term of storage is retained only as a protection to elevator managers against the competition of legi- timate dealers in grain. It is a charge that you cannot avoid, but which is ignored by them in their own transactions, thus forcing every one to sell or to buy of them. The fact that this charge is not bona fide, but only a foil to competition, proves that it is unjust and should be abolished. While elevator proprietors are willing to pay one cent per bushel more for grain "to go to store" in their own warehouses than the market price of the same grain in store (and subject to the charge of three-quarters of a cent per bushel), is conclusive that the first storage charge is not legitimate, and also that the subsequent terms of storage are unduly profit- able. The charge for the transfer of grain from cars to vessels, a dis- tance of perhaps 100 feet, is greater than the average rate of freight, during the past season, from Chicago to Buffalo. The same grain is trans- ferred on track by the railroads themselves from western to eastern cars for nothing. A proper solution of our difficulties must include facilities by railroads entering here for free warehousing of grain on arrival, and fair rates for storage on naturally acquired accumulations. The device of collecting storage in advance of delivery of grain has supplied largely increased cap- ital to elevator proprietors to be used against you in the unequal compe- tition for business. There is no legal or moral right in this practice, and SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART III. 67 it should be terminated altogether. Warehouse receipts for grain are made current by your rules. These rules are absolutely binding on every buyer in your market whether he is a member of your Board or not. It there- fore behooves you to protect the innocent purchaser by every safeguard within your power. It is not only your right but your imperative duty to have such an oversight of elevator management as will assure to holders of warehouse receipts made regular by your rules that their re- ceipts represent not only property, but uncontaminated grades and condi- tion. In providing the requisites for regular receipts, it may be possible to correct some of the abuses complained of, as well as give adequate security to holders of warehouse receipts. But the legislature must be appealed to to so amend the warehouse law as to make it impossible for public warehousemen to be also dealers in grain; and railroad companies having terminals here should be required to warehouse their grain on arrival as they do every other species of merchandise. With this pur- pose in view, I recommend the appointment of a committee on legisla- tion outside the Board of Directors, to promote the necessary legislation at Springfield." Many members of that great exchange, honest in the conduct of their own business, yet lacking in moral courage, are just now coming to real- ize that the fight for a square deal should have been made long ago, and are now circulating among members of the exchange copies of this article which I quote from, in the hope that it may have its effect for good in the approaching election of officers of that exchange. This spasm of righteousness, though long delayed, will be welcomed by all honest men interested in the growing and shipping of grain. And co-oiierative companies claim the credit of bringing it about, for it comes as a direct result of the fight of the factions on the Chicago Board of Trade over the handling of co-operative business. The purpose of farmers co-operative associations was therefore to secure to the individual, through organization, that which was impossible for them to obtain by individual effort. The same intelligence that has placed Iowa's agriculture on so high a plane, has impelled the agriculturist to reach out for the just reward denied him under the commercial system which has been framed for the purpose of loot, without regard to the interests of the men who are the real captains of industry. Couple this motive with the spirit of independence which has ever characterized our citizenship, and we have the reasons for the establish- ment of co-operative grain companies, which have not only proven profit- able but give promise of being effective in the much needed cleansing of the streams of our commercial life. Like the co-operative creamery, and all farmers organizations of the past, the co-operative elevator company has passed through the various stages of development, has met and overcome many of the difficulties which caused the failure of former efforts; notwithstanding the warfare that was waged and is still being waged. The lessons learned by co-operatives during this struggle were varied and useful, and that we have profited by them is evidenced by the thrifty 68 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. condition of 125 companies now doing business in Iowa, 100 of them having been organized within the past two years. Among otlier things they learned that if they were to succeed they must be loyal to their organizations as individuals; that they must con- duct their business on business principles, that in order to preserve their organization, and, the consequent benefits, there were certain meas- ures they must adopt, such as limiting the number of shares held by one person, confining the ownership of stock as far as possible to prac- tical farmers, voting as members and not as owner^ of stock, and the pro- tection clause commonly called the penalty clause by the enemies of co-op- eration. This clause provides that a member, in consideration of having an open market, unhampered by pools or price arrangements, where his grain may be handled at the minimum of cost, shall guarantee the maintenance of tne institution by paj'^ing into its treasury a fraction of a cent for each bushel sold to a competitor. In the organization of a co-operative company the probable amount of grain to be sold by the members is the first thing considered, and is the only basis on which they may figure for the maintenance of the eleva- tor which is proposed to do the work and the inevitable expense con- nected with doing the proposed work; it would then appear that the mem- bers who took part in the organization should be held responsible for its success on the same basis that they are figured as members. So far removed is this plan from being in restraint of trade, that it is exactly the opposite in effect, it guarantees to the member a free and open market where his grain shall be handled at the minimum of cost and performs the same service for the man, who like a sponge, is ready to soak up everything good, but who is always unwilling to become responsible. It would seem, in the light of recent investigations, and knowledge gained from them, unnecessary to attempt to explain the necessity of thi3 clause. It must be patent to all that there was railway discrimination, special privileges enjoyed by certain interests, calculated to drive all independent shippers out of business, or into the ranks of the combine. In speaking of the independent shippers, I speak from actual experi- ence. That I refused to surrender, or that I was driven out of busi- ness is of little consequence in dealing with the present as affecting the vast interests of Iowa agricultlre. In taking up the fight that the few independent dealers had waged and lost in the interests of fair play to the producer, the co-operatives found that they were as greatly handicapped as the independent; that branch of the combine extending into the local markets, masquerading under the cloak of a trade organization, attempted a system of boycotting which at one time threatened the co-operative companies with destruction. Failing in this they did not hesitate to increase their margins at points where it was possible and use it to fight the co-operative companies. To meet this kind of opposition the protection clause came into gen- eral use. That it has been effective need not be asserted by me; ask the representatives of the grain trust what its effect is. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 69 That it has been effective in its general purport may be assumed, when taking into consideration the healthy condition of the 125 co-oper- ative companies now doing business in Iowa, and that the percentage of failures of co-operative companies in Iowa for the past three years is less than that of any other occupation. I do not pose as a reformer, nor am I one of those who advocate a great overgrown organization of farmers for the purpose of holding and hoarding wheat for a dollar a bushel, or corn for fifty cents, regardless of the laws of supply and demand; this is the middle ground on which the producer and the consumer should be able to meet and adjust prices unhampered by the power of monopolies. I believe in co-operation because I believe it to be the most effective means of breaking dowa those barriers of trade which are always tread- ing close to the line of criminal practice, under the law, but always able to escape the penalties of the law. I believe the streams of our commercial life need cleansing, and the man who will deny the farmer his part in this work is an enemy to good government and a traitor to his country. The President: This paper is now open for discussion. Mr. Henry Wallace : I am very glad to hear this paper of Mr. Meserole. He has done good work in pushing forward this cause. It seems to me it is the duty of every man, whether he has grain to sell or not, to stand by this co-operative movement. It means a very great deal to the farmers of the State, even those who buy corn and grain, ought to stand by the purpose of this move- ment, for the purpose of cleansing the channels of trade. There is a great deal said against this penalty clause spoken of in the paper. I believe it is absolutely essential to the existence of co- operative elevators, absolutely essential to the farmers and ele- vators who make their living in this manner. The President: Next we will listen to an address by Mr. H. W. Collingwood, editor Rural New Yorker, New York. DEVELOPMENT OF EASTERN AGRICULTURE. H. W. COLLINGWOOD, NEW YORK, N. Y. Memiers of the State Farmers' Institute, and Ladies and Gentlemen: Over twenty-five years ago I went through Iowa as an emigrant, going from New England to Colorado. I have not been here since and I am glad I had a chance to look around a little before I talked to you. I should feel more at home if I felt that there were those here that came from east of the Alleghenys, either as a pioneer or with their father. Let me see if there are any such here. (Several hands went up). In the East, at a meeting of this kind, when a man tells a story or makes a 70 IOWA DEPAKTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. statement which is not believed or understood, he has to prove it. He must do one of two things, that is, take it back or prove it. (Laughter). I believe that is a good habit, and I hope you will come at me today with your broadaxes if I ever get off the track of your understanding or belief. One thing, however, must be understood, and that is, that I might not hear your questions, so I will ask you to write them out and give them to me. Perhaps your chairman here will consent to act as middleman be- tween us. My first idea of the middleman was obtained when I was a boy, living on a small Cape Cod farm. An old Yankee in our town ran a cider mill. He told three of us, all little boys, that if we would pick up two barrels of apples under the seedling trees along the road and put them into the hopper, he would give us all the cider we could suck through a straw. Now, I have had ambitions in my day and many of them are now dead; but looking back over a good many years, I don't think any of them quite equal to the hope of getting my mouth at one end of a rye straw with the other end dipping in a cider tank. So we worked like little slaves and picked up those apples and poured them into the hopper. Then came the owner with a regular Yankee trick. He told us we could have the cider, if we could get it, but we could not come inside of the mill. You might possibly scare off an Iowa boy by such a trick, but Cape Cod boys are not built that way. "We went around the side of the mill and there we found a knot-hole close by the cider tank. We went to my uncle's rye field and picked up the longest straw we could find, and just as we were running it through the knot-hole, out came the Yankee and caught us at it. "I will fix you," he said, and he took two old rails and some boards and built a fence around the knot-hole. Then he went back satisfied that he had us going, but he didn't. We got the smallest boy to crawl, like a wood-chuck, down under that fence. He took two straws. One he ran through the knot-hole until it dipped into the cider, and he put that in one side of his mouth; then he put the other straw into the other side of his mouth and ran it out between a couple of boards in that fence, and it was pull the cider out of the tank on one side and push it out through the other straw, while we, on the outside, got a somewhat warm liquid, which once was cold cider. Now, that was my first experience with the middleman. I have run up against a good many of them since, and I have learned that they are all the same. Their first ambition is to fill themselves up with cider, then they lose interest in the job and forget to pass it along. We had to take that little boy down to the spring and make him drink water until you could see it in his eyes before he would pass any of that cider on. Other forms of large middlemen that I have run up against swallow large quantities of so-called water, and then turn about and ask us to actually pay dividends on it, so that the middleman has come to be one of the important factors in the development of farming. We must, in part, at least, get away from him before we can hope to come to our own. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 71 In Missouri, last week, a man came to me witti the following pro- position: "I get the idea, from what you say, that in the East the plan is to get must out of little, while in the West we are so strong and rich in crude material, that it is more like making little out of much." I don't know how true that is of you, but we, in the East, have certainly been forced to utilize waste and make as much as we can out of small resources. This man went on to say that a fool could make little out of much, but that it required hard brains and close planning to make much out of little, and I agree with him in both propositions. Standing at the stock yards in South Omaha last Saturday, a farmer from southewestern Iowa said, as one of those great steers rolled off into the cooling room, "that is the end of our farming." I was obliged to say to him, "it may end your farming, but it is the beginning of ours." We are willing to pay nearly $50 a ton for the dried blood which comes from that steer and we can pay $30 or $40 for the ground bone. We can add potash to these two and with this mixture raise more corn to feed to another animal at a profit; therefore, I was right in saying that where one system of farm- ing ends, another begins, and the margin between the two is wide enough to afford the Eastern farmer a good living. It may seem strange to you that we can utilize the refuse from your animals or buy your grains at exorbitant prices, and yet we get our money back by doing so. You could hardly expect a Yankee to pay out a dollar unless he saw a chance of getting $1.10 back; so with these wide differences, it is impossible for a man to come here from the East and tell you how to conduct your farming. I can only tell you how our farms are developing and leave you to make the true application, for it is my conviction that sooner or later, you will be obliged to follow us in some directions, at least. Let me give you, by way of illustration, two instances to show you how life in the East has changed. I talk in this off-hand way just as these things come into my head. Old men have told me how, on the old-fashioned Vermont farms, they used to bring the year's products to the Boston market. There were no railroads at that time and goods were hauled on wagons or sleds. They generally waited until January or February when the snow was deep and sleighing was good, then they hitched up their oxen. You men cannot conceive the idea of working a steer, because he does enough for you in the production of beef; yet, even now, in some parts of New England, the farm work is done by oxen, who work for several years at a profit and are then sold at a good price. But, when the load was ready, they hitched the oxen to the sled, sev- eral yoke at a time, and started off to Boston with their bee's-wax, honey, cheese, hides, or whatever they had to sell. It was a week's trip or more to get there and back. The day before they started the good wife would take a brass kettle and boil a thick bean soup in it. When it was fully boiled, she would put it outside and let it freeze over night into a hard mass. In the morning she turned the kettle over and poured hot water on the bottom, so that the cheese of bean soup dropped out. Then she would bore a hole through the middle and put a little chain through it, put a cloth over it and tie it behind the sled. When dinner time came, instead of going to the inn and paying a quarter for their 72 IOWA DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. dinner, they took a hatchet and chopped off a small chunk of this frozen bean soup. This they put in a little kettle over the fire and warmed it up, so that all the way to Boston they had bean porridge hot and bean porridge cold. You smile at these poor little economies, be- cause you do not have to practice them, yet it was these little savings, the quarter, the dime or the penny, which helped develop this coun- try. But what was done with the money thus saved? As many of your men know, it was sent out to your country, to the West, to be loaned to western farmers, on farm mortgages, and thus it helped de- velop your country. You paid the mortgages promptly and well, and now, I am told, your money, or at least part of it, is actually going back to help build the great sky scrapers in the Eastern cities and help pro- vide spending money for the descendants of those old farmers. I say that you may smile, if you like, at the economy of the Yankee. Y'ou have a great country, you are rich beyond your own conception of it, and yet, if you will go back to the germ of it, back to the unit from which it started, you will find that you are quite likely to run up against the beans, the fish-balls, the doughnuts and the cheese that were eaten in the New England kitchen a century ago. The development of eastern farming has been forced upon us by other industries. Your development has largely followed the development of the methods of handling the soil and growing stock. With us, how- ever, farming has been changed by the growth of other industries. It has followed the developing of railroading, manufacturing and commerce. We have been obliged to change our methods of work with the change in our markets. Your towns and cities take a back seat and are dom- inated by the farms. With us it is just the reverse and we change our crop as the markets force us to change it. For example, I can tell you some surprising things about the development of markets in New York City. It may surprise you to know that tens of thousands of people in New York will not drink city water. The sanitary people have talked so much about the dangers of this water, that there has sprung up a de- mand for the natural spring water out of the brooks and springs of country hills in New England and New Jersey. This water is bottled at the spring and sent to the great cities, and it is an actual fact that in some cases the men who sell this water obtain more for it than their neighbors do for milk. It costs over $90 a year for the drinking water in cur office. In the whole building where I work this cost is probably over $2,500 a year. In the city of Cortland, N. Y''., a few years ago, there was a consumption per capita of three-eighths of a quart of milk. A doctor started to educate the people on the theory that milk is not a luxury, but a necessity, and that good milk is better than bad. As a result of that education, in one year, the consumption of milk was increased from three-eighths to five-eighths of a quart per capita. I speak of these things to show you how, as large cities develop and as men acquire large quantities of money, the tastes and demands for such goods will always increase, and naturally this changes the crops which a farmer will produce. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART III. 73 Then in some other cases, demands will come from the city, which probably you have never heard of. Where I live there is considerable more money made in boarding horses than in keeping cows and sheep. For example, there are in New York City thousands of truck horses kept at high expense. During the dull season the owners are glad to send the horses into the country, where farmers feed and care for them and charge $12 or more per month for doing it. The same is true of driving horses. "When people go away from home, they like to have their animals go to the country for board. Yesterday I saw "Defender" the steer which won the prize at the International Stock Show. You think there is money to be made in feeding your hay and grain to such cattle, and yet I presume I will shock you when I say that some of our people in the East will make considerable more money in proportion to the cgLpital invested, in boarding dogs and cats. There are women in New York City who think more of a cat than they do of a child. When these people go to Europe or away for the summer, they cannot carry these pets with them and do not care to leave them in their houses. They are willing and glad to pay such prices as $1.50 for a cat or $3.00 for a dog in payment for a week's board and care. There is a woman in Connecticut who, I am told, makes an excellent living by boarding cats. Left alone by her father with nothing but an old broken down farm, and without tne health and strength needed to run it, she has gone into this business of taking care of these pet animals and receives a larger income than the majority of farmers in her town. I merely speak of these things and I might mention many others to show you how our markets have developed and how they have forced us into new lines of work. You will understand, of course, that I am not advising your young men to go East and board cats and dogs. I simply show you these things that you may think about them. In a similar way many of these things will develop in the West as your cities grow richer and larger and your people acquire these expensive tastes and desires. I said not long ago that some of your money goes East. I shall show you, before i am done, that far more of it goes East than stays at home, and I have no doubt you will be interested to know how some of it, at least, is spent. Perhaps, I can give you an illustration which will point this out. An old man has told me, how seventy years ago the first railroad ran through the northern part of Vermont, and there were two small boys, who had never dreamed of seeing a railroad train. Mother told them that if they were good boys and performed their work, they could walk ten miles and stand on a certain hill and see the train go by. These two boys started out early in the morning, so excited that they forgot to eat their breakfast. Mother gave them two cents to spend on the way and told them they must be careful how they, spent it. Oh! these thrifty Vermont mothers. You gentlemen, in your wealth and strength, smile at them today, and yet do you realize how much they did to develop your country? These boys, on their way, went by a store and invested one cent in two old fashioned crackers. Pretty soon they got hungry and they sat down and split one of the crackers and ate it up. After a mile or so more they were hungry again. 74 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGHICULTURE. and then they realized that one-half of their capital, one cent, had actually been spent. Still they were hungry and they split the other cracker, realising what a dreadful thing it was, and just as they were to take a bite, one said to the other: "George, what in the world would mother say, if she knew how we were carrying on?" Now, I tell that story to show you how strangely things develop in this country. In Europe and in all old countries developments are slow, but things go at lightning speed on our side of the water. These boys were troubled because they had spent one cent. I am told that one of their grand- sons, now a rich man in New York City, went with five others into a leading hotel and had an ordinary dinner. What do you think they paid for it? The bill amounted to over $65 for that one meal for six people. The old man on the "Vermont hill was horrified to think of spending the one cent, and yet so quickly does society change in this country that in two generations paid over $10 apiece for a dinner and considered it an ordinary thing. That is the way, at least one way, in which your money and the interest on your money is being spent. Some day you will wake up to the fact that most of your money is going into the hands of middlemen and handlers and is being consumed, as a result, in this way, and then you will keep more of it at home. I can give you an idea of what you are doing by saying that your men out here on these rich prairies are helping to support three families besides your own. In this respect ycu are the mos'c benevolent people I ever heard of. I can demon- strate that in part by a bit of my own experience. Last year I needed one ton of baled hay to finish out my stock last spring. I bought the hay in New York and by the time I got it into my barn, twenty-five miles away from New York, it cost me just $19.75. Curious to find out what the hay cost on the farm, I traced it back as well as I could and the best price that I could get was $5.80 to the western farmers for a ton of mixed clover and timothy. Since coming here and talking with your farmers I have been told that probably that man received 80 cents more than any of his neighbors could. Just realize what that means. There was $13.95 of the price which I paid for the hay, which was handed out to the railroads, the truck men and the commission men and all the other fellows who stood in a long string between your farm and mine. You talk about my little middleman behind the fence sucking that cider through a straw; he was not a circumstance to the way these gen- tlemen were sucking the dollars out of your pockets. I have told you how our markets have changed. Of course these special things which I speak of are not common with all sections. They are generally confined to the farms close by the large cities. As a rule the soils near the towns are poor, but by taking advantage of these re- markable opportunities farmers are able to obtain fair returns from small pieces of ground. To take up a kind of farming which is in your line I can give you two illustrations of what is done on soils further away from the towns. First, I speak of a farm in Middlesex county. New Jersey, some fifty miles south of New York. This farm is naturally good soil, well located and contains about ninety acres. When Washington SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART III. 75 made his campaign up and down through New Jersey his soldiers fre- quently passed through this section and it was from this farm and others near by like it that his soldiers were fed; so that you will see this farm was producing grain and wheat at a time when all you had here were large herds of buffalo, with nothing but Indians for proprietors and hired men, and yet with nearly two centuries of crop production, I may say that this farm today is producing more than it ever did before — more in potatoes, wheat, corn and grass. It will grow 300 bushels of potatoes to the acre, over thirty bushels of wheat, and from two and a half to three tons of hay. One year with another these fields will pro- duce nearly as large a yield in corn as you do here in Iowa, while, of course, the stalks are worth much more than they would be with you. You naturally ask, how has this been done? How can this be done after 200 years of production? The use of chemical fertilizers in connection with clover sod and such manure as the farm produces, is responsible for this condition. Every year there will be produced $500 worth or more of chemical fertilizers, particularly upon the potatoes, and one year with another this ninety-acre farm will yield over $3,500 worth or more of farm products. I don't believe there is an average farm in Iowa within reasonable distance of a market that can beat or even touch it; yet this is only a fair sample of what we, in the East, can do with com- mercial fertilizers. You will understand that I don t give this as an argument that your men should begin to use fertilizers, for it seems evident from your crops and the appearance of your soil that you do not yet need them. I merely show you how, after two centuries of hard cropping, these fertilizers enable us to keep up our farm crops. Another illustration is that taken from Maryland. On the peninsula between the Atlantic and the Chesapeake Bay there is a stretch of dry, sandy land. To your eyes it would be worth little, except as material for mak- ing concrete; and yet, before the Revolution, that land and others like it produced vast crops of wheat, which were sent to Europe to help feed the people. During the French Revolution we sent ship load after ship load to people in France and probably saved the French republic. This kind of farming in Maryland developed a class of gentlemen farmers. They had their 500 acres or more of land and slaves did the work. Go through that country today and you will find the ruins of a lot of old- time mansions, scattered up and down through the State, which were built on the proceeds of this wheat growing. Your country ruined this business. The cheaper grain and the wheat from the West came into the East at such prices that these gentlemen farmers could not compete, with their use of fertilizers and expensive methods of labor. They abandoned the business and in many cases the land started back to the wilderness. Now, strange to say, wheat growing is again coming up as a profitable enterprise in this section. The western land is largely used up, since the population has grown and the price of wheat has risen, and many of the modern methods enable the Maryland farmer to produce a bushel of wheat cheaper than he ever did before. So strange is the de- velopment of society in this country that I may say only the other day a great Maryland farm that has gone down through generation after gen- 76 IOWA DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. eration of Americans was sold into the hands of a band of Russian Chris- tians, who came to this country seeking freedom and opportunity. You will ask me how this thin and barren land can compete with the West in growing wheat. It is simply because these farmers have learned how to economize on the price of their plant food. Wheat is usually sown in that country in October and cut in the middle of June. As soon as the wheat is off they go in with their disc harrows and tear up the stubble thoroughly, then they sow a bushel or five pecks of southern cow- peas to the acre, cover them thoroughly and add for each acre about 100 pounds of muriate of potash and 300 pounds of acid phosphate. In a favorable season the cowpeas make a heavy growth and early in Sep- tember they are plowed under or else hogs are turned in to eat them down. As soon as they are plowed the wheat is again seeded and so on, year after year, with one crop of cow peas growing between each two crops of wheat, and it is a fact that with this treatment the yields of wheat keep on increasing, while the soil seems to become even more productive with each year. The cowpeas furnish the nitrogen and the chemicals provide the potash and the phosphoric acid. This is the way in which the eastern people are studying out new methods of farming, and it may be said that they are succeeding well in doing so. From this follow other questions. I speak of what these men are doing on that cheap, abandoned land. They are not truck growers, but raising much the same crops that western farmers do. They are suc- ceeding and doing well, on land which costs them only $30 or so, in com- petition with your $100 land. How then could I go to a young man in the East and tell him to go to Iowa and raise corn and fatten stock, a way off at arm's length from the market. His first question would be, what must I pay for the land? I imagine if -you go out into this State and find land well located you will probably have to pay $100 per acre, while this man could go to some of the waste land in the East and buy it for $30 or a little more. He will also ask what will the outfit cost. On your black, heavy soil you must have big horses and strong tools, and you cannot work the land all through the year, whereas, on the lighter land of the East, my man can do the greater .part of his work with a disc har- row and a light team of horses or mules; not only so, but he can work through a large part of the winter, preparing the soil. As a matter of fact, you men will realize the fact that in one respect you are too rich and that your land is too strong. If you only had a streak of our dry sand and gravel running through your country once in every twenty miles or so you would be better off, for that would give you good road ma- terial. I would hardly be justified in telling a man with limited capital to come to Iowa and buy the expensive land and the outfit which would be necessary, when he would go to the Delaware peninsula, for example, buy land at one-third the cost of yours, have more working days through the year and produce practically as large a yield of grain as you can. Not only so, but you will raise 100 bushels of corn and sell them at 30 cents, while he ckn at least raise eighty bushels and sell for 65 cents or more. You will see from this that the time has come when by reason of the cheap lands and high prices the East has really become a com- SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART III. 77 petitor with the West in attracting emigrants. The average man who goes to a farm in the East comes from towns and cities. He has worked at a deslv probably for a number of years and sees that he cannot hope for advancement there. With a capital, usually not more than $2,500, he will go into a strange business and attempt to provide a home for his family. You will probably agree with me, from what I have said, that such a man has really a better chance to take up one of the neg- lected eastern farms than he would have to come here and attempt your larger farming; and here is another thing that will seem strange to you: In the town of Willington, Connecticut, there are a little over 200 voters, which will give you an idea of the population. Yet at the railroad sta- tion alone there was sold from the feed store last year over $30,000 worth of western grain. In the town of Rockville, a larger town, these sales amounted to $125,000, and in Putnam, still larger, $200,000 worth of your grain was handled. The very life-blood of your soil is thus going to the East, and what I want you to remember is that many of our eastern farmers can actually pay these enormous prices for your grain and make more out of the feeding of it than you do. I doubt if you ever saw a Yankee pay out a dollar for grain unless he was pretty sure of getting more than that out of it. For instance, take a section that I know in Connecticut. They will take a dollar's worth of your grain and feed it largely to poultry. The proceeds from the poultry will amount to at least $10, and the manure from the hens mixed with murite of potash and acid phosphate will help produce another crop of peaches, which will bring nearly a dollar more. Perhaps these things are new to you, but I state them as facts to show you how in the East we are forced to take advantage of opportunities, and it has been said that if you corner a Yankee he will proceed to corner the corner and make it available for sale with those who formerly thought it had no value. Y^ou will see things which elderly men in the East have done when deprived of their places in the city which would astonish you were I to tell you. I know a man now close on to 70 who, in the panic thirteen years ago, was thrown out of his position with a mere handful of money, which he had saved. He went to one of the hill towns in New England and bought a neglected farm. He has improved the place so that it could be sold for twice what he paid for it. He has a flock of Wyandotte hens, which yielded him a steady income of over $700 a year. He has a peach or- chard in addition. The New England farmers have studied out one great truth and that is that a man never does his best until he is up against hard and fierce opposition. That is one of the troubles with your people; you have never been really "up against it" in your business as farmers. When you do really come face to face with hard opposition my judgment is that you will solve many of the troublesome problems which are now facing us in this country. I had this idea of burden bearing forced upon me when I was a boy. One day the old gentleman took me out to the woods to haul home a log. He had an old horse, spavined, wind-broken and thin as a rail and otherwise out of shape. He hitched this horse to the log, but the poor old fellow could not pull it. The old man sat down on a stump, took out his handkerchief and rubbed his head. If you gen- 78 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. tlemen ever see a bald-headed Yankee rubbing his head with a red bandana you can make up your minds that great things are to happen. He finally got up and said he had figured it out right. As he put it, the horse did not have weight according to his strength, so he put me on the horse's back and he said this extra weight would hold the horse's feet on the ground for a better purchase. I give you my word that it acted just as he said it would, for when I got on old Hero's back he pulled the log. I have found since then that men are at their best when at some time in their life they run up against hard propositions and pov- erty. You show me the young man, brougnt up under hard conditions, to realize the necessity of toil and the glory of labor and the power to overcome natural forces, and I will show you the making of a man. Show me, on the other hand, the boy brought up as though comfort and luxury were his natural heritage; the parents sending him to college, just simply because it is a part of a gentleman's training, gratify his every wish and will not make him work, and as a rule I will show you a weak, nervous, good for nothing creature, who is more likely to be a disgrace to his country. Under the shadow of these great cities in the East there are boys and girls who are ashamed of honest poverty. We have some of them near where I live. When they get to be 19 or 20 years old they leave the farm, boarding at home with mother, but going to and from the city every day. They obtain a job at small pay; they dress as well as they can and are ashamed of the evidences of honest economy. Sometimes you will see the boy coming and going, carrying a dress suit case on which you will see labels of Rome, Naples and other European cities. Some friend brought these across to him and he has pasted them on his case. What do you suppose we would find in that case if we opened it? Very likely two sandwiches, a boiled egg and a piece of pie. These people are ashamed to be seen carrying their lunch in their hands, ashamed of the lunch mother gave them and which father pro- vided. Poor, foolish, ignorant fellows they think they can carry their dress suit case in their hand so that people will really think they are wealthy young men going out for an evening party. I regret to say that some of this also applies to the girls. You will see some of them com- ing and going with a music roll. As a matter of fact they couldn't play the tune that the old cow died of, and yet they would like to have people think that they are great musicians or that they are going to take a music lesson, when all they have in the roll is their lunch. You will see young men in New York who will eat 10 cents worth of pork and beans for their lunch and go and stand on the steps in front of the Astor house and pick their teeth. I sincerely hope that these false ideas of a man's real condition have not yet come to life seriously out here. Some of these people outgrow this foolishness. It is kicked out of some by the hard boot of adversity, or lashed out by the sting of poverty or self-respect. With others it remains and ruins the man or woman who starts that way. I have spoken of the results which come to us through our highly de- veloped markets. I fear that some of you men in the West have really made up your minds that the eastern farmers are on the verge of ruin; SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 79 that they are starving to death, and that the only relief for them is to go West. Men are not on the verge of ruin when they have the opportunity to sell spring water at 2 cents a quart, or when the opportunity is offered them to sell certified milk at all the way from 8 to 15 'cents, or where fruit, eggs, meat and vegetables of a special character can be handled at enormous prices. Not all have these opportunities, and yet the skillful and the strong go after them. I do not know whether certified milk is a product of your country yet or not. In the Easl it is a business. A dairyman fits up his stable, cares for his cows under the supervision of a local board of health. The doctor comes and looks around to see that he lives up to his contract. The milk is tested from time to time and when assured that it is perfect the doctor and others recommend it to their patients and their customers and immense quantities of it are sold in that way. there are many of us who are able to sell every apple that is fit at $2.00 or more per bushel box. You can imagine what this means per barrel. In my own case I have found road advertising most effective and we have a blackboard nailed to the fence and whenever we have any- thing to sell the name is chalked on this board and you would be aston- ished to see how much is sold in this way, for one traveler, if he does not want what is offered, will carry the news of it on his way. It often passes from man to man until a customer is reached. There was one case in New England where a man was asked to try this plan. He said he had nothing to sell but a dog and no one wanted such a thing as that. Still he tried it and put up a sign. People who went by all laughed at him, calling it a ridiculous thing to offer a dog for sale. Finally one man went by, laughed with the rest, and told his brother-in-law about it. This man thought it was a bigger joke than the other and he went about telling what a fool a man was to offer such a thing for sale. In this way the news was spread until it actually reached a woman in a town some miles away who wanted just such a dog for her children, and she came and bought it. I bought a road cart in just that way. A man miles away put up a sign that he had a road cart for sale and the news came to me through a dozen different people. I should not have known anything about it had he not put up that sign. We have learned in the East that it is a necessary part of our business to toot the horn or blow the bugle whenever we have anything to sell, for I am safe in saying that if it were not for our high prices our local markets and op- portunities to get lots in our country you would drive us out of business, even at a long range. It is our salvation, this local market, and if you de- velop local markets in your own State, as they might be developer!, you will help both yourselves and us. And yet, speaking as I have about the material prosperity and possibilities of the eastern farmers, I must say that there is a shadow — and a black one — behind the picture. If you were to have located in your State a city like New York or Philadelphia, with their millions of people, with all the sins and crimes of a great city, and all the depressing influences which they send out, it would be one of the greatest calamities that could fall upon your State. Many would say, "We would welcome such a city, for it would give us a great local market where we could sell our corn and our cattle." It would increase prices 80 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. for many of our products by 50 per cent. I grant that, yet I repeat that it would be a great calamity. The depressing effect of city life upon the farm boys and girls is something which must be seen to be realized. The worst thing we have among our country homes is the shoddy millionaire, who goes to the country and builds a house upon a farm. It is not home for him, but simply a place for advertising his wealth. He places a palace among our farm homes. We sell him our products and get our money for them. Pretty soon we will find our boys and girls trying to imitate the rich. They are beginning to despise the simple, plain, humble life of their father and mother, anxious to get away and carry on the little deceptions of the dress suit case and the music roll. That is often the beginning of a most unfortunate end. As for me, I would rather live on cowpeas and bread and cheese all my life and bring up my children in the fear of God and in the belief of a country home than to take Rockefeller's money and be responsible for what it stands for. You men out here do not yet understand the awful blights with which the eastern farmer comes in contact. There are ten million of people in this country in poverty, that is, they are obliged to depend upon some kind of charity, and seven million of them are children. Do you ever stop to think what that means and what it will mean to your children and their children who follow them? The State of Massachusetts is do- ing one noble thing. They found that by crowding these poverty-stricken children into reform schools that they were making criminals faster than in any other way, so they offered a small price, say $2.50 a week to farm families who would take these little ones and bring them up. Many a farmer's wife was starving for the love of a little child and they took two or more of these little ones into their homes and saved them for society and helped themselves. I know of a man in West Virginia who during his life has taken thirty-seven of these little homeless orphans into his home and made men and women out of every one of them. I know of a man in Indiana who at one time had in his home nine of these little things. You don't feel the necessity for doing these things yet, but the time will surely come with the development of your towns and cities when the overflow of the misfortunes and sins of humanity will roll out upon your farms. If a blight should fall upon the Iowa corn crop and wipe it out from one corner of the State to the other, or upon your tree crop, so that it might stand blackened as with fire, or if a disease should strike your cattle, so that I might travel from one end of the State to the other without the sight of a steer or a cow, it would be a calamity, but it would not ruin Iowa. In ten years, profiting by the mistakes of the past and by the hope for the future, you would regain what you have lost. But let a blight fall upon your child crop, a moral blight, or the blighting of false ideas, and God help the nation or the state which must pay the penalty for it. So I say, do not be in too much of a hurry to develop these great cities in your State. Keep your prairies free, if you can, and hold your farm homes together as long as possible. Learn your lesson from the East, that while the great cities and towns will help your market, yet they send also a blight, which is creeping out to our farms and homes and getting into the best crop that we can raise. I thank you. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 81 The President : We will now listen to a paper by Mr. Don L. Berrj' of Warren county. WHAT THE FARMERS' INSTITUTE IS DOING FOR THE FARMER. DON L. BERRY, IXDIANOLA, lA. While it would be impossible to get information that could be set down in figures as to what the institutes are doing for the farmer, we can at least saj' of them, as Mr. Wallace says of feeding soft coal to hogs: "They seem to want it, therefore they must need it and it must do them some good." If the farmers' institutes are of no advantage it is difficult to explain their rapid growth within the last few years. Today no less than eighty-four .county institutes out of the ninety -nine counties in the State are reporting to this board of agriculture. The organization of farmers' institutes has become so widespread that the national department of agri- culture has established a division for the special purpose of overseeing them. It is, therefore, plain that the spread of institute work is not confined to Iowa. In fact, it is a question as to whether Iowa is not a little behind, at least in the management of her institutes. As I said in the oeginning, it is almost impossible to get tabulated or collected information on what the institutes are doing in this State, while many of the other States require quite full reports to be submitted to the State board. For information as to the work done in their sections of the State and for suggestions in the preparation of this paper I must acknowledge my indebtedness to Secretary Oberdorf of the Bremer County Institute, and to Secretary Miller of Washington county. A very fine line shows where the work of the State experiment station leaves off and that of the institute begins. The agricultural press also comes in for a share of the credit for the advancement in agriculture, which is self-evident on every hand. Many of our best publishers have farms, which are nothing less than private experiment stations. We might sum up all these influences and their results under the head of the spirit of agricultural education. The results of this need not be set forth in detail. Scarcely a farmer in the State has failed to come under the influence, at least to some extent, of this spirit of scientific or more intelligent farming. The seed corn trains and the wide dis- semination of literature by the periodical press and the State and na- tional bulletins are credited with adding several millions of bushels to the Iowa corn crop of this year. This campaign for better farming has put a check on the wasteful methods which formerly prevailed on too many of our farms. The dem- onstration of the need of conserving the powers of our soil has led to a more general and systematic rotation of crops, to the careful saving and hauling of manure and to the feeding of the crop on the farm. The well- prepared tables of the cost of producing crops and live stock, put out by the experiment station, have led many farmers to see the wisdom of keeping books with fields and herds; that is, to a better business man- 6 82 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. agement. This campaign has tended to Improve our live stock and to cause men to demand that class of animals which will produce the maximum of l:eef, pork cr butter fat from a bushel of corn and a ton of hay. In view of the fact that information is so widely and cheaply dis- seminated through the press and by the railroads with such good results, the question naturally arises: What is the use of the State appropriating over $12,000 annually to promote institute work? If I understand the purpose of the institute it is, briefly, this: To make the principles established by the State and national experiment stations and other agencies applicable to the conditions of the county in which the institute is held. The principles established by the experiment station in Story county will hold good in Lyon and Lee counties, but there is more than likely to be need of some change in tlie application. Practices, the usefulness of which are well established in Lincoln, Urbana or Madison, may be only partially practical or absolutely worthless in central Iowa. So, I say, if I understand the place of the institute, it is primarily, to bring to us in the counties the men familiar with the work of the ex- periment stations and with the practices of the most successful farmers, and familiar with the conditions on these farms, and to give us the opportunity to discuss with them the application of their knowledge to our own neighborhoods and counties. One of the strongest features of the institute is that it is, or should be, an absolutely non-partisan organization for mutual self-help. In the in- stitutes farmers come together each year for the consideration of matters of general interest, free from the restraints of partisan prejudice. An organization of this kind, acting within the field which it would naturally cover, may forward many public movements or stop abuses, which if taken up first by some party or faction would be ineffectual. I am told that the rural delivery system was first agitated by the farmers' national congress. It was put into operation quietly and without any fuss or feathers and now reaches almost every community in the Nation. Had this matter been first brought forth and pushed by some party or demagogue it is scarcely possible that it could have been so quickly brought to its present high state of efficiency. In many counties the success of local public enterprises is due primarily to the institutes. They have an influence entirely out of proportion to the numerical sti'ength of their members. Being non-partisan in their makeup, comprised as they are of those men of the community who are abreast of the times, those who are in the collar and not in the breeching, of the men who do things, they are in a position to influence county legislation. In nothing is the influence of the institute felt more than in the good roads movement. By general agitation among members, by employing experts for instruction in the use of road tools, by offering liberal prizes and obtaining help from boards of supervisors, the institute has given improved roads to more than one community in Iowa. Not alone in the use of the road drag have the institutes been effectual. Substantial im- provements in the way of concrete and steel bridges and culverts and the SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 83 cutting down of hills and filling of hollows will be done when the in- stitutes convince the supervisors that the hustling element of the county wants money expended that way. It takes a public sentiment such as can be best expressed through the institute to get appropriations for improve- ments of this kind. In nothing is there greater hope of keeping the boys of today on the farms of tomorrow than in the movement for the study of agriculture in the public schools. In this enterprise the institutes are in the lead, as they should be. Such a department of study is advantageous to the scholar in school and after he leaves. The school hours are irksome to many boys. They do not see how school is going to do them any good. They want to do what men do. Men don't have to spell and study gram- mar. The boy thinks grammar won't help a fellow to break a colt. Give the boy something in school that he can see is going to help him to do what his father does, and to do it better than his father has done it, and the school takes on a new attractiveness. On the other hand, tt|,ere is the boy who delights to go to school and would like to do nothing else. To him study, the learning of things out- side the life he has always known, is an end in itself. To him the drudgery of farm life is a sad outlook for a life work. Perhaps he pre- fers science. Teach him that in farming he is every day dealing with the very fundamentals of science. He may have a taste for business. Teach him that the farmer's success is dependent on good business man- agement as much as any other. Perhaps he wants to be a manufacturer. Show him that the farmer is, of all men, a producer. Then, when he is sent to haul the litter from the barn, he ceases to look on himself as a scavenger, but as a producer of fertility, in turn to be manufactured Into corn and hay and beef and pork. Has he a taste for art? On the farm his daily rounds bring him at almost every turn upon such pictures as no painter can trace, if he will only look around and see them. Does he love literature? When is a better time and where a better place than the winter evenings on the farm, away from the rushing diversions of the city, to really make the acquaintance of the masters of writing? All the life of the farm, the harvest, the threshing time, teem with char- acters, which, if he could depict them, would make a classic literature. The teaching of agriculture in the public schools is making the boys and girls the masters and mistresses of the farm and not its slaves. No agency is doing more to promote this branch of education than the farmers' institutes. They are securing the tidying up of the schoohouses and yards, inculcating in the youngsters that little something known as taste, which costs little, yet makes life a thousand times more worth the living. I am informed that a farmers' institute in this State inaugurated the custom of having butter contests, now so common, and which has resulted in improving the quality of butter produced by our Iowa creameries. This same institute has built up the creameries in its county and introduced improved methods of handling milk and cream, so that the cream is de- livered in better condition than formerly. 84 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. In the conduct of the county experiment station the institute is reach- ing its highest state of perfection as an organization. Iowa is now dotted with these county stations under the general supervision of the State station at Ames. May the day soon come when every county will have one, where the results from different varieties of grains and grasses and from different methods of cultivation may be seen. In no other way can the benefits of agricultural experiments be brought so close to the business of the average farmer as through the county station. The results achieved by the stations now in operation have been eye openers to many people. Tom Jones has been brought face to face with the fact that what he considered the best corn on earth, the kind he has been raising all his life, and his father before him, stands a poor show for a crop when planted alongside Dick Smith's corn. And maybe Dick Smith has found that an acre of his hundred bushel corn will not make as much fat as an acre of Sam Brown's eighty-bushel corn. The institute session, with its many lessons and measures, tends to keep up a year long agitation of agricultural problems among its mem- bers. Show me a man who is full of small gossip and I will show you a man who is not in the institute. If he were he would have some- thing better to talk about. The benefits of the institute session are being felt throughout the county every day. Experiments are being tried, new practices adopted and the results compared daily. The increased Interest in really good farming is cleaning up our county fairs. The fake show is not needed to draw a crowd. The crowds gravitate to the stock barns and agricultural halls. This educational spirit is relieving us of the two-headed pig, the three-legged rooster and the man-headed bull, and by removing old prejudices and riding down cranky notions is assisting materially in relieving us of the bull- headed man. The institutes are not idle in the matter of home surroundings. There are none of us who cannot think of men working apparently with the notion that the house is only a sleeping place, a coaling station, if you please, where they get supplies to run them from one meal to the next, and may "lay to" for repairs at night. The institutes, through the women's sections, and through the influence of the men who are addressing them, are calling attention to the fact that the whole business of the farm is subsidiary to that little enclosure inside the yard fence, where home is. They are teaching that the keynote of the home is companionship, and that no woman, however gifted by nature, can be a cheerful com- panion if her outlook is over a yard shorn of its verdure by the poultry, and her horizon a brush patch; nor can her company be uplifting to its fullest capacity if, after running chickens and carrying wood and water all day she has to work butter till 11 o'clock at night. The corn shows and other exhibitions held in connection with most institutes are of an educational value not to be overlooked. I have not time to touch on this matter farther than to say that the corn show puts men in touch with good seed corn in their own county, which is thoroughly acclimated. They buy that instead of sending to a seed house for corn from no-one-knows-where. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 85 The institute is bringing the farmer and the business man into closer touch. It makes "something doing" in a town. It increases production, therefore business. The institutes are helping markets, although slowly. A high grade of corn in any locality will draw buyers there to get that corn. A general high grade of horses in a county draws more buyers, makes keener com- petition and higher prices. This brings to me that which is last but not least, the community of interest encouraged by the institute among its members. Each helps the other in helping himself. The spirit is unselfish. Men are made better friends, better neighbors and better citizens by connecting themselves with a public-spirited movement of the nature of a farmer's institute. The President : We will now stand adjonrned until two o'clock this afternoon, at which time the prog'ram will be resumed. AFTERNOON SESSION. 2 o'clock P. M. The President: The first on the program this afternoon is an address by Professor W. J. Kennedy, of the State College at Ames. THE DRAFT HORSE— WILL IT PAY THE AVERAGE FARMER TO KEEP PURE BRED DRAFT MARES. PROF. W. J. KENNEDY, AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, AlIES, lA. It affords me much pleasure to have the opportunity of presenting the topic of the draft horse to you. There is a peculiar pleasure always in helping some industry at a time when you feel sure that there is a bright future before the same. Some of you may be thinking that the business of producing draft horses has seen its best days and that a re- action is close at hand. You may be right in your convictions. Time alone will tell the tale. There does not appear to be any sane reason for believing that the horse industry "has not a bright future. To all appearances about the only thing that can Injure the demand for good horses in the near future would be a depression in all lines of business. For several years the demand for good draft horses has been unusually good. Each succeeding year has been a trifle better than its predecessor, until at the present time high class draft horses are selling for higher prices than ever before realized for this class of animals. Are these high prices to continue? Someone will say that such a thing would be im- possible because of the large number of horses now being produced each 86 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. year. To all appearances cur farmers are heavily engaged in the pro- duction of horses. What are the real facts concerning the number of horses in Iowa today compared with that of six years ago. According to the most recent statistics published by our Department of Agricul- ture we had in the State of Iowa in the year 190.5 horses of all ages to the number of 1,238,159, while on .Tune 1, 1900, we had 1,392,573, or 154,414 more horses than in 1905. If these figures mean anything it will be some time yet before there will be an over-supply of good horses in this State, it is doubtful if there was ever a time in the last decade when good, high class draft horses were as scarce in this State as they are at the present time. Horse buyers will tell you that it is next to impossible to find a carload of good draft horses of a salable age In any one locality in low-a. Even the men who make it a business to feed out young horses are experiencing no end of difficulty in finding suitable animals for their feed lots. Good people, the time is not near at hand when good draft horses will have to go begging on the market. In the production of draft horses, like all ether classes of live stock, the man who fir;:t makes a study of the market demands and then sets out to produce exactly what the market wants will reap the greatest degree of success. There are many things in this world which are difficult to fathom. If a man has decided to go to Chicago, New York or some ether point, about the first thing he does is to consult the local ticket agent or use a railroad guide so that he may ascertain the cheap- est and shortest way of reaching his destination. If he did not do so you would not deem him a good business man. Why, then, are not the same tactics worthy of consideration in the production of good draft horses. In the breeding of draft horses the line of breeding that will produce the desired result in the cheapest and quickest way is the one which should commend itself to any man interested in the business. A study of the market demands as they pertain to the draft horse reveals the fact that weight is still as desirable as in past years, so that a draft horse, to sell well, must weigh from 1,C00 pounds upwards and be of the desired draft type. That is, he should be massively built, deep-bodied, short-coupled, heavily muscled, short-legged, a good actor, and possess feet which are properly constructed and out of durable material. Such a horse can be economically raised on any Iowa farm, and owing to the strong demand for him, he finds a ready sale at a price much nearer his real market value than any other class of horse that can be produced. Time will not permit of a detailed description of a typical present day draft horse. There are some points which are very essential, and these will be treated in detail. The conformation of the fore and hind limbs of a horse have a very marked influence on his value in the market because his utility is very largely determined by the construction of these. The first point to which I wish to draw your attention is the differences that exist in the nature of the material that enters into the structure of these parts. We are accustomed to the use of the terms flat bone and clean limbed, and these are quite expressive in themselves if we understand what they SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART III. 87 mean. A horse that is flat limbed and also clean in limb is much more durable in those parts than one that is round, coarse and "gummy." When we refer to a horse being flat-limbed or flat-boned we do net mean that the bone is flat from a side view, but we do mean that the tendon stands back so far from the bone as to make it in the region cf the cannon appear flat. The chief advantage of having this conformation is due to the better attachment it gives to the tendons and also to the freer play which they have as a result of this conformation. Cleanness of bone is desirable largley because it indicates a dense, strong texture of bone, with joints that are free from puffiness and not subject to coarseness. The slope of the different parts is another important point to be ob- served. For instance, in the case of the fore limb, the shoulders should have a strong slope and the slope of the pastern should be correspond- ingly as great. Some good authorities claim that the slope of the pastern should' be at least 45 degrees. A proper slope of shoulder gives a horse freer limb movement. It also shortens his back above, giving him greater strength in that part, and also increases the length of the underline, thus giving him mere room for action. Slope of shoulder, when associated with slope of pastern, and the two always go hand in hand, does awaj'' with severe concussion, a most vital point. An exami- nation of the skeleton of a horse reveals the fact that in the con- struction of the fore limb there are a series of bones which act more or less directly upon each other. The presence of the great number of small bones below the pastern and their relation to each other in slope would indicate that ihis part below the pastern would be subject to considerable concussion, and en that account it would be necessary to arrange the slopes and the position of the bones so as to eliminate or distribute this concussion so far as possible. It is not difficult to understand that if the shoulder blade is straight and the pastern straight this series of bones comprising the fore limb will hit each other in a very severe man- ner and will eventually produce a great number of bone diseases which these parts are subject to, such as side bones, ring bones, and other troubles. The set of the limbs is another very important point. Viewed from in front the legs should te well placed under the quarters. If they are set too far apart the horse will have a rolling motion when in action. The feet should be in a straight line, neither turned in nor out, as both conformations interfere with the action. Viewed from the side the legs should be straight, neither bulging forward, called knee sprung, nor backward, called calf-kneed. The proportion of the bones to one another in this region is in a large measure responsible for these defects. When the leg formation is exceptionally long from where it joins the body to the knee it is likely to throw too much weight on the knee and pro- duce what we call calf-knees. If, on the other hand, the length of the cannon, that portion between the pastern joint and the knee is unduly long, it is likely to cause the horse to be over on his knees. Too much attention cannot be given to the importance of the slope of the pastern because it has so much to do with the protection of the feet. Extreme 88 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. length of pastern may cause a weakness, but it should be of sufBcient length and slope to insure springiness. The construction and set of the hind legs is of vital importance. A great many of the diseases to be found in these regions are largely due to a wrong set of the limbs. In a correctly constructed hind limb, view- ing it from the side, a line dropped from the hindermost point of the slope should strike the top of the hock and continue parallel with it until the pastern joint is reached. If the conformation of the leg be such that the lower part of the leg is thrown more under the body, thus making it more subject to a strain of a tendon or ligament just below the hock, it is termed sickled hocked, and is very likely to be- come curby. If the opposite conformation be present where the leg ex- tends backwards of a line dropped as previously described, fullness of the hock or bog spavin is likely to be the result. Spavins and ringbones are very often found on legs of this kind because of the fact that the bones do not have the proper slope in relation to each other. Viewed from behind, the legs should be set in a straight line, and if there be any deviation from a straight line the hocks should be inclined to- gether, but never outwards, as a wide hocked horse is a drug on almost any good horse market. The feet should be large, round, wide at the hoof head, not too shal- low nor too high in the heels, and above all, constructed of a good dense horn, which indicates ability to wear well. The action of a draft horse is a point which is receiving more atten- tion than it formerly did. A horse, to command the very highest price, must move well. He must be good at the walk, and also do the trotting act fairly well. Length of stride and straightness of stride are the two most important points to be considered at the walk. Snappiness is also an essential. Height of action and flashiness are attractive, but not necessarily utility points. Winging, paddling or rolling action in front, and wobbling hocks are all features which every good horseman con- demns, thus are discriminated against at all of the leading horse markets. In breeding draft horses, too much attention cannot be given to the question of weight. At all of the leading draft horse markets, horse flesh sells at the rate of 25 cents per pound for each additional pound from 1,600 to 1,800 pounds; for 50 cents per pound from 1,800 pounds to 2,000 pounds; for $1.00 a pound from 2,000 to 2,200 pounds; and from $2.00 to $2.50 per pound from 2,200 pounds upwards, providing, of course, that the horse is sound, well made and desirable in every other respect. Thus the heavy ones are the kind we should all aim to produce because at best we will get plenty of the lighter weights to meet the demands for the same. While a good horse can never be of bad color, still some colors such as the nicely dappled gray or blue roan are more in demand than others, thus commanding fancy prices. In discussing the advisability of the average farmer keeping pure bred draft mares, a somewhat new, but very timely topic is opened up for consideration. Just why the average farmer has not been keeping pure bred draft mares for a decade or more is one of the questions which amazes almost every man who has had any ex- SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART III. 89 perience in the i)rodiiction of pure bred draft horses in this country, or has any acquaintance with the methods pursued in the production of horses in practically all of the European countries. Is there any more reason why uhe average farmer should keep pure bred cows, pure bred ewes, or pure bred sows than in the case of pure bred draft mares? Draft horses are needed on the farm to perform the necessary farming operations. Is there any good reason why a considerable amount of this work should not be done with good, pure bred brood mares? If the English farmer, the Scotch farmer, the French farmer and the Belgian farmer on their small farms find it profitable to keep a pair or two pair of pure bred draft brood mares to do their farm work, why should not the same policy be a wise one to pursue in this country. When this policy becomes more general on the rich farm lands of the central west, two things, both of which are very much in evidence at the present time, will gradually disappear: First, the importation of such a large number of stallions, many of which are a detriment to the industry, and, second, the presence of the glib-tongued chap whose business it is to organize companies of farmers to purchase these stallions at from two to five times what they cost on the other side of the Atlantic. In practically every one of the European countries in which draft horses are produced more than 75 per cent of the same are produced on the small farms and by the tenant farmers. These farmers not only require their pure bred draft brood mares to do the major portion of the farm work, but they also require them to rear a colt each year, which in turn is sold to pay the rent of the ground used. In this way these people have been able to pay high rents and in addition comfortably support their families. It will pay the average farmer in this country to keep pure bred draft mares. It does not cost any more to feed a pure bred draft mare than it does to feed a grade mare of the same size. The pure bred mare will do just as much work as the grade mare. One good pure bred stallion colt at one year old will readily command as much money as will a pair of high class five-year-old grade geldings. The speaker has in mind at the present time a dozen or more farmers in Iowa, Illinois and Kansas who are using pure bred draft mares to perform their farm work, and in addition raising good colts from the mares each year. The stallion colts find ready sale when from one to two years, at from $400 to $700 each. These men have settled the question as to whether or not it will pay to keep pure bred draft mares. One farmer in northern Illinois at- tended a neighbor's sale in March, 1903, and in order to help matters along bid on a few things which he thought he did not need. He es- caped trouble until a pure bred five-year-old Percheron mare in foal was led into the ring. He bid on her and she was knocked down to him at $300. He thought he did not need her, thus offered her to another neigh- bor for $290, but did not succeed in making the deal. He kept the mare and she has raised him a good colt each year. He has had the mare a little more than three and one-half years, she has done her share of the farm work, he has sold three of her colts for $1,250 and has one left for which he has refused the small sum of $500 before it was eight 90 IOWA DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. months old. Has this mare paid her way? The owner is a most en- thusiastic breeder of pure bred swine, but ho informed me last week that pure bred mares were even better property than pure bred sows. I could cite you many other instances of a simila;- nature. Someone will say, but it is very easy to overdo this pure bred mare business. Has it ever occurred to you that in Iowa, the leading draft horse State in the Union, we have but one horse registered or eligible to registration for every 150 that are not registered? It will take some time to overdo this business. There is no good reason why our farmers should not keep pure bred mares of the very highest rank, and then by the judicious selection of sires produce home bred draft horses the equal, if not the superior, to that produced in any other part of the world. We have made good in cattle, in sheep, and in swine, so why net make good in horses? This is a line of work which should receive more encouragement from our fair associations. While liberal premiums should be awarded for all classes of animals, more attention should te given to the home bred animals, and more especially those produced on the farm of the man with comparatively small means. It is the so-called average farmer that makes a county, a state or a nation, thus his interests are worthy of the most careful consideration of those entrusted with the management of the various county, state and national live stock shows. The President : This paper is before you for discussion. A i\lEMBER: What could the average farmer pay for a pair of good mares? Mr. Kennedy : I think from >r800 to $1.C00. A real good mare, three or four years old will sell perhaps for $500. You will have to pay $400 to get anything worth while. Question : I would like to ask what family of a draft horse you would prefer? ]\Ir. Kennedy: That is a question which largely depends upon preference. I think it is a pretty good business policy, in any line of work, to produce what is demanded in the community. If you are in a locality where they are breeding Percherons, breed them ; if on the other hand yoii are in a neighborhood where there is no demand for them, breed something else for which there is a de- mand. I would say that another breed of horses that is gaining in popularity in the United States and in this State, is the Bel- giums. The principal objection to the Shire horse is, that it is a very heavy boned horse, and you all know that a straight bone aids in selling a horse. I may say that I had a letter two or three weeks ago from Mr. Robinson, in central Kansas, probably one of the largest breeders in the central west. i\Ir. Robinson started with ten mares, Percherons, ten years ago, and a year ago he sold $70,000 SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART III. 91 worth. In our locality for a good pair of Pereheron mares, you will have trouble to get them for less than $600. We should pay more attention to the breeding industry. There is no need of going across the water. ' I hope there will always be some horses im- ported. The great trouble at the present time is, that 50 per cent of the horses that come from foreign countries should never come in. We want all the good horses w^e can get, and we should en- courage our home industries. Our people seem to be satisfied to buy a home-bred bull, but when they buy a horse the inquiry is whether he is imported. I might say in our locality we have a home-bred horse, owned by jMr. Frye. I think he has done a world of good. I think he is one of the best types of horses I know of. Mr. Frye stands that horse at $25 ; he is a good individual, and he breeds well. Some people think that horse would be better if it was imported. Now, if we are going to make progress, we have got to get away from the idea that because a thing comes from the distance it is better. We have got to pay more attention to individ- uality and good breeding. A ]\Iember : I would like to .substantiate what i\Ir. Kennedy said. I attended a farm sale where there was a pure bred mare offered for sale in 1897. I was not a man of much means, but I made up my mind, if it didn't go over $200 I would buy it. She was a black mare. She was knocked off for $210. The auctioneer could not find the buyer. He turned to me and asked me if I still made my bid good at $200. I told him I would. It was sold to me. Now, she has produced me five mare colts ; one mare from her has got two colts and one has got one colt. I sold two stallions from her, one for $600 and one for $650, without any guarantee. I am not in the selling line and am not advertising, but I believe it would pay a man to buy good individuals, thorovigh-bred mares. ]\Ir. Reeves : I would like to ask Mr. Kennedy if there is any extra dift'erence in the texture of the hoofs. He spoke several times of the hoof being brittle but tough. I Avondered if that was a charactertistic of the Percherons. Mr. Kennedy: I don't think it is. You will find poor feet in pure bred horses and you will find them in those that are not pure bred. I know g:rade horses at the present time that have exception- ally good feet, and I know pure bred horses that have not. The President : The next paper is by Mrs. Harriet Wallace Ashbv. 92 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. POULTRY ON THE FARM. MRS. IIAKKIET WALLACE ASIIBY, R. F. D. XO. 1, DES MOINES, lA. I wish to suggest that it would be well for us to look where we are going with farm poultry, the character of our flocks, the care we are giving them and the results obtained, and that we should also look at the financial success won by large plants where poultry keeping is carried on by business men under business methods, and at the work done by our experiment stations. When we realize how important a place on the farm can be filled by poultry we will turn our steps to the paths blazed by successful poultry- men, and make as much for our farm poultry as can be made anywhere; in ether words, we will go along the line we are looking. There are in America today hundreds of poultry plants where thou- sands of stock birds are annually raised, and where eggs for hatching are produced by tens of thousands. But the aggregate output of these places is as nothing compared to the aggregate output of the farms. Four-fifths of the poultry of the United States comes from the farms. Secretary Wilson estimated last year that we marketed twenty billions of eggs. He is satisfied, however, that we can increase this number by a billion, and as this seems to be an object worth working for he has added a poultry expert to the Department of Animal Husbandry at Washington to con- sider the problems of the hen and how to coax her to lay that extra billion of eggs. If farmers want this extra billion of eggs, they can get them, and with- out the aid of a poultry expert. The hen does not require a scientifically compounded ration; we can grow all she needs on the farm; we need only convince the farmer that it is worth while, that the hen will pay a good dividend on her feed and care, and the increased egg yield is assured. The reason the hen is not properly appreciated as a money maker is because the income which she brings in is usually an unknown quantity, as few accounts are kept with the hen. On the average farm the income from the poultry is credited either to sundries or other things. Where it is credited to the hens you will find a flock of well cared for poultry, for their owner has found that a flock of fifty hens will bring him in more money than two cows, and at less cost for food and care. If Secretary Wilson could persuade the farmers of the United States to keep accounts with their hens, charging them with food and capital invested and crediting them with eggs and poultry marketed; if he could persuade them to feed their hens for one year as they should be fed, and SEVEKTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART III. 93 credit them with tlie income received, he would furnish them with an object lesson more conducive to increased egg yield than half a dozen experts analyzing and compounding rations, and the increased egg yield would be assured. I need not plead the cause of pure-breds against scrubs; more farmers than is generally believed keep pure-bred poultry. The quality of poultry at Farmers' Institutes is surprising. Where the farmer makes his mistake is not so much in the quality of poultry he keeps as In his lack of method. Too often he has no object in view but to keep hens. Whether we breed for eggs, flesh or fancy feathers, we must have an object, and work toward that for best results. If we want flesh we will feed for it, as will we also for eggs and fancy feathers, but feeding poultry is not merely filling their crops. We can fill them up on corn, but that is about as bad a thing as we can do. Corn is a good feed, but the hens fill their crops too quickly with the whole grains, and for best results It should be coarsely cracked, and fed as other grains, in deep litter, first sifting it to save the fine meal. Economy demands that we feed our farm grains as far as possible. Hens need a variety of grains, the farmer can grow them; they need exercise, if made to scratch for a living they will get it even in cold weather; they need green food, the clover hay mow, roots and cabbage is good enough for that; they need animal food, and they will not do their best unless sup- plied with it, this the farmer may have to buy, but the hens will pay the bills in the increased egg yield. One load of gravel will furnish grit for the winter on the average farm, and fifty cents' worth of time will prepare a good "supply of charcoal. Hens will live through the winter on a grain diet, but diet restricted to grains is the most expensive which can be fed in its first cost, and is invariably followed in the spring by sudden deaths in the flock. Hens should have animal food in the shape of milk, green cut bone, or meat scraps, frequently, and a feed of green food each day for best results. The bulk which green food gives is as necessary for poultry as for stock. But feed alone will not produce eggs; the hens must work. The same ration which with exercise would be a good laying ration, without exercise will fatten the hens beyond the laying point. For good, strong, hatchable eggs, feed all grain in deep litter, give grain, green and animal food, grit, charcoal and pure water. The A B C of successful egg production is, abundance of food of the right kind, and work on the part of the hens to get it. When you have a good system, make no change in it. I have placed the feed before the housing because the feed is always under the control of the owner, while the house often is not. There is no need of dwelling on the perfect house, the only essentials are freedom from draughts, plenty of light, and good ventilation. The best floor is an earth one, with from six to eight inches of sand, and on top of this from six to eight inches of litter, making a warm scratching place. I think one of the greatest mistakes made by farmers is over-crowding. Roosting room only is all some people give their hens. Tell some farmers that for best results hens in flocks of from ten to twenty should have ten square feet of floor space, and in larger flocks six, and they laugh at 94 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. you. The Maine experiment station has made some very interesting experi- ments along this line. Taking houses of the same size, and pullets of the same breed and hatch, they have repeatedly demonstrated that a house built for twenty-five Vv^ith twenty-five in it will give more eggs than a house built for twenty-five hens with fifty in it, and at half the cost for food. However skillful we may be in the mating, rearing of fowls and the production of eggs, we can not call ourselves successful poultrymen unless we are good salesmen. All eggs look alike to the grocer, unless he arranges differently. As matters now stand, the farmer who takes in a basket of new laid eggs to market in winter receives the lowest wholesale price of stored eggs. Farmers can and do pack their summer eggs for winter sales, but if the eggs are fresh, a farmer should no more expect to receive the price of stored eggs for fresh ones than he should expect to receive hot house fruit at the price of canned fruit. The way to change this is for the farmer to grade, and pack his eggs for the fancy trade. If he will pack his eggs in cartons, holding a dozen eggs, stamp them with his trade-mark, and stand behind it with his personal guarantee of the freshness and flavor of the eggs, he will get an advance over market price on every dozen sold. Grocers say they are willing and glad to pay a premium for new laid eggs, but that farmers are not regular enough with their deliveries to be relied on. They claim, and justly, that they can not afford to make a demand for an article and not be able to supply it. We have sold eggs so packed for several years, and have received from two to ten cents premium from the grocers. A thousand cartons costs but $5 printed with name and address. In what way can $5 be invested where it will bring larger returns? If we make special efforts to get fresh eggs, and to have them reach the consumer while still of good flavor, we will create an increased demand at increased prices. The hen is the originator of the sealed package. Unfortunately the fact that the package is unbroken is not a guarantee of the flavor of the goods. There are city families who do not know the flavor of a fresh egg. You know, it was a city boy who refused to eat his fresh egg because it had no taste nor smell to it. I have confined myself to the egg side because when farmers solve the problem of successful egg production they have solved the problem of better poultry and more of it, and the egg question appeals more to the farmer because, as the Scotch say, "The eggs will pay for the horse before the chickens pay for the saddle." I might bewilder you with statistics of what the hen has done, of how her eggs annually equal the wheat crop in value, and of the length of time it would take her to pay the national debt; the national debt does not trouble you, it is your debt that hurts. Your hens properly managed will pay your debts, wipe out your mortgage and educate your children. The President : The paper is now open for disciission. A Member: I would like to ask the lady what her source of grain and green food is? yKVEXTfl ANNUAL YEAll BOOK-PART III. 95 Mrs. AsiiBV .- Clover hay, small potatoes, cabbage, beets, any of the root crops. If you don't have that, yon can buy alfalfa meal. Mr. Brennan : I would ask if you would cook the potatoes or use them raw ? Mrs. AsiiBV: It is not necessary to cook them at all. You can take a board and drive some nails into it and stick them on the nails. A Member: What is your experience with condimental foods? Mrs. Asiibv: I don't like them. I wouldn't feed hens condi- mental foods. A Member : How about sulphur and Venetian red ? Mrs. Ashby : Venetian red is all right. Sulphur is fairly good if you don't feed it in wet weather. A Member : Which is the best variety ? Mrs. Ashby : That depends upon the man. Every man has his own choice, just like every man likes his own wife the best. A Member : How about the scours ? Mrs. Ashby : I think it is because they are not kept warm enough ; sometimes because they are not hatched right. You take an egg which has not a strong life germ, and the chickens are not strong. A Member: Is there any external application of fluid or pow- der that you can apply to your chickens or hens that will make them immune from mites? ]\Lrs. Ashby : Only so long as the powder remains strong enough. A jMember: Do you have any trouble with young chickens sprawling when they first hatch? ]\Irs. Ashby: I think under those circumstances the germs are not strong enough. If you have an incubator in which the tem- perature varies from 95 to 108, the chicken is weakened before it is hatched. A Member: What is the reason for so many cripples from an incubator, when the same eggs are hatched by the hens with no cripples at all? 96 IOWA D3CPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. ]\Irs. Ashby : Some people claim those are the last hatched, and sometimes I think the eggs are not turned properly. Question: Don't you believe that those crippled chickens you find in the incubator might not be from the eggs the hen would kill when they first hatch? Mrs. Ashby : That is possibly true. A ]\Iember : In a hatch of 260 eggs in the incubator and the same number of hens, we would have as high as thirty cripples in the incubator, when there wouldn't be one from the hens, when the same eggs were divided properly between the hens and the incubator. Mrs. Ashby : Have you noticed when the young chickens come out that they are perhaps damp, and that the temperature is really lower than it should be. I think when the chicks knock over the thermometer we do not always see it. The jMember: In the last hatch of our incubator last spring, the thermometer didn't vary one degree, and there were a little over thirty chickens that were cripples. Mrs. Ashby : Perhaps I can answer that better by telling a lit- tle story. There was an Irishman who was traveling on a railway train. He got very hungry, and when the train stopped at a cer- tain station he got otf to get himself a little lunch. Before he had his lunch, the bell began to ring and the train began to pull out. He came running along and j'elled at the top of his voice, "Hold on that steam engine of yours, ye have a man on board that has been left behind." (Laughter.) I think, possibly while you have told me all you know about that, there is something behind. Per- haps there was something the matter you didn't just know. The President : The next paper is by Professor Curtiss, who will address you on the following subject : WHAT THE IOWA STATE COLLEGE IS DOING FOR THE BOYS AND GIRLS OF IOWA. PROF. C. F. CURTISS, AMES, lA. The function of the Iowa State College is manifestly to serve as the educational center of the agricultural and industrial interests of the State. A detailed description of the curriculum and lines of work and investiga- tions will not be attempted here. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 97 Collegiate training has come to be regarded quite as essential for suc- cessful industrial work as for the professional callings. Cases of success- fully self-educated men, in the common acceptance of the term, are becom- ing more rare each year. In a broader sense, the young man who by his own industry and efforts earns money to obtain a college education is self-educated in the best manner. Professor Crane of Northwestern Univer- sity estimates from carefully compiled records, covering over 10,000 cases, that the boy with a common school eduaction has but one chance in 9,000 of achieving eminent success in his chosen calling; with a high school education, he has one chance in 404, while the boy with a college educa- tion has one chance in 42. It appears then that a college education increases a boy's chances of success, according to these records, over 200 per cent. The need of higher training for industrial work was uppermost in the mind of the far-sighted statesman, Senator Morrill, the author of the bill creating the land grant colleges. He pleaded for the education of the artisan, the farmer and the mechanic, and the land grant colleges came into existence primarily for that purpose. For many years these colleges made slow progress. Their methods were crude, and their equipment meager and inadequate. Agricultural and industrial education, to be of the greatest service, must be made practical as well as technical. The cultural value of educa- tion is undiminished; but the economic value is greater. We educate pri- marily because it pays. Industrial efficiency has become the watchword of technical training for the farm and the shop. State colleges are appreciated, patronized and supported in proportion as they are serviceable to the interests which they represent. * So well have the colleges met this standard of late that they have been over- whelmed with the local demands and students are coming from foreign countries. The college takes up the work where the high school leaves off. The foundation is laid well in the sciences, in mathematics, history and the languages. The sciences are studied with I'eference to their application to practical problems. The inherent reasons, the principles, the why, are sought and emphasized in training students for agriculture. Whatever may have been the condition in the past, it can no longer be said that the agricultural colleges are not training boys for the farm. The majority of all the boys taking courses in agricultural colleges are today returning to the farm, and fully 90 per cent are taking up agricul- tural work in some form. Each year we have among our agricultural graduates at Ames some of the strongest young men who return to their home farms in preference to considering a salaried position at any com- pensation. These men are fortunately situated. Others prefer to accept salaried positions for a time until they can acquire farm property. The salaried positions in agricultural work are constantly widening, and presenting better opportunities. On every hand there is a recognition of the value of higher technical and practical training for agriculture. Not every college trained man will be successful in agriculture or in any other field; but other things being equal, the college trained man has tremendous advantage. 7 98 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. President Van Hise of the Wisconsin University said in substance recently in addressing a national association of educators: "The college authorities should go into every high school of their States and present to the pupils in the most forcible way the opportunities open to the graduates of agricultural colleges. No kind of education today offers to its graduates such sure and safe returns at such good compensation as are open to young men who take a thorough course in agriculture." The Iowa State College has an annual enrollment of about 350 students taking the four-year course in agriculture; and about 700 in the short courses, making a total of over 1,000 agricultural students each year. We have in addition over 100 veterinary students taking agricultural instruc- tion. This surpasses the fondest dreams of those connected with the work a few years ago. But the conditions of Iowa demand, and we should not be satisfied until we have at least 1,000 students taking a collegiate course in agriculture, and 10,000 taking short courses, ranging from one to three years in agricultural high schools or academies. I confidently expect to see this result attained in the near future. No investment that the State could make would pay better dividends. The Iowa State College is doing much aside from the instruction of its resident students. Through an extension staff, organized in accordance with an act passed by the last Legislature,' it is conducting demonstration experiments on ten county farms of the State, and giving instruction in stock and grain judging, in growing crops, farm management, orcharding, dairying, domestic science, soil fertility, good roads and other phases of agriculture, in two regularly organied local short course schools; and in farmers' institutes, in two-thirds of the counties of the State. It has covered over 3,000 miles of railroad and reached 140,000 people by special trains. For this work the railroads deserve the credit of furnishing free train service and bearing all incidental expenses. The county farm experimental work and boys' and girls' club work has been highly popular and produced good results. Sioux and Keokuk counties have been particularly successful in the boys' and girls' club work. Three years ago the Sioux County Farmers' Institute passed a resolu- tion asking the Board of Supervisors to set aside a plot of land upon the County Farm and to also appropriate a sufficient sum of money to allow Sioux county to establish a series of experiments, co-operating with the Iowa Experiment Station at Ames. The Board of Supervisors took favora- ble action and H. H. McKee, steward of the County Farm, was instructed to take the work in hand. This was the beginning of the present move- ment of County Experiment Stations. A prominent feature of the work has been the annual County Farm picnic. People from all sections of the county come in to study the various experiments and to visit, meet friends from distant parts of the county and take part in the program that occurs during the day. The Board of Supervisors, consisting of B. F. Hawkins, H. J. Van de Wan and J. C. Emery, co-operating with the Farmers' Institute and assisted by the steward of the county farm, H. H. McKee, conceived the plan of encouraging the farm boys and girls to take greater interest in the Farmers' Institute work and to also determine the possibilities of Sioux county corn soil. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAE BOOK— PART III. 99 The plans were not widely known until the past year. Former years failed to bring out many responses. In the spring of 1905 the County Experiment Station distributed a small amount of Reid's Yellow Dent seed corn. The county superintendent and school teachers throughout the county took an active interest, and fifty-eiglit boys and three girls applied for corn and instructions as to the manner of planting, etc. Each contestant was to grow one-quarter of an acre (measured by an appointed member of the Farmers' Institute committee). A blank form with space for notes was distributed. Each was asked to keep a record of the manner of fitting the land; what fertilizer, if any, applied; when planted; how and what method (checked, drilled or planted by hand); how many times and when harrowed and cultivated; date of first killing frost; when harvested. The following table shows the result of the experiment of the sixteen highest yields: Name and Address. Bu. per Acre. Price. Mart McCabe, Boyden 137.5 $40 . 00 R. M. Emery, Carnes 130 30 . 00 Arthur Weir, Boyden 128 .5 20 . 00 Evert Edes, Boyden 128 15 . 00 Matthew Weir, Boyden 127 .5 10 . 00 Peter Mouw, Orange City 122 .5 5 . 00 Earl Farringer, Ireton 100 3 . 00 Lynn Folger, Alton 99 3.00 Anglo Quinn, Hull 96 3 . 00 Theo. Hemstra, Orange City 86 3.00 Minnie De Boer, Alton 82 3.00 Willie Vander Kool, Hull 82 1 . 00 Floyd Helder, Inwood 78.5 1.00 Bert Vander Schaaf, Hull 77.5 1.00 Clarence Hawkins, Hull 77 1 . 00 Samuel Kimmel, Sheldon 74 1 . 00 Earl Farringer of Eagle township, ten best cars, received the suit case as a special prize. Misses Minnie and Rosena De Boer of Alton each received $3.40 spe- cial premiums. The Board of Trustees of the Iowa State College at their last meeting voted to give a free short course scholarship to each regularly organized Farmers' Institute in the State. The college has furnished stock and grain judges for over half the county fairs of the State. This demand, which is greater than can be met, has grown without solicitation and as a result of recognition of the practical value of the college work along these lines. The young men who do this work are not infallible in their judgment, nor are older men; but the system has grown on its merits, and the same fairs are sending for judges year after year. The Experiment Station bulletins reach practically 100,000 readers. The Experiment Station staff is constantly employed in investigating every disease, pest or problem threatening to in any way menace the 100 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. success of Iowa agriculture. In response to special inquiries, the college and station officers write over 60,000 personal letters annually pertaining to agricultural conditions and problems. The college entertains not less than 2.5,000 visitors annually, who come on excursions or otherwise, because of interest in the work of the insti- tution. The follege students and products have come in competition and won notable victories. The college is training young men to higher ideals and higher achievements in successful farming and good citizen- ship. Notwithstanding all that is being done, however, the field is only par- tially covered. There is a demand for much more. A recent investigation reveals the rather startling fact that correspondence schools located in other States have over 30,000 pupils enrolled in Iowa. There is a demand for correspondence instruction conducted by Iowa institutions. There is a demand for a sympathetic, well organized farmers' reading course. The great mass of the farm boys and girls of Iowa are barred from entering college by the deficiencies of the rural school. The city high school does not satisfactorily connect the rural school with the college. There is a constantly growing demand for a better system. The agri- cultural high school may partially meet this requirement, though its chief function will doubtless be to give agricultural instruction of practical character, on a less extensive scale than the colleges. Agricultural high schools have been organized in eight or ten States, and they are growing in favor. The Georgia legislature has just passed an act providing for an agricultural high school in each congressional district of the State. The rural and city school-teachers of the State, to do their work most eflBciently, should have help from the college in introducing agriculture in their classes. A summer school should be held for this purpose. To meet the demands of the farmers' institutes, short courses, fairs, county farms and other organizations looking to the college for help, the agricultural extension force should be fully twice its present size. The rural schools are in need of bulletins and literature that will interest the boys and girls in nature study and in plants and animals and the things about them on the farm. A modern college of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts must do more than give instruction to resident students. It must identify itself with all phases of educational work pertaining to the industries it represents. To be in position to render the greatest service to the industrial interests of the State it must be identified with the activities of the people from the rural schools up through the colleges and to the practical affairs of their daily work. It is this larger service in its broadest sense that the people of Iowa expect of their State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, and this is the service which the institution is endeavoring to render. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART III. 101 The President: This paper is open foi^ discussion. A Member: How are you going to award those scholarships? Prof. Curtiss : No plan has been devised by the college author- ities. The action is something like this: The scholarships are of- fered to each farmers ' institute upon such conditions as the officers may deem best, with the suggestion, however, that they be of- fered for some form of competition, such as stock or grain judg- ing. Quite a number of county institutes have suggested plans of this kind; others didn't know whether it would be practical or advisable. So that the college authorities in awarding these schol- arships do not fix any conditions under which they would be granted, but leave it to the officers of the institute as far as prac- ticable, to be placed upon some form of competition. The Vice-President : Owing to the fact that Mr. Stickney will deliver his address this evening, our program for this afternoon is cut somewhat short. JMr. Collingwood, who spoke to us this morn- ing, has kindly consented to give us another talk this afternoon. We will be glad to hear from him now. Mr. Collingw^ood : I would like to speak for a few moments about this matter of educating our farm boys. I think that our system of education in the East, as I understand it, is at least partly w^rong. When we tried to get an appropriation to build our Agricultural College in New York, a strange thing happened, and that was, that the hardest opposition we had came from the classi- cal colleges. Wlienever we had a hearing at the state house, be- fore the Governor or the Ways and Means Committee, there were from seven to eight college presidents ranged up against us in every move we made for a uniform agricultural education. These men said, that the old classical ideas of teaching the boy the dead languages and the higher mathematics, was the only thing that would make a man out of them. Now, just think of it. Chan- cellor Day of the Syracuse University, who was the hardest fighter, made this point: When a farmer takes his scythe to a grindstone and sharpens it, he sharpens the blade, and then does not take a piece of the grindstone with him, and the same thing was true when he sharpened his mind on Greek and mathematics. I told him any farmer I ever saw sharpen his scythe on the grindstone, always put a whetstone in his pocket when he went out in the field, and that was, that the hardest opposition we had came from the clas- an agricultural education ; that the latter gives the farmer his grindstone and his whetstone. 102 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. We now have the appropriation, and we are doing the best we can to work it out. The spirit of the old universities — Yale, Harv- ard, Princeton, Amherst, in my judgment, is dead. I will tell you why I think so. A large number of students are simply there spending the money which their fathers and grandfathers, and their ancestors earned. Out here, it seems to me, that just exactly the reverse is true. We have a class of producers, the farmers' boys, who are producing something; and the producer is always a more hopeful, energetic citizen than the mere spender. Let me just say a word to some of the old men who have boys. It may be that you in your youth did not have the opportunity to go to col- lege to get an education, which you may now see would have been of great benefit and help to you^ and some of you no doubt would say, that if you had your life to live over again, you would do the best you could, you would deny yourselves many things and fight for an education. Now, gentlemen, if you have boys at home grow- ing up, who at some time in the future will take your place, try and give them a useful and practical education; try and do it; try and put them somewhere where you are sure of them, and where their character is kept clean, pure and true. I believe you have a school right up here at Ames, where I would like to send my boys. The only trouble is, if I send them out here, in this rich country, when they came back to the stony hills, I couldn't keep them there. But there is that one thing, — sentiment. If it hadn't been for that sentiment, ' ' There is no place like home, " if it hadn 't been for that, the people would have pulled up stakes and come here. That love of home, which holds a man away up in Canada among the snows, and away down in the south — no place like home. The trouble with the Yankee was, he wanted to hang on to that dollar too tight. He couldn't realize that half a dollar invested in a boy was a good proposition. Booker T. Washington told me a story of a boy who was caught stealing chickens — to save his life, the boy couldn't help stealing. Finally his master said to him: "If you steal another chicken I am going to take you up in front of the big house, tie you to a tree, and I am going to ring the bell and get all to see you, and the overseer is going to lash you, if you steal another chicken." He went along for three weeks. One Sunday night he heard a rooster crow; the temptation was too strong, and he went in and got the bird. He took it home, and dressed it and was in the act of eating it when the master came in upon him, and there was John eating it. The master started to carry out his threats, so he rang the bell, they built a great SEVENTH ANNIJAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 103 fire, tied him to the post, but the master's heart failed him. So he went up to him and said: "John, tell me now, why did you steal that chicken?" He said: "Massy, I will tell you; you owns this nigger and you owns this here chicken; we both your property; when I steal that chicken, you ain't losing nothing; you may lost the chicken, but you got Mr. Nigger." (Laughter.) The trouble with the Yankees was, they wanted to hav^e a few more dollars before they had more man. If it is possible for you to plan it. send your boys up to Ames and try to keep them there, and they will come back a credit to you. One trouble with this scientific education is, they are trying to make it too scientific. The chemist and botanist puts too much de- pendence or importance on the science of it ; looking through a microscope he thinks is more important than working it out by hand. I can make my point clear by another story. There was a time in Maine when they passed an inspection law, prohibiting the sale of game. They passed a law making it a crime to take quail out of the State, and they had under it a system of inspec- tion, and they put a scientific man in charge of that work. That man was a pure scientist; he had studied the habit of the quail, how they flew, when they were ready to shoot, all about them, found out what kind of worms they consumed; he had that matter down to a very fine point. He went around hunting up his inspectors, and at one place he found an old man, a farmer, and the scientist and this farmer got into a discussion. He told the farmer he hated to have such a man at this place and he was going back to have him removed. That made the farmer mad. He said to the pro- fessor, * ' Looky' here ; I have got a dog that knows more about this business than you do." Now, this dog was one of the most ornery looking curs you ever saw. The old farmer says, "I will prove it to you; there are a lot of people coming, one has a violin case, five men with trunks, five men with sachels, and there is a boy with a grip-sack; you find out whether there is quails there." The scientific man says, "How can I tell?" "Well," said the old farmer, ' ' we will try the dog. ' ' He says, ' ' Shep, sick 'em ! ' ' He ran over and put his nose to the trunks and valises, and when he got to that woman with the violin case, he stuck. The violin ease was opened and there were thirteen quail in that violin case. He says: "Pro- fessor, you may have the science, but you ain't got the smell." (Laughter.) Now, I suppose you have the point I am trv'ing to make. That man could analyze paris green, fertilizers and milk, but he could not analyze smell. That instinct, that power the dog 104 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. had is a practical illustration of the practical man instinct. The two have got to work together ; one cannot say he has no use for the other; they must work together in order to do this thing right. They tell me, up in New Hampshire there was once a boy who wanted to go to the agricultural college. The father said no. The boy says, why not ? Why, the father says, they teach book learnin ' up there, and that is no good. The boy wanted to go and after studying the matter over, he said to his father: "Father, you are a good farmer, ain't you?" "Oh, yes, I am a good farmer." "Uncle John down below here is a good farmer?" "Yes, one of the best in town." "Uncle Bill here in town is a good farmer?" "Yes, one of the best." "Aunt Mary's husband, how is he?" "One of the best in his town." "Now," said the boy, "suppose you and Uncle Bill, John and Aunt Mary's husband all got together and sat dow^n and had it printed in a book, would that be book learnin'?" He had the old man; he demonstrated to the old man that knowledge lost nothing by being put into print. The old man examined the college and the boy went. When a thing goes into a printed page it is not spoiled for usefulness. Since my talk this morning, several questions have been asked me. In the first place, a man asked me, if it is true, that in the East it is likely they will raise more beef cattle in the future. In answer to that, I will say, yes ; my estimate will be that in ten years from now, there will be two or three times the number of beef cat- tle there. The labor ciuestion in the East is a hard one. Some of you men may think you have a hard time with hired help. I do not think you are having the trouble we are. In the great cities of the East, I could show you thousands of men, big, stout, broad-shouldered men, capable of doing a good day's work, sitting do^ai in the park, or lying down on the grass, or loafing in front of a store, doing nothing. If you go to. one of these men and ask them whether they_ want a job, they will look at you and may ask you what kind of a job it is. You tell them farming, and the response will be, "What do you take me for; for a dead one?" How do these men live? Through the aid of the charity organizations, they get their break- fast and supper. Now, these men will never leave the city until driven out. Now, whenever we get hold of a good man, who turns out to be a first class manager, some wealthy man takes him away from us, offers him twice what we can afford to pay. Now we are obliged to care for our stock ourselves. I have a great respect SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 105 the hog, myself; my hogs pay me well. I can turn a hog into an orchard, and they pay me more for my seconds and thirds than the commission men. ]\Iy judgment is, that within ten years, all over New England and through the east they are going to produce a large amount of beef. I don't believe it is going to compete seri- ously with you people, because the demand at the same time is increasing. I went into a butcher shop at Omaha and I found I could buy a first class steak (sirloin) for 121/2 cents. What do you suppose I pay for that kind of beef at home ? Twen- ty-six cents a pound. That is what I pay there for the same quality of beef. Just one thing more. I never get a chance to talk to such peo- ple as you without closing with some reference to the better side of farming. It is all right, friends, to pile one dollar up on top of the other. What in the world are our old farms good for, if not for the saving and rearing of good men and women. You men are here, you left your women folks behind. I am here; back in New Jersey is my little home ; I would fight for it ; better than that, I live for it. IMen go away from home, they put on their black clothes, they throw out their chests and say, I did this. But go back to the kitchen stove, inside of the house ; there is the daughter, the women folks, where you will find the foundation of unity. A man is a show piece: in nine cases out of ten he is like the hands that go around the clock ; the patient, willing, uncomplaining silent workers at home are doing the work. Just after I bought my farm, in May, the most beautiful season of the year, I took my children walking over the hill, and we got into the woods, and there was a little glade, and in the center there were two lilacs growing. You never see a lilac growing wild up in these abandoned farms. The house was destroyed, yet the lilacs were there. I didn't know where it came from, the chil- dren knew nothing about it, and in their great happiness they never thought of it. I knew there was a home there once. I went back and asked my old neighbor. He told me that sixty years before that time a man went into the forest with his wife and chil- dren to cut out a home. All that he had in the world was his honor and love for his family. He took the ax and built the house, cleared the forest, planted his garden and orchard, and he worked as man will work ; only will work to make a home. And the wife did her share ; that woman was patient in time of trouble ; she held her peace, though her heart was breaking. She raised her children in the fear of God, and she planted the lilacs in front of the door. 106 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Well, my friends, the story goes, the man died ; the woman followed him ; the children were scattered ; a tramp set the house on fire and it burned down to the ground ; what was once a home was only the dwelling place of wild beasts. I want to know why it is that the only spot which was left to show there was a home there, were the lilacs ; I want to ask you why the man 's work was blotted out — we know not what he did with the labor of his hands — and the only thing that is left is the work of the weak, hopeful woman who planted the lilacs at the front door. I will tell you why they are left. It is because they stood for the spiritual side of the home ; they stand as those things always do, for the hunger and thirst of the human heart, the hunger and thirst of the human soul, which will not be satisfied, and I say, thank God, can not be satisfied with the mere labor of the hands, but goes on striving, it may be hopelessly, for these things, eternal in Heaven. Think of that my friend and brother, that the silent work of women folks in the home will live, and live through all history, after your proud work of the soil may be done. Gentlemen, again I thank you. The President: We will now stand adjourned until 8 o'clock this evening, at which hour a joint meeting with the Corn Belt Meat Producers' Association will be held at the Y. M. C. A. Hall, where Hon. A. B. Stickney will deliver an address on the subject of "Railway Freight Rates." JOINT SESSION OF STATE FARMERS' INSTITUTE AND Corn Belt Meat Producers' Association Y. M. C. A. AUDITORIUM 8 O'CLOCK, Tuesday Evening, Dj^cember 11, 1906 The joint meeting was called to order by President Morrow of the State Board of Agriculture, who introduced Vice-President Maher of the Corn Belt Meat Producers' Association as chairman of the evening. In introducing Hon. A. B. Stickney, president of the Chicago Great Western Railway, as the speaker of the evening, Mr. ]\laher said: "I am now introducing to you President Stickney of the Great Western Railway. He has been the farmer's friend as long as I can remember, so far as a railroad president can be the farmer's friend. Mr. Stickney 's road is never represented at the legislature here by lobbyists. He was our friend when we made the fight to get back the return pass. He is a man of wide experience, and I am sure that we will all be benefited by what he has to say to us this evening." RAILWAY FREIGHT RATES. A. B. STICKXEY, PRESIDENT CHICAGO GREAT WESTERN EATLWAY COMPANY. The subject which I am to discuss this evening is the importance of a simplified schedule of rates under the interstate commerce law. (107) 108 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP^ AGRICULTURE. The fundamental fact of railroad rates, which cannot be too often repeated, is that a railway is a public highway, performing service under the license and control of the state. By "state" I do not use it in the limited sense, as the State of Iowa, but by "state" I mean by the sover- eign power — that indefinable something that is the ultimate sovereign of all civil governments. A public highway is a thing on which one man has as good a right as another man. The man who owns a building that costs a million dollars, fronting on a street of Des Moines, has no more rights on the streets of Des Moines than the man who owns nothing. So, one man has the same rights, and should be treated exactly the same as another man on the great steel highways on which the commerce of this country is carried and must be carried. This has always been the theory of railways. You know that the history of rail- ways only 'extends over a little more than half a century. When I was a boy there was hardly a railway in the United States; and I may mention as a matter of curiosity here,, that the first steam railways that were built in the United States were built for the purpose of carrying passen- gers, just the same as our electric lines are built today. There was no more idea or conception of moving freight across tlie continent by rail- ways than there is of moving freight across the continent by electric lines today. You read the early prospectuses of the railroads of Massa- chusetts, and they all build up on the question of passenger business — how many passengers they carried, and how much they could get for carrying them; and it was eight or ten years, if I recollect right, after the Balti- more & Ohio road was started before they ever carried as much as 5,000 pounds of freight in a single year. The railroads were then new. When they began to build in this country we were all in favor of railroads. We would go to the legislature and we would vote them anything they asked. "Only build us a railroad. We don't care what you ask. That's all we want." Most of the early charters in this western country — in these so-called granger states — give in terms to the directors of the corporation the absolute power to make such rates as they saw fit. The people — the people in all new countries — are improvident. They want something, and they want it awfully bad, and they don't stop to criticise very carefully what kind of a contract they make. Now, these railroads came into existence under these conditions. The philosophy of it, which has since been reasoned out and argued out and decided by the courts, wasn't thought of, wasn't understood. Everybody thought that the railroad was like any other owner of property — that they owned the railroads. It was their property; they could carry freight for one man at one price and for another man at another price. This wasn't doubted for a great many years, and so it grew up — the railroads came into existence and grew up without any legislative power for the control of rates. As long as there was no objection — as long as there were no competitive lines — there was no discrimination, as a rule, between individuals. If there was any discrimination, it was a discrimination in favor of some relative or some friend, which, of course, is a most unjustifiable discrimination; but I am simply repeating history. But as soon as there came two railroads com- SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART III. 109 peting for the same business, then this discrimination began to grow. The larger shipper— the man that could control the largest amount of freight— he was given better terms. It was a case of bargain and sale now. The railroad says, "If you will ship all your stuff over our line, we will give you such and such a rate." It was a question of bargain. And then, in a little while that man's business began to grow and grow and grow, and his neighbors in the same business began to fail and fail and fail, and in a little while this man that had received the discrim- ination in the first place got to be bigger than the railroad, and he would tell them what freight he would give them, and they had to accept it. That is the way this discrimination grew up. Now, gentlemen, the interstate commerce law was a law passed for the purpose of preventing all kinds of discrimination as between individ- uals, as between places, as between commodities. The method that the commerce law has adopted to prevent this discrimination is found in the sixth section of the law, which provides that railways must make a schedule of rates between all places on its own line, and the new law says on its own line and on other lines. In other words, the law requires that a schedule of rates shall be made between every railroad station in the United States; that when these rates were made— when these sched- ules were made— they should be filed in every railway station for the inspection of the public, and the new law requires that they shall be kept filed in railway stations for the inspection of the public in such way that they can be reasonably and easily inspected. Now, that is a big contract, a*s I will show you later. After these schedules have been made, the law' says that the railway shall receive neither more nor less than those rates from any shipper, under a penalty of twenty thousand dollars for each offense against the law. The law says that if any officer of a railroad company, or any agent of a railroad company shall by any device whatever accept or receive a greater or less compensation, that oflicer shall be subject— that agent— it may be an agent that receives only three or four hundred dollars a month— shall be subject to a penalty of twenty thousand dollars, of not less than one thousand nor more than twenty thousand dollars for each offense, and in addition to be imprisoned in the penitentiary for a period of not less than one year nor more than five years. Nov,', those are the enormous penalties that are imposed upon the railroad corporation and the railroad officers and agents. This same law says that if you, gentlemen, as shippers, shall solicit, accept or receive any rebate, or by any device get your freight passed over the railroad at less than these schedule rates, you, individually, shall be subject to a fine of not less than one thousand dollars nor more than twenty thousand dollars for each offense, in addition to which you shall be subject to imprisonment in the penitentiary for a period of not less than one year nor more than five years, and in addition you shall be liable to forfeit to the United States three times the amount of the discrimination, or the value of the discrimination which you shall receive. Now, gentlemen, these are the conditions that the railway companies and the railway officers and shippers are up against under this law; and you will notice the shippers will get the worst of it. no IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Now, I say, gentlemen, that under the enormous penalties that are imposed by this law (and they are being enforced, as you will see every day in the newspapers — that is, the penalties of the old law, which did not include imprisonment), I say it is unfair to the shippers of this coun- try to hold their fortunes and their liberties subject to the accepting and receiving of rates on freight which are published in such a way that you nor any other living man on earth can tell by an investigation of six or seven weeks what the real legal rate is. Now, gentlemen, it has been a doctrine that I have been preaching ever since the interstate commerce law was passed that it was the duty of the railways to devise some means by which they could publish their schedules in such way that a person of ordinary understanding by inspection of the schedules could determine for himself the legal rates in all cases. My first attempt at this was shortly after the law was passed in 1887, when old Judge Cooley, who was a very able jurist, was chairman of the Commission, and when the Commission was composed of probably abler men than have ever sat on the Commission since, unless we except the present Commission, who are largely new men and I do not linow what their capacity may be. I induced the railroad commissioners of Minne- sota to file a petition with the Interstate Commerce Commisisoners to compel the railroads to publish their tariffs in proper form. The Com- mission, pursuing their usual practice, subpoenaed the twenty railroads that center in Chicago, to bring with them their tariffs, and to prove or show whether they were published according to law. I well remember that meeting. It was in a room about the size of this, and there were two tables down on each side, and the commissioners were ranged on the platform like this. Judge Cooley looked over and on this table; in front of each traffic man was a pile of tariffs. Judge Cooley looked over and he saw the traffic manager of the Chicago & Northwestern road — his head just appeared above an enormous pile of tariffs in front of him. Said he, "Mr. Wicker, you may be sworn." Mr. Wicker stood up and was sworn. "Have you got your tariffs with you?" "Yes, sir." "Where are they?" "Here they are." (A pile of tariffs as big as that table down there.) Says he: "How many tariffs are there in that pile, Mr. Wicker?" He says: "Oh, I don't know; there's somewhere from three to five thousand, I suppose." "Are they published in such a way that a man of ordinary under- standing can determine the rates for himself?" "No, sir." "Are they published in such a way that you, Mr. Wicker, by inspecting those tariffs can tell the legal rate?" "No, sir," he says; "but I would modify that. Yes, I could tell if I spent the time to go through them and sift them out and examine them — I could probably tell," he says, "but it would take me three or four weeks to determine with certainty as to the actual legal rate on any com- modity." SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. Ill "How do you determine what the rates are?" "Well," says he, "I have a clerk that has these tariffs in charge. He has them sorted out and filed, and," says he, "when I want to know a rate, why, I ask the clerk, and he tells me, and I suppose that is the legal rate, and so it goes." He says, "I don't mean to say by that I don't know the most common rates — the rates on wheat, on grain to Chicago, and the rates on live stock — those common commodities that are ship- ping all the time. Of course, I know where to find those." But with the great multitude of commodities that are shipped on railroads he didn't know what to do. Well, Judge Cooley looked at the other commissioners, and he looked at the commissioners on this side of him, and he motioned to one of them, and they got their heads together, and the judge turned around, and, says he: "Gentlemen, the Commission has got an appointment tomorrow, and I see this is going to be rather a long job," and, says he, "we will adjourn until some day to be fixed hereafter. We will notify you." He never fixed the date thereafter. Well, the second public attempt — you might say public attempt — which I made was just before the taking effect of this present law. I attended a meeting of traffic officials and railroad officials in Chicago, to advise together and see if we could come to an understanding of what the law meant. Of course, all laws have to be construed. No law is so absolutely plain that there are no diificulties about it; and the meeting was called to order, and three or four traffic officials cracked some conundrums about whether a rate that was made in Shanghai ought to be published In Shanghai or San Francisco, or somewhere else, and it didn't seem to me to be getting along very fast, and I said: "It seems to me, gentle- men, the more important question is to know whether we can publish our rates in such a way that a person of ordinary understanding can tell by an inspection of the schedules what they are." Well, they didn't do a thing to me but practically kick me out of the room. They immediately got up — somebody got up and moved that the meeting adjourn and a committee be appointed to consider all these things. Then I went to Washington to the Interstate Commerce Commission, and I appealed to them. I says: "Now, here; this law says that you shall make a schedule; you shall print it; you shall publish it. If you want to change it, you shall either reprint it with the changes in it, or you shall get at the schedules that are already printed and make it appear on that. Now," says I, "instead of doing that, whenever they want to change, they file another tariff which they call an amendment, and change one or two rates here and one or two rates there, and in a few days 'more they will file another amendment and another amendment and another amendment, so that in the course of time if you got hold of any schedule and you wanted to know what the rate was, you get at the original schedule, you will find one rate, and then if you hunted through 7,000 or 8,000 tariffs you would find that there had been amendment No. 1; you might find No. 2; you might find No. 3; you might find No. 4; and I have known as many as one hundred amendments to a single tariff. 112 IOWA DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Now," I said, "Gentlemen, you have no right as commissioners to file these amendments or allow them to be filed. They are purely illegal docu- ments, and you have no right to file or receive an illegal document." Well, they says, "what can we do? Nobody knows how to make such a tariff, such as you desire, and we don't know how to make it." "Well," says I, "just refuse to receive these amendments." "Well, but it will stop the business of the company." "Well," says I, "great goodness! You have just got filed in your archives here over three million tariffs (that is true — just think of it — over three million tariffs) ; don't you suppose the business of this country could run for a few months if there wasn't any more tariffs made?" "And," says I, "if you will refuse to receive any more tariffs, why, the railroads will have to get to work in some way and get this thing in shape." Well, the Commission didn't feel quite equal to that. I want to tell you that every man on that Commission is not a Theodore Roosevelt by any means. I think if Mr. Roosevelt was on that Commission he would have accepted my proposition, and said we will refuse to receive any more. Well, now, it is pretty hard work to talk about these subjects without casting a great deal of blame on to the railroad companies. They are by no means blameless, but they are by no means the miscreants that they are sometimes represented to be. They are creatures of circumstances. Now, it don't matter what my opinions are, I believe that a tariff could be made that could be understood, over the Chicago Great Western road; that is, their local tariffs. Of course, I could not make joint tariffs with other roads without their consent, but if I put in a tariff of that kind on the Great Western road, and left the others to flop around as they pleased, why, they would skin me to death. I wouldn't have any rail- road; I wouldn't have any business in a little while. So, one man can't do this alone. All of the railroads have got to do it, or else the railroads that stay out will have such an advantage over the others that it would be unfair. Well, now, when you undertake to get the unanimous consent of three or four hundred railroads you can easily see what a tremendous job it would be. Say there are 500. Say that 480 of them wanted to 'do what was right; wanted to obey this law; wanted to do just what was right, and that twenty others would not — why, the 480 could not, without sus- taining tremendous loss. So, gentlemen, I despair of ever getting sim- plified or understandable tariffs, as a whole, unless the power of the law is invoked — unless the right arm of the government will compel the few that want to get an advantage over any other to give in and obey the law. Now, I don't want to leave the impression on your minds that the Interstate Commerce Commission is indifferent to this. They were not prepared to take the stand that I suggested, but they have taken the matter up in earnest and they are going to bring It out before they get through — they are going to the extent of their legal authority, in bring- ing this out, and if they lack some little authority I think they will be able to get it from the legislature.. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART III. 113 But now, gentlemen, it isn't a simple thing to do. It isn't an easy thing to do to publish a schedule of that kind. Now, I will give you a few figures. There are 25,000 railroad stations in the United States — a little more, but we will call it 25,000. Now, to make one rate — say the first-class rate — between these 25,000 stations would require 312,500,000 rates. Just think of that— 312,500,000 rates! Now, there are 8,000 articles, in round numbers, that are shipped by railroads. Now, if they were going to make a rate for each one of those 8,000 articles it would require 2,000,500,000,000 of rates, which if printed in ordinary style would make 6G6,666 volumes the size of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, which would fill to the roof more than 100 of the largest sized box cars. To post two sets in each station house, in the manner required by the law, would require a library building attached to each station larger than the Congressional Library building at Washington. Now then, to accomplish this enormous problem we have got to resort to method and system. Well, of course, we don't publish a rate for every article that is shipped. We have a classification by which we group these articles that are shipped, and those articles that we think ought to bear first-class we mark first-class, and so on. The roads in the West some fifty years ago grouped all these articles Into ten classes, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and letters A, B, C, D and E. Well now, that tremendously simplified it. It reduced the number of volumes, if I think right, and I figured it out somewhere, to about 800. Well, that classification did very well in the moderate commerce and the com- paratively few articles that were shipped by rail fifty years ago when that was made, but in more modern commerce, the extension of trade and different articles coming in, they had to have a finer classification than that, so, instead of changing the classification, we got to issuing commodity tariffs. That is, we would issue separate tariffs for brick, and a separate tariff for hay, and a separate tariff for commodities, until we have got up to 800 of these, and that gets us back to a library of 64,800 books the size of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. Well, that would not be any use, you know. No man could look through 64,800 volumes to find his rate. We have to get more system than that. Well now, I have been studying this thing. We had a meeting down at Washington before the Interstate Commerce Commission, and a lot of fifty-thousand-dollar salary fellows there that represented big rail- roads. They said, "We would like to do this if we could;" and I, like an idiot or enthusiast, as I am, I said, "I believe it can be done; I believe it is possible to systematize these things and adopt methods by which we can publish practically all of the rates — all of the joint rates between different railroads, which carries very much the largest volume of business — I think we can get that into a book — one book, the size of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary." Well, everybody said it was impos- sible. It was a sort of a random shot. I hadn't made much calculation about it, but said I thought I could. Well, the Commission says: "If you think you can do it, we wish you would do it, and show us how it can be done." So I have been at work on that problem for several months, and 114 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUKE. I am going down next week to report to the Interstate Commerce Com- mission the way I think it can be done. In studying this problem I picked up a tariff of rates called the Trans- Continental Tariff — that is, the rates on the classified articles from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific seaboard, not including any intermediate rates — and it was a book as thick as those two (indicating), and larger, and there were 800 different commodities, each one having rates opposite it. Well, I sat one day looking at that. That was a sort of a "stumper," you know. Eight hundred different commodities filled 250 quarto pages of figures, and I commenced to look at the rates, and I found they were continually repeating themselves, and I called in my clerk, and I says: "Here; here's a dollar rate, here's a 65-cent rate, here's a so-much rate. Find out how many there are in this — find out how many different rates there are, really different rates." And to my astonishment, in that full schedule of 800 and odd rates there were only thirty different rates. The others were all repetitions. All you had to do was to group these com- modities with reference to the rates that they bore, and that is the classification, and instead of having to publish 230 pages of figures, why, you could publish all the rates on the size of one page. Thirty rates. Thirty different rates. That is all there were. Well now, I haven't got time, and I don't suppose it would interest you — it would be rather abstruse to go through the whole thing of this— but that set me to thinking, and I said to myself, "I wonder what the highest rate on the highest class is," and I went to hunting. I thought I knew about where the highest line of rates were, and I found that the highest rate was about four dollars. Well, I said, the lowest rate on first class is about 12 cents. Now, the difference between 400 cents and 12 cents Is 388 cents, and if we don't make the rates more than one cent apart, why there can be only 480 rates — actual rates — in the whole United States on first-class goods. Well, to make that rate between all stations, unless you can classify and arrange the stations somewhat or some way, you have got to make — how many millions was it? — two or three hundred million rates. But if you can reduce the actual rates to 480, why, you have got a large step. Well, then I said, "Here's this tariff with 800 commodities; there are only thirty classifications. Well now, you keep these a cent apart at a given point, and add them on to the ten classes we have now, it will make forty classes. Well then, the problem is, there would be 480 rates and forty classes; that would be forty times 480. That would be the number of rates. Now then, I says, here is first-class $4.00; second is something less; third, fourth and fifth, and so on. If that ratio— the ratio or relation between the classes and the rates — is maintained at all stations and every- Tvhere— that is right; that is the law— if the rate on first-class is twice the rate on second class at Marshalltown, it ought to be twice the rate on second-class at Des Moines, and at all other stations. Now, if we can maintain these ratios — that relation of rates — why, we can print a universal schedule of rates — a table of rates like an inter- est table. Why, I can print this on ten pages, and if I number each one of these rates, considering them as one rate — I don't know as I make SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 115 myself plain — put down here first-class, so much, sc-cond, third, fourth- class, right along in a string; those are the rates on those different classes; then put a number in front here, and you quote that rate by number, and all you have to do is to see in your classification what class it belongs to, and there you have your rate. Well, it just seemed to me that you could publish a universal rate sheet. There are all the rates there. But, if the rate on second-class is going to be made 50 per cent of the first-class at Marshalltown, and 60 per cent at Waterloo, and 45 per cent at Des Moines, why, there would be so many combina- tions that j^ou have broken up the system, and you have to get back to your 666,000 volumes to publish it in; but these two methods of classl- fiction, which are as old as railroads, have to be enlarged and made uniform, and then the adopting of a relation between the classes at a fixed relation between the classes, why, you have it down to a point where you can publish a tariff between all towns with only 300 and odd million rates; but the places could be consolidated and system- atized in the same way, so that -I am satisfied, without going further into it — I am satisfied I shall be able to demonstrate to the Commission, and to every fair-minded man, that the joint rates can be made upon that principle between all the railroads in the United States in a book about the size of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. If it is arranged with the names alphabetically, why, any man of ordinary understanding can tell what the rate is. It goes without saying, gentlemen, that this method or system will be unpopular with the old-fashioned freight agent who has been in the habit of making one rate for one man and another rate for another man. He will see that it will make it impossible to encourage "infant industries." They are all great believers in the republican principle of encouraging infant industries — suckling them at their breast, you know — such infant industries as the Standard Oil Company and United States Steel Company and the International Harvester Company. Why, I honestly believe that nine-tenths of the freight agents of the country, who work for $300 or $400 a month, believe if they could not give these infant industries nurture from time to time that they would be wiped off of the face of the earth. I mean the infant industries would. If the rates were systematized the way I speak of, the only practicable way to reduce rates would be to change the classification. Now, what would that do? If they wanted to reduce a rate at the Mis- souri river, and they did it by changing the classification, it would reduce that rate at Des Moines, and at every other town just the same. Now, is that right, or is it wrong? Is it right that when the railroad company reduces the rate at one place it shall reduce the rate at all places to the same extent and in the same proportion? Now, that, I think, would be true competition. I don't think that giving one man a reduced rate and advantage over another man is true competition. That is discrimination. Well, gentlemen, I am afraid this is rather an abstruse question, and I don't care to speak longer on the subject. As I say, I am satisfied that the members of the present Interstate Commerce Commission are con- vinced that the rates — the schedules — should be made in this simplified 116 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. form. It would add stability to the rates, so that a man could calculate his business a few months in advance and not have to figure whether a rate would be there then or not. It would do a great deal to relieve the car stringency that occurs every fall, because men could get out their stuff in advance. There are people that will freeze to death this winter because the railroads cannot get them coal; and why can't the railroads get them coal? Because they don't order their coal until the tempera- ture is 40 degrees below zero, and it takes longer for the coal to get there than it does for them to freeze to death. That is all there is about it. Now, why don't they order their coal earlier? Because for years the rate on coal from the Lakes through this country and to the Missouri river during the summer have been so high that no merchant, no coal dealer, would ship. Because why? He knew that when the time came and the stress came, the railroads would reduce the rates, and if he shipped in at a high price, why, he would be left. Now, then, if we can get this system adopted, we will have the same rates in the spring that we have in the fall, and the same in the fall that we have in the winter, and get it in shape so that when the coal merchants know that, why, they will buy in the spring, when it is cheap. Take the anthracite coal — it advances 10 cents every month. Well, 10 cents a month on the cost of a ton of coal is 2 per cent a month. Well, there is not any coal merchant here, or at the Missouri river, but would like to earn 2 per cent on his money instead of keeping it in the bank until fall, if he knows that when fall comes the rate won't be cut down out from under him, so that his competitor will really get his stuff cheaper than he does. The Chairman : The joint session will now be dissolved. PART IV PROCEEDINGS OF 1906 State Agriculture Convention AND Conclusion of State Farmers' Institute Meeting Wednesday morning, December 12, 1906. The State Agricultural Convention convened in the rooms of the Department of Agriculture at 9:30 o'clock a.m., with Presi- dent W. W. Morrow in the chair. The meeting was called to order and the President appointed the following committees : Credentials— h. H. Pickard of Shelby county,' M. L. Flinn of Woodbury county, and Frank Sheldon of Ringgold county. Eesolutions — C. W. Hoffman of Decatur county, E. A. Larson of Montgomery county, and S. B. Packard of Marshall county. Vice-President Cameron was called to the chair and the Presi- dent made the folowing address: PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. HON. W. W. ^lORROW, AFTON, lA. The statement has been made at each annual meeting for the past feAv years that the fair just closed was the most successful of any In Its history: and while this was true in the past, it is especially true of the fair of 1906. The report of the weather and crop service will show that Iowa has produced this year a total of 385,000,000 bushels of corn, valued at $128,- 000,000; also 142,000,000 bushels of oats, valued at $38,000,000. The entire (117) 118 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. product of the farms will show that this has been the most prosperous year in the history of the State, and I am pleased to say that the great Iowa State Fair has kept pace with the agricultural interests which it represents. The farmers of Iowa are especially interested in the success of this fair, and believe that it ranks with the other State educational Institutions and should receive liberal financial support for the construc- tion of permanent buildings on the grounds. The Iowa State Fair is yet in its infancy and more land is needed for the growth of same. The land lying between the south entrance and the Rock Island depot should be secured and the legislature asked to make an appropriation to build a hog pavilion suitable to care for the swine exhibit, which is the largest exhibit of its kind in the world and which represents one of the greatest interests to be found in the State. If the above suggestions should be carried out, the space now occupied by the swine pens could be used for the horse exhibit and would avoid any congestion which now exists in that part of the grounds. The twenty- acre tract north of the race track, on which we have an option, should be purchased, and the race track moved farther north. This would give more space for the machinery and other exhibits, which is now, and will be in the future, much needed. This will require the building of a new steel amphitheater of sufficient size to accommodate the people and which for years has been needed, and if built, would not only secure the safety of the people that patronize the same, but would be a source of revenue to the society which we do not have under the present conditions. Many other improvements are needed, a part of which can be provided for by the society, but all permanent buildings, such as a swine pavilion, a steel amphitheater, a manufacturers' building, and other buildings, should be provided for by the General Assembly. Other improvements are under consideration, such as a water supply from the city, a new system of lighting, improvements on the streets, etc., all of which the future Board are amply able to provide for without any recommendations on my part. The total receipts for the year 1906 were $110,229.85; expenses amounted to $72,459.39, and the net profit of the same amounted to $37,- 470.46, detailed statement of which will be found in the Secretary's report. Today my connection with the State Board of Agriculture as an officer will cease. The years that I have been associated with the members of this Board have been the most pleasant years of my life, and for the many acts of kindness which I have received at their hands and for the support which I have received from the delegates to the annual meetings, many of whom are delegates here today, I wish to extend my heartfelt thanks. President IMorrov^^ again took the chair. Following the reports of Secretary and Treasurer (Part 1), Mr. J. E. Sage. Director of the Iowa Weather and Crop Service, gave a review of the weather and crops for the season of 1906, which report will be found published in Part Two of this volume. The President: "We will now listen to a paper by Mr. E. A. Larson of Montgomery county. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 119 THE UP-TO-DATE COUNTY FAIR, AND HOW IT CAN BE MADE USEFUL TO THE COMMUNITY. E. A. LARSON, SECKETAKY MOXTGOMEKY COUNTY FAIE ASSOCIATION, KED OAK, lA. In order that the county fair may be maintained, and that it may best serve the purpose for which it is held, and the community may be inter- ested sufficiently to insure its success, it should be conducted, not by a society composed of a few enterprising and public-spirited men, but by an agricultural society of which every taxpayer and every citizen would be a stockholder. The county should own the grounds and conduct the fair. The interest of the community in the county fair would then be identical with our common interest in our great State Fair. Laws should be enacted which would give to the board of supervisors of the county power to levy a tax upon all the taxable property in the ccunty, or to appropriate out of the county funds an amount of money with which to purchase grounds, erect the necessary buildings and other- wise support the fair. The affairs and the management of the fair should be in the hands of a board of directors made up of representative men, men of energy, ability and iudgment. The directors should be appointed by the supervisors of the county, and the appointment should be made irrespective of any political affiliations, and their duties should be prescribed by statute. Something must be done to revolutionize the county fair business if the county fair is to be maintained or conducted with such success that its usefulness and its influence will be manifest in the community. The Interest in the success of these annual county fairs in many counties of the State has almost entirely disappeared, and may never be sufficiently aroused unless something is done along the line which has been men- tioned whereby the interest of a few will be the interest of all. There are many reasons why the interest of a community in the county fair has, so to speak, disappeared. Perhaps the fair is not held at the most advantageous time of the year; perhaps the variety of exhibits is not sufficient to all purposes and intents; perhaps the premiums offered are not interesting; perhaps more attention is given towards securing entries for the speed ring than in securing exhibits of agricultural prod- ucts, horses, cattle, hogs or display of farm machinery, etc., and for various other reasons. That the county fair may be of value to its patrons, and that it may accomplish results that will be beneficial to the community, the exhibits 120 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. in every department must be complete, and In order to encourage exhibit- ors large and attractive premiums should be offered, sufficient to enthuse competition and justly compensate for the preparation. Premiums that are offered to exhibitors by the ordinary agricultural societies are comparatively small, at least too small to encourage many exhibitors. This is undoubtedly one of the many reasons why the interest of the community has slackened in the success of the fair. In localities where the success of the fair is of little concern it is a difficult matter for the management, in preparing the premium list, to offer large and attractive premiums because of their inability to estimate what the income of the society will be and what money there will be on hand with which to pay premiums and other expenses that are necessary. It cannot be expected that a few enterprising and public-spirited men in the community, who have invested their money and devoted their ener- gies towards the upbuilding of an institution like the county fair purely for the benefit of the public, and who under the most favorable conditions are unable to realize any profit upon their investment, should be com- pelled, year after year, to offer larger premiums than they are, or that the income of the society will permit, in order that the fair may be main- tained. If the fair was one of the permanent institutions maintained by the county, through a tax or appropriation, if such was necessary, better and more attractive premiums could be offered, which no doubt would stimu- late the interest and energy of the people to such an extent that exhib- itors would be more numerous, more exhibits would be displayed, and flnall the interests, energy and enterprise would be concentrated to such an extent that there would be but one object in view, and that to broaden its scope of usefulness. And with but one effort in view there would also be a tendency to eliminate much of exclusiveness and self- ishness, and with this out of the way the fair could be raised to a high level as an institution of learning and its usefulness would be well observed. By the county fair the progress of the community is measured. It records the advancement. It stimulates the energy, enterprise and intel- lect of the people; it goes into the home; it broadens and brightens the daily life of the people; it opens iiiore storehouses of information. Every county fair, great or small, has helped to some onward step. Comparison of ideas is beneficial and educational and as such instructs the brain and hand of man. Friendly rivalry follows, which is the spur to industrial improvement, the inspiration to high endeavor in all departments of activity. It exacts a study of the wants and comforts of the people, and recognizes the efficacy of high quality to win their favor. The county fair has done its work thoroughly in presenting in its exhibits evidence of the highest endeavor and illustration of the progress of the community. In our day there has been much change, much progress. Agricultural societies and similar organizations, such as the Farmers' Institute, etc., and all agencies which promote intelligent co-operation and give opportunity for social and intellectual intercourse, have played a large part in raising the level of life and work among the people. For the farmer and stock SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 121 grower the national and state governments through the departments of agriculture have accomplished striking results, by scientific study of all the matters connected with farm life, by experimental stations, by the use of trained agents, by the application of everything which in theory has been demonstrated to be efficient. In these ways, and many others, great good has been accomplished in raising the standard of productiveness in farm work throughout the country. We live in an era when the best results can only be achieved if to individual self-respect we add the mutual self-help which comes by com- bination, both of the citizen in individual capacity and the citizen working through the State. If the county fair could be conducted as a public institution, instead of as a semi-public affair, as it now is, and with it would be consolidated under the same management the farmers' institute, the short course in grain and stock judging, the agricultural experiment work and the Chau- tauqua, the count}^ would have an institution by and through which it could and would receive the benefits and results of these kindred institu- tions as well as the benefits and the results of the work of the national and State departments of agriculture. The agricultural experiment work that is now done by the county, with the assistance of the trained agents of the State Agricultural College, could be done en the fair grounds, and the results of experimental work could be part of the agricultural exhibits at the fair. The corn school short course, which has proven so beneficial to those who are constantly in search for information which tends to raise the standard of productiveness of farm work, should be conducted under the auspices of the county, and should be one of the branches of the county fair. Let us unite our efforts and secure a public institution of this kind in every county in the State. See discussion on this subject, page 127. The President : Onr Governor, Honorable A. B. Cummins, will now address us. ADDRESS. GOV. A. B. CUMMINS. Mr. President, Gentlemen of the State Farmers' Institute, and Conven- tion: In some way I had received the impression that my performance was to occur this afternoon, and I had rather expected to spend the noon hour in pulling myself together and in determining just what should be the subject of the discussion which I intended to put forth. However, although I come entirely unprepared so far as phraseology is concerned, I know very well what I desire to say and perhaps I can make myself understood. I congratulate you all very heartily, very sincerely, upon the general prosperity that has attended, and now attends, the interests in which you 122 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. are most vitally concerned. I believe it to be true that there never was a time in our commonv/ealth when cur farmers were so universally pros- perous, so universally happy and contented as they are at the present moment, and therefore you are peculiarly fitted to consider the things which concern your welfare. I have observed that a man in adversity, or in discontent, or in unhappiness, can never propose changes and remedies that are wise; he necessarily is affected by his condition. I congratulate you upon the great success that has heretofore attended your efforts. I refer now especially to your State Fair. I am in the habit of thinking that everytliing that Iowa has is a little better than anything than anybody else has. I am conscious, however, that my judgment sometimes may be perverted by the pride I feel in the magnificent development of our com- monwealth. But, I think I speali not only the opinion of our own people, but I think I speak the accepted judgment of the whole western country when I say that the State Fair of our commonwealth stands conspicuously above the State fairs of any other commonwealth in the Union. I ought to congratulate you, and I do congratulate you, upon the high fidelity, the wonderful intelligence, manifested by the men to whom you have com- mitted this annual exhibition of the fruits and vintage of agriculture. I look upon the State Fair solely as an educational influence. It seems to me that we are rearing in this State a wonderful educational structure. I do not know whether to begin at the top of it or at the bottom of it to describe it. I look upon it as though the Agricultural College stands at the apex of this edifice. Then comes our State Fair, our agricultural societies, horticultural societies, our State and County Farmers' Institutes; and altogether they form one of the most admirable and effective systems of instruction in agricultural science than can be found in any State in the Union, or in any country in the world. I recognize that this fair and these institutes have other objects than purely instruction in the science of agriculture They are made pleasant and beautiful and entertaining, but, after all, the highest and noblest purpose of all is to look up, to ennoble the basis of humanity, the tilling of the soil. We have fortunately in this State a high percentage of such as no other State has, and again I am drifting away into expressions of pride. But I believe it to be true that while all other states have some good land — and I am glad of it — there is no other State that has proportion- ately the same quantity of good, splendid, fertile soil that we find in the State of Iowa. I am told that in our commonwealth 971,2 per cent of the area of the State is capable of successful and profitable use in agriculture; and there is no other State in the Union that approaches this percent- age by 10 or 15 per cent. Now that you have committed to you one of the greatest agencies that was ever reposed in human hands, and the splendor, the magnificence of the thing committed to you, measures your responsibility in dealing with it. There are two things, as it seems to me, that all agriculturists and all followers of agriculture, horticulture and allied occupations ought to remember. First, it is our business — and I use the word our — for while I am not a farmer, I, together with all others who live in this State, are just as much interested in farming as you are, because it is the coming SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 123 Interest of the State of Iowa. It is the thing that most of all makes Iowa conspicuous and notable throughout the Union, and unless we do well with the natural gifts that God has given us nothing will come of it. There- fore, I say our. There are two things, as it seems to me, that we ought to very carefully consider. First, it is our duty to make the acres of Iowa soil produce all that they are capable of producing. Second, we must transmit to our posterity these acres of Iowa soil just as fertile and as productive as we received them from those who went before us. These two things I think constitute the natural maxim in the interests of agri- culture in this State. That leads me now to the next suggestion — the wonderful, the mag- nificent, and I sometimes think the mysterious, awakening in agriculture, the science of agriculture, that we have witnessed within the past few years. I believe ycu may read the high growth of human race. You may become familiar with every step that humanity has taken in order to improve itself and acquire further information, and you will find nothing parallel with the growth of the people of this State in the senti- ment in regard to the science of agriculture. I have been amazed as I have gone about this State from institute to institute to observe the deep and pervading interest which the people have displayed in probing into the mysteries of nature; the interest they have manifested in acquiring all the knowledge of the earth. This awakening is most gratifying, must be gratifying to you and to everybody. For in the first place to pass to the material benefits which have come from it, it makes uetter men and better women of you; it lifts you up and you see beauties that you never saw before. You find an interest in merely turning over the ground that you never found before. The veil which nature has let down before your eyes in regard to many of its operations has been lifted and you see wonderful operations, the effect of which you knew before but the progress of which you never dreamed of until the book of the science of agriculture was opened before your eyes. And, therefore, the very first and probably the very highest benefit which we have received from this revolution in our conception in regard to agriculture which has really occurred in the last ten years, is to give us all a higher and better conception of our relations, not only to the rules of the universe but to our fellow men. But I shall not dwell upon that particularly, but pass to the material ben- efits in this intense study, this intense absorption which you find the men of agriculture and horticulture in this State growing out of the new and awakened interest in the science of agriculture. We all desire to make our calling successful. While I hope that it is not the principal motive of any life to make money, it is one of the things which we most always have in view, and therefore if this increased opportunity, this increased interest in the science of agriculture related only to the moral and spir- itual development you would probably find somebody vastly better qualified than I to speak of that phase of it. I am now going to speak of its material advantages. I do not pretend to know of my own knowledge the things I am going to relate; I am simply taking them from men who are qualified to speak. I try to learn something every day, and when I get hold of a man who knows anything about farming, if he has the 124 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. time to give me the information, I squeeze liim just as dry as I can. I believe it to be true from this information that the present year is con- clusive evidence of the value of the scientific knowledge of agriculture, and I am told that of the four hundred million bushels of corn — I speak in round numbers — which the farmers of Iowa have produced this year, that you owe fifty million of these bushels, at the most conservative esti- mate, to the knowledge that you have gained in the study of the science of agriculture within the past few years. That is to say, if we had not known anything more about raising corn than we did twenty years ago and exactly the same conditions had prevailed in this State as have pre- vailed this year, instead of raising four hundred million bushels of corn we would not have raised more than three hundred and fifty million bushels on the same acres. I recognize, of course, that there are a great many elements entering into this gradual and insensible advantage, but I have given you what I believe to be a conservative estimate; therefore, in ccrn alone you have fifty million bushels more than you would have had. It happens to be worth this year thirty-three cents per bushel. I am not new speaking of the additional profit you will acquire if you feed it to hogs. 1 am assuming now that you sell it, and the advantage there- fore that the people of Iowa have this year in ccrn alone returns them an investment of not less than fifteen million dollars. Fifteen million dollars is the sum that I have in mind for corn alone. If you will add to this the idditional advantage of your forage crops, and of your cattle, your hogs, and everything that you have produced derived solely from this general interest that the farmers have taken in this science of agricul- ture, I have no doubt that when I name twenty-five million dollars as your profit upon that investment I will be well within the limits. Twenty- five million dollars in a single year. That is more, a good deal more, than the State of Iowa has spent on its educational institutions for both the support and the construction of all our educational institutions. That is, I mean our three educational institutions, the College at Ames, the University at Iowa City and the Normal School at Cedar Falls. You have taken in in one- year more than you have ever spent for their support. Including all that you have ever expended in the construction of the splen- did buildings that are now to be found at these various institutions. Twenty-five million dollars will pay all the expenses of the State of Iowa for a single year. That is to say, I am not speaking of the State govern- ment, but the county government, the city government and the township government. These expenses will be a little less than twenty-five million dollars. It means that you have earned this year enough to maintain all the public schools of the State of Iowa, including the three institu- tions conducted by the State devoted to higher learning. It means that you have won enough to pay for two years all the expenses connected with the maintenance of our public school system. Now, I believe, if I have correctly stated the facts, you must agree with me that you have made a wonderfully good investment. No investment in the State has ever returned so high and so rich a reward as that invest- ment which originated and which carries forward this work of education. And now I am coming to my point, because I have this in my heart to say. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 125 I have looked upon the work which has been going on in this State with Intense interest. I believe that in it lies the leadership of Iowa in the Union, and therefore I am going to suggest it to you for your considera- tion. Not simply to lay aside, not simply as a valueless thing, but because I want you to think upon it, and act upon it. I believe that a large part of this credit for this awakening and this interest in agriculture, the lessons which you have seen in the last few years, the close interest you have seen everywhere throughout the state. I believe the real credit which has been given for this should be given to the Agricultural College at Ames. We have there now, and have had, a band of as faithful and devoted public servants as I have ever known, and without stint so far as their strength was concerned and without measure so far as their enthu- siasm is concerned. They have gone about this commonwealth preaching the gospel of corn. There are very many men in this State who cannot go to Ames; they are too old to enroll as students at Ames. There are a great many men and women in this State who have passed from this period of preparation, but they would like the opportunity to study the fundamental principles of the science of agriculture. There are a good many boys in this State who, however ambitious they may be, however deserving they may be, cannot go, cannot leave home to take the course which is prescribed for students at the agricultural colleges, either at Ames or anywhere else. We are all bound by conditions and sometimes we cannot get away from them, and the number of men and women who can attend the agricultural school at Ames is now and always must be very small; and I believe the time has come in this State when we ought to extend the opportunity to our men and women to study agriculture. I would like to see some plan devised by which gray headed men can, if they have an hour on a rainy day, or after supper at night, whenever they can get it, have an opportunity to sit down with their wives and their children around them, and study the thing which is to make Iowa great and prosperous, if we are to be great and prosperous. Now I come to another step. I do not know whether all of you are aware of it or not, but there has been in this country the last few years a system of educa- tion devised which is new in our age. It began in the Chautauqua. Years ago some good men and women conceived the plan of instituting a Chau- tauqua. Now I don't mean these Chautauquas which we see generally throughout the State, where any man, and some who can't, get up and talk for two hundred dollars per day. I mean the Chautauqua which planned a system of instruction for those who could not go to school. Out of that Chautauqua experiment there has been organized in this country a system of correspondence schools that are simply wonderful. They do not make the highest scholars; there is no opportunity for complete, and therefore no thorough education, but I have had an opportunity to investigate it myself. There is one school down at Scranton, Pennsylvania, that has ten thousand pupils in the State of Iowa. Ten thousand of our boys and girls and men and women are now taking instruction in the various branches of learning from the Scranton Correspondence School. There is another at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and there is another at Sioux City, and they are scattered all over the land. Now these, while I have no doubt there is 126 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. some philanthropy in the hearts of the men who are carrj'ing them on, are money making enterprises. But in talking this over with a good many people who are interested in educational work going on in this State, this thought has risen, could we not add to the Agricultural College at Ames, not a distinct department, because the work in a small degree is now being done, but could we not add to the Agricultural College a school of correspondence instruction, where the man who cannot go to it, even for the short course, can enter into communication with the teachers at Ames through the medium of the mail and secure the fundamental benefits of scientific training in agriculture with the very minimum of expense. I believe that if we had such a thing it would not be more than six months until we had twenty-five thousand men and women in this State passing through a course of agriculture. It would cost very little. Now I think myself that a part of the expense should be borne by the pupils; I think that is right. But I think the State should equip our institution there to take care of its end of it. Now I do not want you to think for a moment that this is an appeal made by the Agricultural College. It would come from a very worthy source if it did; but this suggestion comes from me. I am no more interested in the Agricultural College at Ames than in the University at Iowa City or the Normal School at Cedar Falls. I would have each institution carry forward the work that is assigned to it with success and honor; and the education of the State so far as agriculture is concerned is committed to the college at Ames. I think we could double its usefulness if it were so arranged that every farmer, every farmer's boy and every farmer's girl in this State could take up a course running over two or three years. I know nothing of the details of such a course of instruction, and when their progress was satisfactory to those who exam- ined their papers from time to time and there was evidence that they had faithfully acquired the information that was necessary, they ought to have a diploma, they ought to have a certificate that they had passed through this course. I believe it would do more than any other one thing to continue this splendid awakening on the part of this State in the study of agriculture. I see no limits to this enterprise. Last night I was talking with a member of the Horticultural Society, our friend Asa Turner, who lives in this county, and, notwithstanding his years, has been a student at Ames; and I heard him telling of the additional interest which his study had given him in life, of additional willingness to remain on the farm. And there is another thing — if there is one tendency I would like to see arrested in this State, it is the tendency to leave the farm, either in the young men or the old men. I do not believe the old men should leave the farm and go to town; they are not as much use to their fellow men as if they stayed on the farm. Anything that you do of the kind that I have suggested to you adds new interest to life, it fastens men more firmly to their farm, to their homes, and I would like this convention or this society to consider this subject. It would not cost much. I know that I have the reputation of being a little extravagant, but I never advised the State of Iowa to expend a dollar that I did not think would be returned to it tenfold over, and the recommendation which I have made for the maintenance of this institution would seem to me has been justi- SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 127 fieri by the process of time, and the small yearly appropriation that would be necessary to establish a school such as I have outlined would come back to you, I think, every year, not interes„ only, but in principal as well. We are a part of a great moving, rushing throng. This is an age of rest- lessness, and I am glad it is so. It is an age of improvement and growth, and the patriotic men and women of Iowa are always in the very fore- front of the procession of civilization. I thank you. i\lR. Packard: I move that thi.s convention tender Governor Cummins its thanks for his very interesting address, and that this convention may vote upon the recommendation of the Gover- nor for some plan upon the question of a correspondence school at Ames, in case it meets with the approval of the convention the committee on resolutions, when appointed, may think out some scheme in this direction and make some recommendation in their resolution. I suggest that the first part of the motion be made this; that the thanks of the convention be tendered Governor Cummins. ^Motion seconded and carried unanimously. For the second part; that the convention approves, for the time being at least, of the recommendation made in the Governor's address relating to a school of correspondence at Ames. Seconded and carried. ]\Ir. Packard moved that the subject of taxation for the purpose of establishing county fairs be discussed. ]\Ir. Larson: The idea I had in view when I thought of this was that I believed that there are too many of these organizations in every county which are closely allied and closely connected. Here is the farmers' institute; here is the short course school; here is the experiment work ; and here is the fair ; and I might include the Chautauqua. You have five or six organizations in a county, and in order that you might draw the interest of all the people in some or most of them, you have got to get together. Now I have thought of this, as long as these institutions are carrying out the purpose for which they are held and are of interest, and the county could be assured of the interest that they are intended for, then the county as a government ought to control the grounds and conduct the fair, and in connection with the fair, conduct the experimental school, etc. When you put all the branches there under one head you have them in such shape that each branch then answers the purpose for which they are intended. Mr. Packard : I agree with that part of the proposition of the county standing the expense of the fair and then the county voting 128 IOWA DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. a tax for the purpose of erecting buildings, etc. I agree with this, that you may expect the gate receipts and receipts from all sources just about sufficient to pay the expenses of the fair and give liberal premiums for exhibits. When you go beyond that and expect from your gates to tax yourselves to buy the grounds, build build- ings, etc., you cannot make two ends meet. If the receipts are large, as in our county they were, and we have twelve hundred dollars to fourteen hundred dollars now, that much money ought to be put into added premiums next year, and I would make the premiums bigger year after year because that will make the exhibits better year after year and of more interest. If you have to take your money for new buildings, etc, you cannot do this thing; you have to skimp yourself. Now as to the point of letting the county supervisors run the fair I can- not agree. I think the best results with the county fair will be to let that thing go as they are. If you attempt to run it in that form you will get more politics than under the present system But to allow the people of the county to tax themselves when the wish for the purpose of raising money to buy grounds and erect buildings, I am willing to let that stand. I make a motion that the convention instruct the committee on resolutions to bring in a reso- lution on the subject of allowing the county to tax themselves for the purchase of grounds and the erection of buildings. Seconded by Mr. McDonald. Mr, Van Houten: I have no objection to the resolution, but I can hardly see that this resolution would have any force except in the way of bringing it before the people for discussion. The members of legislature are now elected and will soon meet in regular session. No instructions from this body would have any weight with them as compared with the sentiment of their own county. And it looks to me as this resolution conveys no force, no effect and no influence except to bring the matter before the people to have an expression in the county. I assure you for my own part, and others would feel the same way, that it would have no influence whatever in getting members to vote on this question. Mr. St. John-. I heartily agree with the suggestions of the gentleman from Montgomery, and also with Governor Packard. I do believe you ought to keep it out of politics. Let me give you the condition in Howard county, to the east of my own county ; their fair has become a thing of the past ; and in Cerro Gordo county on the west, the county fair which once flourished has be- SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 129 come a thing- of the past. In Mitchell county we have struggled along to keep the fair together. AVhen we asked the board of supervisors to aid us in rebuilding our burned buildings there went up a cry that there was a political lobby. The suggestion in that paper struck me as the thing to make the fair a success. Mr. Seaman : I have had some experience in county fairs, and I wish to briefly state that after due deliberation and some sad experience in these county organizations I have come to the con- clusion that the days of the county fair in the State of Iowa are numbered ; in fact, they are past. I do not believe if you will examine the history of any agricultural society in the State of Iowa, and examine it thoroughly, that you will be convinced they will be interested in maintaining in anything like a majority of the counties in the State of Iowa an agricultural society for any number of years. The State of Iowa has outgrown the county agricultural society ; in other words, you cannot get enough people together in one county or ad.jacent counties to receive enough instruction from it to warrant the expense of maintaining it. IMr. IMcTavish : I have had a little experience in conducting a county fair. I have listened to this discussion with much in- terest. I heartily agree with Governor Packard when he says that the funds obtained at the gates will not more than pay run- ning expenses ; I heartily agree with the gentleman who says that the State of Iowa has outgrown the county fair ; but I disagree with the idea that the State of Iowa has outgrown a county agri- cidUiral fair. The county fairs of Iowa the last few years have degenerated so that in many cases it has not been safe for a man to take his family, his daughters, if you please, blooming into womanhood, load the family up in the surrey and go to .the fair as in days gone by. Therefore the people of Iowa have outgrown what is commonh^ called the county fair, and what, in reality, is nothing but a low grade vaudeville. If the element that wants to see what is vaudeville, put on out-doors, what is called now the carnival, the element that wants to see that can see a far better vaudeville by going to central places for this where a better program is put on; a. county fair cannot put on any at- traction that will be worth the money at the gate. We have in my county, Linn county, three fairs. The one of which I have been director for several years is located at Central City. That fair degenerated ; got into the hands of the attraction element ; but it was reorganized on democratic principles, so that every one . 9 130 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. that bought a season ticket became a member of the fair associa- tion, and the property is consequently public property and every- one is interested. Had it not been so organized I presume it would have gone the way of other county fairs ; but the people got to- gether and took it upon themselves to make it an agricultural fair. They had their annual meeting and elected men that they knew would be for building up a clean fair. It has been three years since that step was taken. Prof. Kennedy judged our stock last year, and he made the statement that it was the best stock show that he had ever judged outside of the State Fair, or the World's Fair. Our admissions increased so that we have been able to increase our premiums. We have been able to draw stock from the surrounding counties. We have had stock in different depart- ments that has been shown at the State Fair, and the people are interested in the fair and they load up their families and come in and support it because it is an agricultural fair. The attractions are a secondary element; the main feature is to educate the people along agriculture and stock improving lines. ]Mr. Burk : I have also had some experience in county fairs. I live in ^Marshall county, and the southwest part of Marshall county maintained a county fair for many years and always paid money in full. We are so situated that it is impossible to get receipts to exceed twelve thousand dollars. We let our race track go, and for two years had no fair, but to show you whether or not the people of the neighborhood are in favor of the county fair, we got together and reorganized. Last year we had a very successful fair; put on about three thousand two hundred dollars in improvements, and we feel encouraged at the exhibits we had, and we are all interested in the county fair and want to help it along. I believe county fairs can only be run by people who are interested in them. In soliciting stock for the county fair, a repre- sentative came to ask my assistance. I told him that on account of our local fair that it would not be worth the trouble to go around. Motion of Governor Packard moved and carried. On motion, the convention adjourned until 1 :30 p.m. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART IV. 131 WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION. Convention convened at 2 o'clock p.m. The President: ]\Ir. W. Z. Swallow of Waukee is scheduled on our program for a paper on the subject of "Does It Pay to Show Hogs at the Iowa State Fair," but as he is unable to be with us, Mr. G. H. Van Houten will read the paper to you as prepared by Mr. Swallow. DOES IT PAY TO SHOW HOGS AT THE IO\VA STATE FAIR? W. Z. SWALLOW, WAUKEE, lA. After an experience of many years as an exhibitor at the Iowa State Fair, as well as at many other State, district and county fairs, I am con- vinced that it does pay to show hogs at the Iowa State Fair. And I believe that the same arguments in favor of such showing are equally as strong in their application to the exhibition of other breeds of live stock. Showing at the Iowa State Fair has paid me in many ways. It has been a means by which I could from year to year compare the hogs of my own herd with those from other herds, and with those which I had every reason to believe were their best. This provided me with a high standard of excellence toward which I might work. It paid me in another way because it brought the best breeding ani- mals in the land right to me, so that I could examine and compare them without paying out large sums of money for railway fares and other expenses that would have to be incurred had I visited each of the herds represented at their homes. From these herds I generally selected such breeding animals as it seemed necessary for me to buy in order to keep my herd improving. It will readily be seen that at this point it paid me well in the amount of money saved. It paid me, too, because it gave me a chance to form the acquaintance of the best breeders of swine in the United States, to learn their opinions, their methods of care and feeding, and to glean from them a great deal of information most useful in the business of raising and selling pure bred hogs. It also enabled me to keep informed as to the kind of hog demanded in different sections, the range of prices obtained, and many other things of interest as well as profit. 132 IOWA DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. It paid me because it brouglit me in personal contact with thousands of farmers who were in search of male hogs to use in their pork-producing herds, and to establish a trade at private sale that has become a source of pride as well as of profit to me. This trade, during the forty years in which I have been an exhibitor, has in the aggregate taken more than a thousand hogs from my herd, and at prices that ranged from fifteen dol- lars up to one thousand dollars each. The Iowa State Fair has for many years been recognized as a great meeting place for buyers and sellers of pure bred hogs. More animals of that character can be seen in its pens during the week of the fair than at any two of the other greatest State fairs in our country. The live stock show at the Iowa State Fair is really an educational feature, a means of setting before the farmer and stock raiser (and every farmer should be in some measure a stock raiser) the better forms of cattle, horses, hogs, sheep and poultry. By better forms we mean those which bring the highest prices in the markets. A hog, for instance, is better than another hog only when he brings a greater number of cents per pound, and when he makes a greater number of those pounds in the same length of time and on the same quantity of feed. There is no disputing the fact that the packing houses, by reason of the demands made upon them for the various forms of meat products, have called for a form or type of hog for which a higher price will be paid than for any other. When the call for this particular type of hog became a settled fact, the foremost breeders set about to make their hogs conform to it, to establish it as a breed characteristic. In this way they have been remarkably successful. The ideal pure bred hog of today fulfills the requirements of the very best markets, and there is no herd in the hands of a really intelligent breeder that does not contain a large per- centage of animals which, if prepared for market, would bring the top price. The efforts of breeders to perfect the type of their hogs so that ft might conform to the standard established by the markets have been greatly aided through the competitions of the State fairs, and of the Iowa State Fair in particular. There they saw the best that their com- petitors were able to produce, and if it excelled their own they had the opportunity to make comparisons and learn at what points they might be lacking. But comparisons were but a small part of the advantages of the show. Certain animals, or certain strains of animals, showed a ten- dency to reproduce themselves with more certainty than others. The verdict of the show ring set the seal of approval on such hogs, and the wise breeder was he who kept well enough posted to know just what commingling of blood produced them. The best methods of growing and fitting, or bringing them to their highest state of perfection, were also disseminated through personal conversation at the State Fair in such a way as to be a benefit to every man who was bright enough to take advantage of his opportunities. I must say right here that live stock exhibitors are as a rule quite unselfish, being willing that the whole craft might have the benefit of any personal experience. For myself I confess that many bits of information that led to the betterment of my herd SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 133 were learned at the lantern light discussions that took place in the old dormitory or at the pen side after the day's business was closed and none but the exhibitors remained. It was the State Fair that made plain the need of a uniform setting forth of the proper proportions of an ideal hog. The scale of points as given by the score card perfected and used by the National Association of Expert Swine Judges was the outgrowth of this demand, and today the decisions of all competitive shows are based upon its provisions. Perhaps I should have said that they should be based upon them, as occasionally a fair is judged' by a man whose knowledge is limited, and whose decisions do not represent the true type. But the general trend of the judging is in the right direction and may be depended upon as a guide. If I may be pardoned from the digression from my subject, I will say that the occasional inefficient or dishonest judge is a most aggra- vating fellow, whose power to harm the industry is a matter for serious consideration. Its misleading influence is far reaching and may be a means of damage and disappointment to innocent men who depend upon it. An instance of this came under my observation at the International Live Stock Exposition at Chicago last week. In one class a prize was awarded purely^ because of a personal opinion of a judge who absolutely ignored breed characteristics, and failed to give consideration to the objects of the show, or to comparisons that should have entered into the cornpetition. As a result of that decision breeders who did not attend the show will be misled in the idea as to what is the popular and profitable type. In another class a decision was said to have been influenced by the breed preferences of an official high in the management of the exposition. I am glad to say that the Iowa State Fair has had very few instances of this kind, and I believe this is one of the reasons why it has so justly gained its enviable position as the greatest hog show on earth. The excellent standard established in the leading breeding herds has only been reached after a long and troublesome siege at the State fairs, and was only possible because of the lessons the owners learned there. I say to the young man who wishes to take up the work of swine breeding, go to the State Fair, take along a few pigs, keep your eyes and ears open, and do not hesitate to ask a question when there is a chance to learn something by doing so. Learn to see every point. Learn to compare hogs and to note what differences there are between them. Learn to look at an animal of your own breeding just as critically as at that of your competitor. There is no royal road to success, nor one that does not call for hard work and close observation seven days in the week. I am inclined to think that the young man who begins now, without experience, has a much more difficult work ahead of him than did the beginner of forty years ago. Of course he today has the advantage of being able to start with stock having quality as good as the breed affords. But he must be a most excellent judge of the individual merit of the animal, and after that the matter of proper strains and correct matings follow with a bearing on his future success that demands the exercise of more wisdom than he has probably ev«r thought of in con- nection with the business. He must know that success depends upon 134 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. maintaining the type with which he starts, that is if his start has been rightly made. He must know that a failure to do this leads to a rever- sion to original types, lack of uniformity, and an ever increasing ten- dency away from the correct form. It is in fact the same in effect, with perhaps a less rapid result, as cross-breeding, and unfailingly harmful. At the State fairs there has been a gradual improvement in quality from the very first up to the present day. The quality of the stock on the farms has followed closely after, and as a direct result. Showing at the Iowa State Fair has been a benefit to the entire pork producing industry, to farmers who have never attended the fair as well as those who have. It has shown them just what a good hog should look like. It has, through the ever increasing sale system, given him an opportunity to buy breeding animals at fair prices and nas in many instances cultivated a pride in the matter of improvement in the farm stock. I have customers who have bought stock from me year after year, and continued so long that their herds show the very highest quality. Through this means animals are produced that make a rapid growth, mature quickly, and may be ready for the market at about eight months, and in such form as to bring the highest price. Since I began showing, the age for profitably marketing hogs has been more than cut in two. Committee on Credentials reported as follows, and on motion of Mr. Van Houten the report was adopted and the committee continued, so that any question in regard to credentials could be taken up and not occupy the time of the convention. Motion seconded by Mr. T. W. Purcell, and carried. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CREDENTIALS. Gentlemen: The Committee on Credentials report the following per- sons duly qualified and entitled to seats in the Agricultural Convention for the State of Iowa, assembled December 12, 1906: DELEGATES FROM COUNTY AND DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. Adair County Agricultural Society — C. A. Gibbs, Greenfield. Adams County Agricultural Society — George E. Bliss, Corning. La Porte District Fair Association — B. L. Manwell, La Porte City. Buchanan County Agricultural Society — A. K. Cole, Independence. Beuna Vista County Agricultural Society — A. L. Denio, Alta. Cass County Agricultural Society — E. F. Berg, Atlantic. Massena District Fair Association — W. C. Williams, Atlantic. Big Four District Fair Association — G. C. Hoyer, Nashua. Elkader Fair and Track Association — John G. Hemphill, Elkader, SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 135 Davis County Agricultural Society — O. W. Wisdom, Bloomfield. Floyd County Agricultural Society — John R. Waller, Rockford. Franklin County Agricultural Society — Ralph H. Clock, Hampton. Guthrie County Agricultural Society — A. H. Grissell, Guthrie Center. Hardin County Agricultural Society — H. S. Martin, Eldora. Harrison County Agricultural Society — C. H. Deur, Missouri Valley. Humboldt County Agricultural Society — Levi Goodell, Humboldt. Iowa County Agricultural Society — D. M. Rowland, Marengo. Williamsburg Pavilion and Fair Association — Millard Harrington, Williamsburg. Jackson County Agricultural Society — Ed Phillips, Maquoketa. Jasper County Agricultural Society — C. O. McLain, Newton. Jefferson County Agricultural Society — J. P. Manatrey, Fairfield. Johnson County Agricultural Society — George A. Hitchcock, Iowa City. What Cheer District Agricultural Society — U. S. Chasey, Nugent. Kossuth County Agricultural Society — A. R. Corey, Wesley. Columbus Junction District Fair Association — R. J. Reaney, Columbus Junction. Lyon County Fair and Agricultural Association — W. G. Smith, Rock Rapids. Madison County Agricultural Society — A. L. Foster, Winterset. New Sharon District Agricultural Society — M. Bainbridge, New Sharon. Lake Prairie District Agricultural Society — T. D. Tice, Pella. Eden District Agricultural Society — H. G. Buck, Rhodes. Marshall County Fair Association — J. B. Classen, Vienna. Mitchell County Agricultural Society — R. Dorsey, Osage. Monona County Fair Association — A. W. Burgess, Onawa. Montgomery Country Fair Association — Henry Peterson, Red Oak. Union District Agricultural Society — W. P. Nichols, West Liberty. Wilton Fair Association — Harry Ayres, Wilton Junction. O'Brien County Agricultural Society — R. C. Jordan, Sutherland. Sheldon District Fair Association — S. M. Ladd, Sheldon. Clarinda Fair Association — D. Stitt, Clarinda. Big Four District Fair Association (Fonda) — Jonn Forbes, Fonda. Poweshiek County Agricultural Society — James Nowak, Malcom. Poweshiek County Central Agricultural Society — I. S. Bailey, Grinnell. Ringgold County Fair Association — F. E. Sheldon, Mount Ayr. Sac County Agricultural Society — Philip Schaller, Sac City. Shelby County Agricultural Society — Mrs. M. F. Pickard, Harlan. Rock Valley District Fair Association — F. E. Watkins, Hawarden. Story County Agricultural Society — H. B. Craddick, Nevada. Tama County Fair Association — E. Mericle, Toledo. Taylor County Agricultural Society — George H. Van Houten, Lenox. Warren County Fair Association — Lee Talbott, Indianola. Forest City Park and Fair Association — J. A. Peters, i' crest City. Buffalo Center District Fair and Driving Park Association — J. P. Boyd, Buffalo Center. Winneshiek County Agricultural Society — Thomas Graham, Decorah. Worth County Agricultural Society^Nels Thorson, Northwcod. Wright County Agricultural Society — S. W. Nelson, Clarion. 136 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. DELEGATES FROM COUNTIES IN WHICH NO FAIRS WERE REPORTED FOR THE YEAR 1906. Bremer County — E. M. Reeves, Waverly. Crawford County — H. C. Schroeder. Dallas County — Oscar Gray. Decatur County — C. W. Hoffman, Leon. Dubuque County^H. C. Bumgartner, Dubuque. Emmet County — J. C. Lovell, Estherville." Greene County — A. P. Fuhrmeister. Hamilton County — Carl Sparboe, Webster City. Howard County — Walter C. Fox, Riceville. Ida County — William C. Pritchard, Ida Grove. Lucas County — C. J. Johnston, Chariton. Polk County — Lew Burnett, Des Moines. Scott County — B. F. Seaman, Davenport. Wapello County — W. O. Bagley, Eldon. Washington County — -D. J. Palmer, Washington. Woodbury County — M. L. Flinn, Sioux City. DELEGATES FROM COUNTY FARMERS' INSTITUTED. Adair County — A. C. Savage, Adair. Black Hawk County— W. D. Stayer, Waterloo, Route No. 1. Buchanan County — W. H. Warburton, Independence. Buena Vista County — S. R. Haines, Storm Lake. Calhoun County — Henry 'Parsons, Rockwell City. Cedar County — J. S. Fawcett, Springdale. Clay County — R. E. Brownell, Spencer, Route No. 1. Dallas County— Ed. Vial, Adel. Emmet County — H. W. Woods, Estherville. Franklin County — T. W. Purcell, Hampton. Guthrie County — S. J. Reed, Guthrie Center. Hancock County — F. J. Oxley, Corwith. Howard County — R. M. Thomson, Cresco. Ida County — E. J. Preston, Battle Creek. Keokuk County — C. L. Beal. Kossuth County — J. B. Hofins, Algcna. Lyon County — A. A. Rogers. Madison County — T. J. Hudson, Winterset. Marion County — George Simpson, Knoxville. Mitchell County— D. F. Sheehan, Osage. Monona County — John Sundberg. Muscatine County — C. W. Norton, Wiltcn Junction. O'Brien County— H. O. Smith. Polk County — R. H. Gormley, Bondurant. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 137 Poweshiek County — J. R. Morris. Sac County — Z. Fuller, Sac City. Stieloy County — L. H. Pickard, Harlan. Story County — W. P. George, Ames. Tama County — Welcome Mowry, Traer. Union County — L. J. Day. Van Buren County — W. A. Duckworth, Keosauqua. "Warren County — E. B. Igo, Indianola. Winneshiek County — W. A. Van Vliet. Winnebago County — Eugene Secor, Forest City. Worth County — E. H. Miller, Northwood. Wright County — A. C. Fuller, Dows. DELEGATES' FROM OTHER SOCIETIES AND ASSOCIATTONS. Iowa 'State Horticultural Society*— Wesley Greene, Des Moines. Iowa Improved Stock Breeders' Association — E. M. Wentworth, State Center. Iowa Swine Breeders' Association — W. D. McTavish, Coggon. IOWA STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. EX-OFFICIO. State Dairy and Food Commissioner — H. R. Wright, Des Moines. State Veterinarian — Dr. P. O. Koto, Forest City. President — W. W. Morrow, Afton. Vice President — C. E. Cameron, Alta. Secretary — J. C. Simpson, Des Moines. Treasurer — G. D. Ellyson, Des Moines. DISTRICT MEMBERS. First District — R. S. Johnston, Columbus Junction. Second District — C. W. Phillips, Maquoketa. Third District — W. C. Brown, Clarion. Fourth District— R. T. St. John, Riceville. Fifth District — S. B. Packard, Marshalltown. Sixth District— T. C. Legoe, What Cheer. Seventh District — C. F. Curtiss, Ames. Eighth District — John Ledgerwood, Leon. 138 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Ninth District — M. McDonald, Bayard. Tenth District — A. O. Olson, Forest City. Eleventh District— H. L. Pike, Whiting. L. H. Packard, M. L. Flinn, F. E. Sheldon, Committee. The President : The convention will now proceed to the elec- tion of the following officers of the State Board of Agriculture for the terms of one year each, and for district members for the terms of two years each : President, Vice-President, Member from the Second District, Member from the Fourth District, Member from the Sixth District, Member from the Eighth District, Member from the Tenth District. Mr. R. T. St. John, of ]\Iitchell county, placed in nomination for President of the State Board of Agriculture, j\rr. C. E. Cameron, of Buena Vista county ; seconded l\v Mr. 3IcDonald. ]\Ir. Waller moved that the nomination be made unanimous and the Secretary be instructed to cast the vote of the convention for Mr. Cameron. Motion prevailed. The Secretary so cast the vote and Mr. C. E. Cameron was declared duly elected President of the State Board' of Agriculture for the ensuing year. Mr. E. M. Wentworth placed in nomination for Vice-President, ;Mr. W. C. Brown, of Wright county; seconded by ]\Ir. St. John. Mr. Purcell moved that the Secretary be instructed to cast the entire vote of the convention for Mr. Brown as Vice-President. JMotion prevailed. The Secretary so cast the vote and Mr. W. C. Brown was declared duly elected Vice-President of the State Board of Agriculture for the ensuing year. Mr. E. A. Phillips, of Jackson county, placed in nomination for member of the State Board of Agriculture from the Second Dis- trict, Mr. C. W. Phillips, of Jackson county, to succeed himself. Seconded by Mr. ]\I. L. Flinn, of Woodbury county. Mr. John A. Evans placed in nomination for member of the State Board of Agriculture from the Second District, Mr. W. H. Shipman, of Muscatine county. Seconded by Mr. Geo. A. Hitch- cock. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 139 Mr. T. W. Pureell, of Franklin county, moved that the nomi- nations be closed and the convention proceed with the election. The President named as tellers Mr. J. S. Claussen, of ^Marshall county; Mr. H. S. ]\rartin, of Hardin county, and Mr. T. W. Pureell, of Franklin county. The roll was called by the Secretary and the vote cast, and the tellers reported the result of the ballot as follows : Total number of votes cast, one hundred and twenty-one (121), of which Mr. Phillips received ninety-eight (98) and Mr. Shipman received twenty-three (23). Mr. C. W. Phillips having received the majority of the votes cast was declared by the Presi- dent to be duly elected as member of the State Board of Agricul- ture from the Second District, for the term of two years. Mr. R. Dorsey, of IMitchell county, placed in nomination for member of the Board from the Fourth District, Mr. R. T. St. John, of Mitchell county, to succeed himself. Mr. IMcDonald seconded the nomination and moved that if there were no other nominations the Secretary be instructed to cast the entire vote of the convention for Mr. St. John. IMotion prevailed. The Secretary so cast the vote and Mr. St. John was declared duly elected member of the Board from the Fourth District for a term of two years. Mr. Bray, of Poweshiek county, placed in nomination for mem- ber of the Board from the Sixth District, Mr. T. C. Legoe, of Keokuk county, to succeed himself. Mr. St. John seconded the motion and moved that the Secretary be instructed to cast the entire vote of the convention for Mr. Legoe. Motion prevailed. The Secretary so cast the vote and Mr. Legoe was declared duly elected member of the Board from the Sixth District for a term of two years. Mr. Geo. H. Van Houten, of Taylor county, placed in nomina- tion for member of the Board from the Eighth District, Mr. John Ledgerwood, of Decatur county, to succeed himself. Mr. Sheldon of Ringgold county seconded the nomination and moved that if there were no further nominations that the Secretaiy be instructed to cast the entire vote of the convention for Mr. Ledgerwood. The Seeretai*^' so cast the vote and Mr. Ledgerwood was declared duly elected member of the Board from the Eighth District for a term of two years. Mr. Eugene Secor, of Winnebago county, placed in nomination for member of the Board from the Tenth District, ]\Ir. 0. A. Olson, of Winnebago county, to succeed himself, and moved that if there were no further nominations that the Secretary be in- 140 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. structed to cast the entire vote of the convention for ^h\ Olson, which motion prevailed. The Secretary so east the vote and ]\Ir. Olson was declared duly elected member of the Board from the Tenth District for a term of two years. jMr. Ralph Clock, of Franklin county, placed in nomination for member of the Board from the Third District, made vacant by the election of Mr. W. C. Brown to the Vice-Presidency, Mr. Elmer M. Reeves of Bremer county. Seconded by Mr. Van Houten. Mr. McDonald moved that the Secretary be instructed to cast the en- tire vote of the convention for Mr. Reeves. Motion prevailed. The Secretary so cast the vote and ^Ir. Reeves was declared duly elected member of the Board from the Third District to complete the unexpired term of ]\Ir. Brown. The Committee on Resolution reported as follows, and on motion of Mr. Fred ^McCulloeh, of Poweshiek county, the report of the committe was adopted : REPORT OP COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS. Your Committee on Resolutions mcst respectfully report the fol- lowing: We rejoice at the large attendance at this meeting and the manifest interest in agriculture and its allied interests. We are proud of the large exhibits of corn, as well as the fine and extensive exhibits of fruit; and the thanks of this convention are extended to the officers and di- rectors of the State Board of Agriculture for this meeting, the best ever before held in Iowa. We especially congratulate the officers and directors of the State Board of Agriculture for the successful manner in which they handled the State Fair. We believe that the welfare and prosperity of the Iowa Department of Agriculture demands that every delegate to the annual meeting vote upon the election of each and every member of the State Board of Ag- riculture, therefore, be it resolved, that we are unalterably opposed to any change in the law in regard to the manner of electing its members. That it is the sense of this meeting, and we hereby recommend that the legislature enact a law and make sufficient appropriatign to en- able the State Agricultural College at Ames to maintain a suitable school of correspondence so as to enable citizens of Iowa to take a two or three years' course cf instruction at their homes, as recom- mended by your esteemed Governor, A. B. Cummins, in his address be- fore this Convention. Whereas, The State Board of Agriculture was active in securing the passage of the present pure fcod law, and. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART IV. 141 Whereas, The report of the committee appointed by the Board of Agriculture in 1905 stiows that the mill stuffs, concentrated feeding stuffs and condimental stock foods now on the markets are largely adulterated and are not believed to contain either nutritive or medicinal properties comensurate with their cost, Be It Resolved. That the State. Board of Agriculture be instructed to urge legislation at the coming session of the General Assembly to regulate the sale of these foods, so that the State may not be made a dumping ground for adulterated, misbranded and worthless products. We recommend to the ensuing session of the legislature, for their consideration, the passage of such laws as will authorize the Board of Supervisors of any county in the State to purchase, to become the pro- perty of the county, grounds and to erect suitable buildings to be used for holding the annual meeting of the county agricultural fair. We feel grateful to the Meat Producers' Association and the Grain Dealers' Association for their efforts in behalf of the people of this State to push for an open market, domestic and foreign, for the farm products cf Iowa. Respectfully submitted, C. W. Hoffman, S. B. Packard, E. A. Larsox, Committee. ]\rr. B. F. Seaman, of Scott county, presented the following resolution and moved that the same be adopted and that the Secretary engross the resolution and forward a copy to each of the Iowa Senators and Representatives in Congress. Resolved, That we are in favor of increasing the postal facilities of the people of this country, and to this end we demand the passage of the bill now pending in Congress, known as House Resolution No. 4549. Mr. H. R. Wright moved that the term "parcel post" be in- cluded in the resolution so that the meaning might be clear. i\Ir. C. W. Hoffman moved that the resolution be laid on the table. ]\Ir. Seaman demanded a rising vote. The vote was so taken and the motion to lay on the table prevailed. There being no further business, on motion, the convention adjourned sine die. SYNOPSIS OF PROCEEDINGS OF State Board of Agriculture AND COMMITTEE MEETINGS 1906 Executive Committee Meetixg. January 10, 11. 12. 1906. Committee met on call of President with all members present. On motion, duly made and carried, the Secretary was authorized as follows: To expend a sum not to exceed $250.00 for .planting flowers, shrubs and trees, and to do such landscaping as would come within the amount appropriated, on the State Fair Grounds. To have erected a seven-foot wire fence on Grounds as follows: From northeast corner of grounds east to the point even with the east line of ^Machinery building, and from the corner of the old Dairy building east 625 feet : also a woven wire fence around pasture lot south and east of barn. To make proposition to Signor A. Liberati of $400 per day for six days of the State Fair of 1906, for his band of forty-five pieces. To issue warrants covering pay-rolls of the Superintendent of Grounds when properly presented and 0. K'd. by Jas. H. Deemer. To issue warrants in payment of freight and other bills, re- quiring immediate attention. To purchase such hay. straw and other feed, as necessary for the Forage Department (143) 144 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Executive Committee Meeting. January 23, 24, 25, 1906. Committee .met on call of President with all members present ; also. Board member, S. B. Packard, of the Fifth District. The Secretary was authorized in the following matters : To call for plans, specifications and prices for exhibit display cases for Exposition building. To notify parties owning frame structures on the north side of Grand Avenue, east from street running north from point opposite "W. C. T. U. building, that they would probably be requested to remove same before the first of June, and to be prepared to do so. To execute contract with Signor A. Liberati for engagement of his band of not less than forty-five pieces, for six days of the State Fair of 1906, at full compensation of $2,400.00. To have all cinders procurable within a reasonable distance of the Fair Grounds, hauled for improvement of streets and side- walks. Executive Committee Meeting. February 21, 22, 23, 1906. Committee met on call of President with all members present. The matter of vaudeville attractions for the State Fair of 1906 was taken up and considered, and contract entered into with the Barnes' Western Theatrical Exchange of Chicago, for supplying acts- as selected. The Secretary was instructed to make an effort to secure options on seventy-eight lots in Eedhead Addition, lying between the south line of Fair Grounds and Rock Island Railway switch, ing proposition to purchase ten to twenty acres of the land com- prising notheast corner of Fair Grounds at price of $150 per acre. The Superintendent of Grounds was instructed to have a King road drag made for use on Fair Grounds. Executive Committee INIeeting. March 27, 28, 1906. Committee met on call of President with all members present. Bonds of the Secretary and Treasurer were presented, and on motion approved. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART IV. l-lo. Secretary was instructed to make contract for the 56th Reg'iment Band of Fort Dodge, Iowa, through their manager, Geo. W. Tre- main, for an engagement of five days and four nights at State Fair of 1906, for $750.00 in full compensation. On motion, it was decided to erect a new cattle barn, im- mediately west of cattle barn No. 12, and the Superintendent of Grounds was instructed to move barns No. 10 and 11, occupying site ; one to north of barn No. 1 and the other to east of barn No. 13. Executive Committee jNIeeting. April 3, 4, 1906. Committee met on call of President with all members present. The matter of night show for the State Fair of 1906 was taken up and continued. The Committee, on behalf of the State Board, extended to Colonel Thomas of the Eleventh Cavalry, stationed at Fort Des Moines, an invitation to participate in the programme on Soldier's Day, Tuesday, August 28th, w^ith full regiment of troops. The Secretary was instructed to ask for bids on proposed new cattle barn. Executive Committee ^Meeting. April 25, 26, 27, 28, 1906. Committee met on call of President with all members present. Bids for construction of the cattle barn were received and opened, and after a comparison of amount of bids on frame and brick construction, on motion it was the unanimous opinion of the Committee that it should be of brick construction, and Messrs. Small & Winder being the lowest bidders thereon, contract was duly awarded. Bids for construction of display cases for Exposition building and ice box and cooling room for Dairy building were received and opened, and all bids^ in the opinion of the Committee, being too high, bidders were reciuested to revise plans and submit bids at later date. 10 146 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Comunicatioii from the American Cotswold Association by their secretary, Mr. Frank Harding, Waukesha, Wisconsin, asking that an additional $25 be offered as premiums for Cotswold sheep, pro- viding their association would duplicate the amount, was taken up and considered by the Committee and declined as being a deviation from the policy of the Board. The Secretary was instructed and authorized as follows: To purchase two turnstiles and chopper boxes for use at street car gate. To purchase eighty-five street lights for camp grounds. To secure sketch and estimate of cost of erecting four dining halls on State Fair Grounds. To notify Messrs. S. Clark, Stephen Handy, Wm. H. Gordon and J. L. Belts to remove their buildings occupying site of pro- posed new dining hall. To purchase from five to ten thousand advertising hangers, using cuts of views of Fair Grounds thereon. To call a meeting;^ of the Board for the lOtli of May, for con- sideration of matters requiring their attention. Meeting of State Board of Agriculture, May 10, 1906. Met on call of Executive Committee and on roll-call the follow- ing members were found to be present : Morrow, Cameron, Simpson, Johnston, Brown, St. John, Legoe, Ledgerwood, McDonald, Olson, Pike, Packard and Phillips. President IMorrow stated the purpose of the meeting was to consider financial matters connected with permanent improvements upon the State Fair Grounds. Secretary reported $24,780.00 available for improvements and repairs, and gave an outline of work under way and other im- provements recommended by the Executive Committee, including the exhibit display cases for Exposition Building, reserve seats for Ampitheatre, new dining halls, etc., also reported the contract awarded for the building of a brick cattle barn 60x120 feet. Proposition was received from Mr. Geo. S. Redhead for exchange of lots lying south of State Fair Grounds for acreage comprising that part of Fair Grounds lying east of section six (6), and on motion its consideration was deferred until the Board had looked over lots in question. Board adjourned to meet at Fair Grounds at 2:00 o'clock p.m. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 147 AFTERNOON SESSION. Pursuant to adjournment Board met at Fair Grounds at 2.00 o'clock P.M. After carefully considering the proposition offered by Mr. Geo. Redhead for an exchange of land, Mr. St. John offered the follow- ing motion : That the State Board of Agriculture, through its Executive Committee, recommend to the Executive Council, of the State of Iowa, an exchange of that portion of the land belonging to the State and known as the State Fair Grounds, lying east of the east line of section six (6) for the following described lots in Red- head's addition to Grant Park in the City of Des Moines, Iowa, viz: Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, in Block K, Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, in Block G, Lots 1 to 42 inclusive in Block L, Lots 1 to 14 inclusive in Block J, Lots 1 to 14 inclusive in Block I, Motion was duly seconded by S. B. Packard. On roll-call members voted as follows: Yeas, Morrow, Cameron, Simpson, Johnston, Brown, St. John, Legoe, Ledgedwood, McDonald, Olson, Pike, Packard and Phillips (13). Nays, none. Absent, Cummins, Koto, Wright, Storm, Curtiss and Ellyson (6). President declared the motion carried, it having received the unanimous vote of the members present. The matter of installing a telephone system on the grounds was taken up and on motion referred to Executive Committee with power to act. I\Ir. Johnston moved that the Committee on Per Diem and Mile- age be appointed. The President appointed as such committee Messrs. Johnston, Pike and McDonald. Mr. Ledgerwood moved that on and after July 1, 1906, the salary of the Secretary be fixed at $1,800 per year, payable monthly. Motion was seconded and carried by unanimous vote. Committee on Per Diem and Mileage submitted the following report and on motion of Mr. Ledgerwood was adopted : 148 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. NAME DAYS W. W. Morrow 3 C. E. Cameron 3 R. S. Johnston 3 C. W. Phillips 3 W. C. Brown 3 R. T. St John 3 S. B. Packard 3 T. C. Legoe 3 C. F. Curtiss Jno. Ledgerwood 3 M. McDonald 3 O. A. Olson 3 H. L. Pike 3 Total May 10, 1906. Mr. Morrow recommended to the Board the payment of per diem expenses to any member of the Board who had been called in to do special committee work duriner the winter, which recom- mendation on motion was dnly approved by the Board. On motion of ]\Ir. I\IcDonald Board adjourned to meet at call of President. RATE AMT. MILES AMT. TOTAL $4.00 $12.00 82 $ 8.20 $20.20 4.00 12.00 140 14.00 26.00 4.00 12.00 158 15.80 27.80 4.00 12.00 12.00 4.00 12.00 102 10.20 22.20 4.00 12.00 195 19.50 31.50 4.00 12.00 58 5.80 17.80 4.00 12.00 100 10.00 22.10 4.00 12.00 87 8.70 20.70 4.00 12.00 65 6.50 18.50 4.00 12.00 155 15.50 27.50 4.00 12.00 20C 20.00 32.00 .$278.30 (Signed) R. S. Johnston, H. L. Pike. W. M . McDoN ALD. Executive Committee Meeting. May 11, 1906. Committee met at call of President with all members present. Bids for furnishing- exhibit display cases for Exposition Build- ing were received and opened, and contract duly awarded to the Fort Dodge Manufacturing Company of Fort Dodge, Iowa, at price of $2,500.00. Special Committee Meeting. Chicago, 111., June 10, 11, 1906. Vice-President Cameron and Secretary Simpson were at Chicago for the purpose of meeting with the agents of the Western Theat- SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART IV. 149 rical Exchange and Gregory Fireworks Co., to further discuss plans for the night entertainment. An effort was made to secure the release of the spectacular show "Moscow" that same could be put on at the Iowa State Fair, but withowt success. Arrangements were completed for additional acts subject to the approval of the Executive Committee at their meeting of the 14th. Secretary spent IMonday looking into the seat proposition for the reserve seats to be placed in the grand stand. Executive Committee Meeting. June 14, 1906. Committee met as per arrangement, for consideration of matters coming before them on this date. Bids for erecting proposed new Dining Hall Building on State Fair Grounds were received and opened, and i\Iessrs. Callen Bros., of Des Moines, Iowa, being the lowest bidders thereon were duly awarded contract. The Secretary was instructed to order roll tickets for general admissions, grand stand, and such other places as they could be used to advantage, for Fair of 1906 ; also to have tickets for re- served seats, in amphitheatre printed, with section and row printed thereon. The office formerly occupied by the Superintendent of Grounds was assigned to the Superintendent of Police Regulations, and Mr. Deemer was instructed to build a small office for the use of his department. It was decided to use only one orchestra during the Fair, and that in the Stock Pavilion. As per resolution of the Board, the committee met with i\Ir. Red- head and discussed the matter of recommending exchange of a portion of the land known as the State Fair Grounds for lots lying south of the grounds. It was agreed that if the following propo- sition was made in writing by I\Ir. Redhead the committee would recommend to the Executive Council of the State of Iowa that such exchange be made, to-wit : To exchange the . eighty-two (82) lots lying south of the Fair Grounds between that and Dean Avenue on the south, as marked on the plat of the Redhead Addition to Des IMoines, for all of that 150 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. part of the State Fair Grounds on the east side lying east of the section line; and further, the State Board of Agriculture, through its Executive Committee, would agree to pay $50.00 each for twelve (12) additional lots adjoining above lots on the west, or $600.00 cash for the twelve lots. The Secretary was instructed to engage Mrs. L. L. Babcock for Matron of the Woman's Building; also to arrange with Dr. G. N Ryan for medical service at the hospital in the "Woman's Building during the Fair. _ The Superintendent of Grounds was instructed to elevate the office of the Superintendent of Agriculture and place it just north of the music balcony. The Superintendent of Grounds was instructed to construct an additional room to the office of Superintendent of Sheep. Executive Committee Meeting. June 13, 14, 1906. Committee met at call of President with all members present. On motion the Superintendent of Grounds was instructed to erect a Fire Station on Grounds, as per plans, on site immediately west of Feed Barn. The matter of display advertising for Fair of 1906, was con- sidered, assignments duly made, and Secretary instructed to con- tract for same. Bids for orchestral music in Stock Pavilion during Fair of 1906 were received and opened, and the bid of Mr. O'Connell being the lowest, contract was duly made at price of $80 for week. Sketches of background for the night entertainment from the Scenic Company at Chicago, for a garden scene upon 6-ounce duck, 275 feet long and 24 feet high at 8 cents per square foot were re- ceived and considered. On motion, the Secretary Avas instructed to purchase said background and also to make arrangements for the necessary light in connection with the night show. Executive Committee Meeting. ' August 6, 7, 1906. Committee met at call of President with all members present, also Board member, Mr. Curtiss, Superintendent of Horse Depart- ment. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 151 The entries in Horse Department being far in excess of stall room in same, additional room was provided to properly accommo'» date the exhibit. All pens in the Swine Department have been assigned, and there being a further demand, the Superintendent of Grounds was in- structed to build additional ones surrounding the Swine Show Pavilion, and the Secretary was instructed to notify ]\Ir. -Johnston, Superintendent of the Swine Department, that seventy-five addi- tional pens would be furnished. The Secretary was instructed to consult with Mr. Green, Super- intendent of the Floricultural Department, and ascertain if a large tent would be satisfactory to take care of the overflow exhibit in his department, and if so to secure such tent and tables to be placed therein for the proper arangement of exhibits. The Secretary was duly authorized and instructed in the issu- ing of complimentary tickets for Fair of 1906.. Meeting of State Board of Agriculture. August -23, 1906. Board met at the President's office on the State Fair Grounds at 8 o'clock P.M. with the following members present: Messrs. Morrow, Simpson, Johnston, Phillips, Brown, St. John, Packard Legoe, Ledgerwood and Olson. blatters pertaining to the departments and management of the Fair were discussed Mr. Legoe moved that the opening and closing of sale of tickets be left entirely in charge of the Superintendent of Gates, and that the Treasurer instruct his ticket sellers to obey the orders of the Superintendent of Gates. Seconded by Mr. St. John. Motion carried. On motion the Board adjourned. MeetIxNtg of State Board of Agriculture. August 31, 1906. Board met at the President's office on the State Fair Grounds at 10 :30 a. m. with the following members present : ^Messrs. iMor- row, Cameron, Simpson, Johnston, Brown, Packard, Legoe, Ledger- wood, McDonald, Pike and Wright. 152 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. The following pay-rolls were presented and allowed : Privilege Department, $134.00. Presented by W. C. Brown. Police Department, $1,658.25. Presented by M. C. McDonald. Cattle Department, $216.11. Presented by S. B. Packard. Tj-edsury Department, $795 30. Presented by G. D. Ellyson. Art Department, $433.10. Presented by T. C. Legoe. Ticket Department, $218.55. Presented by J. C. Simpson. Machinery Department, $171.95. Presented by Mr. Ledgerwood. Sheep and Poultry Departments, $94.05. Presented by H. L. Pike Speed Department, $259.10. Presented by C. E. Cameron. Press Bureau, $165.00. Presented by Secretary. Forage Department, $240.75. Presented by J. C. Simpson. Secretary's Department, $508.63. Presented by J. C. Simpson. Ticket Department, $102.00. Presented by J. C. Simpson. Swine Department, $202.42. Presented by R. S. Johnston. Horticultural Department, $95.65. Presented by J. C. Simpson. Floricultural Department, $107.00. Presented by J. C. Simpson. Dairy Department, $244.10. Presented by J. C. Simpson. Grounds, $116.45. Presented by J. C. Simpson. Board adjourned to meet at 7 o'clock Friday evening, August 31. ^Ieeting of State Board of Agriculture:. Friday Evening, August 31, 1906. Board met at President's office pursuant to adjournment, with the following members present: JMorrow, Cameron, Simpson, El- lyson, Johnston, Phillips, Brown, St. John, Packard, Legoe, Curtiss, Ledgerwood, ^McDonald, Pike and Olson. The President presented the matter of the exchange of real estate lying on the east side of the Fair Grounds for lots lying on the south side, known as the Redhead Addition. >\Ir. Curtiss moved to amend the resolution of the Board passed at a meeting held May 10, 1906, recommending the sale and purchase, as fol- lows : That three additional members be appointed to act with the Executive Committee of the Board to secure an extension of the option of the tract of land south of the Fair Grounds, and that the East Side Commercial League be notified, and that the transaction be postponed for a period of ten days with a view to the money for the purchase of said land being raised and donated by said Com- mercial League. Motion was duly seconded and passed. The President appointed the following members to act on this committee : Curtiss, Packard and Olson. The President stated that Senator Newberry asked that a com- mittee be appointed to confer with him in regard to amending the SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 153 pure food law. Mr. Packard moved that the standing committee on the adulteration of foods, seeds and other products be author- ized and instructed to immediately prepare by investigation the necessary facts Avith respect to the adulteration of foods and value of commercial feeds now on the market, for the purpose of ascer- taining what legislation is needed, and that a sum not to exceed $250.00 be appropriated for the use of such committee. Motion seconded by Mr. Legoe and carried. Mr. Curtiss moved that Mr. Frank lams, of St. Paul, Nebraska, be barred from exhibiting at the Iowa State Fair for an indefinite period on account of noncompliance with rules and regulations of the Fair. Seconded by Mr. Packard. Motion carried. The following pay-rolls were presented and allowed: Gate Department, $1,322.93. Presented by Mr. Olson. Agricultural Department, $341.75. Presented by Mr. St. John. Itemized bill, $6G.55. Presented by Mr. St. John. Horse Department, $450.60. Presented by Mr. Curtiss. On motion the President appointed as committee on Per Diem and Mileage, Messrs. Olson, i\IcDonald and Pike. On motion of Mr. St. John, the Secretarj^ was authorized to is- sue premium warrant to Mr. George Monlux, of Rock Rapids, Iowa, for $50.00 to cover expense of making L\^on County Agricultural exhibit. On motion all unfinished business was delegated to the Executive Committee with power to act. The Committee on Per Diem and ^Mileage reported as follows. NAME DAYS KATE AMT. MILES AMT. TOTAL W. W. Morrow 20 $4.00 $80.00 82 $8.20 $88.20 C. E. Cameron 18 4.00 72.00 140 14.00 86.00 R. S. Johnston 19 4.00 76.00 158 15.80 91.80 C. W. Philips 19 4.00 76.00 76.00 W. C. Brown 40 4.00 160.00 102 10.20 170.20 R. T. St. John 19 4.00 76.00 195 19.50 95.50 S. B. Packard 19 4.00 76.00 58 5.80 81.80 T. C. Legoe 19 4.00 76.00 100 10.00 86.00 C. F. Curtiss 19 4.00 76.00 37 3.70 79.70 John Ledgerwood 22 4.00 e>8.00 87 8.70 96.70 M. McDonald 19 4.00 76.00 65 6.50 82.50 0. A. Olson 19 4.00 76.00 155 15.50 91.50 H. L. Pike 19 4.00 76.00 200 20.00 96.00 (Signed) O. A. Olson, H. L. Pike. M. McDonald. Committee. 154 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Mr: Johnston moved the report of the committee be adopted Seconded by ]\Ir. Brown. Carried. On motion of Mr. Johnston, duly seconded by Mr. Packard, and carried, the Secretary was authorized to draw warrants on the Treasurer of the State Board, covering deficiency of State appro- priation for Assistant Secretary's salary. On motion of Mv. Legoe, duly seconded and carried, the Secre- tary was authorized to employ a stenographer and clerk at a salary of $75 per month. On motion the Board adjourned. Joint Meeting of Executive Committee and Special Committee ON Land. September 18, 1906. A joint meeting of the Executive Committee and the Special Committee appointed by the President, as per resolution of the Board on August 31st, for the purpose of making an effort to se- cure a tract of land lying between the south line of the Fair Grounds and Dean Avenue, met at the Secretary's office, wath the following members present : IMorrow, Cameron, Simpson, Curtiss, Packard and Olson. Owing to the fact that some objection had been made by mem- bers of the East Des Moines Commercial League to the sale of land belonging to the State, which land was- useless so far as the State Fair was concerned, and with the proceeds purchasing the land needed south of the grounds, the Secretary had invited a committee from the Commercial League to meet with the committee from the Department of Agriculture. The committee accepted the invita- tion and there was present J. A. IMcKinney, A. B. Elliott, J. K. Stuart and Isaac Brandt. The objections oft'ered by the members of the committee from the East Des Moines Commercial League could be summed up as fol- lows: First. — That the thirty-nine acres which it was proposed to sell should not be sold, but should be kept by the State for the purpose of establishing a Botanical Garden. Second. — That the amount for which the State proposed to sell the land was too low ($150.00 per acre), it being their opinion that the land was worth much more than that. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART IV. 155 Third. — That the amount to be paid for the land south of the Fair Grounds was greatly in excess of its value. These objections were met by the members of the committee in the following statement : First. — That as managers of the Iowa State Fair it was their duty to first look after the interests of the Iowa State Fair. Look- ing at it from this point of view the thirty-nine acres were abso- lutely Avorthless so far as being of any use for fair purposes, and that the land which it was proposed the State should buy was an absolute necessity to give sufficient room for the greatly increasetl live stock show and to in any way relieve the congested condition of that part of the grounds. Further that the Department of Ag- riculture, or the Executive Council of the State of Iowa, have no funds available for the purchase of the tract without the sale of a part of that already owned by the State, as per authority granted by the Twenty-sixth General Assembly. Therefore, under the con- ditions the State Board of Agriculture felt that in justice to the future welfare and continued success of the Iowa State Fair the sale and transfer should be made. Second. — The objection to the selling price is easily met and those w^ho think the price offered is too low w^ere given an oppor- tunity to place a larger offer or find some one who would, the Ex- ecutive Council deciding to advertise for and receive bids on the thirty-nine acres up to and including September 29, 1906. Third. — While the amount asked for the adjoining land might seem a little high the Board maintained that the value of a piece of land depended largelyl upon the purposes for which it is needed. Further, that the Department was compelled to expend large sums annually in providing temporary quarters for the overflow stock exhibits, and that sufficient room upon which to erect permanent buildings was not available without this additional land. Also that the amount expended annually for temporary quarters was greatly in excess of the amount demanded for the land over what might be its legitimate value for other purposes. It was further argued by the members of the State Board of Agriculture that now was the time to secure the land before any improvements were put upon it in which case the State would be compelled to pay in addition to the value of the land, if it was secured, an amount equal to if not greatly in excess of improvements. Also that it was the unani- mous opinion of the Board that the receipts of the fair could be greatly increased with adequate facilities to properly exhibit the stock. 156 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Following the meeting with the committee from the East Des Moines Commercial League the committee addressed a^ communica- tion to the Executive Council, and appeared in person before said Council to present their views as to the very urgent necessity for immediate action. To The Executive Council, State of Iowa. Gentlemen: Chapter 19, Acts of the Twenty-sixth General Assembly, gives to the Executive Council authority to sell a certain portion of the land belonging to the State known as the State Fair Grounds and with the proceeds derived from such sale to purchase for the State of Iowa additional lands to be used for State Fair purposes. In accordance with this act we herewith present for your considera- tion a resolution passed by the State Board of Agriculture in session as- sembled May 10, 1906, with an amendment presented and accepted at a meeting of the Board held in the President's office at the State Fair Grounds August 31, 1906, and most emphatically recommend that j'our honorable body take such action as will secure for the State of Iowa as an addition to the State Fair Grounds the land embraced in blocks and lots set forth in the resolution. After carefully considering the proposition offered by Mr. Redhead for an exchange of land, Mr. St. John offered the following motion: That the State Board of Agriculture, through its executive committee, recom- mend to the Executive Council of the State of Iowa an exchange of that portion of the land belonging to the State and known as the State Fair Grounds, lying east of the east line of section six (6) for the following described lots in Redhead's Addition to Grant Park in the city of Des Jloines, Iowa, viz: Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in Block K. Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 in Block G. Lots 1 to 42, inclusive, in Block L. Lots 1 to 14, inclusive, in Block J. Lots 1 to 14, inclusive, in Block I. Motion was duly seconded by Mr. S. B. Packard, and, on roll-call, members voted as follows: Yea: Morrow, Cameron, Simpson, Johnston, Brown, St. John, Legoe, Ledgerwood, McDonald, Olson, Pike, Packard and Phillips — 13. Nay: None. Absent: Cummins, Koto, Wright, Storms, Curtiss and Ellyson — 6. Mr. Curtiss moved to amend the resolution of the Board passed at the meeting held May 10, 1906, recommending the sale and purchase of land as follows: '"That three additional members be appointed to act with the Execu- tive Committee of the Board to secure an extension of the option of the tract of land South of the Fair Grounds, and that the East Des Moines Commercial League be notified, and that the transaction be postponed for a period of ten days with a view to the money for the purchase of said land being raised and donated by said Commercial League." SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART IV. 157 This recommendation is made after a careful consideration of the objections presented by a committee representing the East Des Moines Commercial League and the recommendation of the Commercial League that the forty-acre tract be retained and used for other purposes. It is the unanimous judgment of the Board of Directors of the State Board of Agriculture that the purchase of the lots described in the above reso- lution is an urgent necessity and vital to the successful conduct of the Fair in providing for the greatly increased exhibits of the swine, horse, sheep and cattle departments, and that such purchase should be made immediately in order that plans for permanent improvements of the grounds may be settled now and presented to the legislature. Respectfully submitted, J. C. SiMPSOX, September 18, 1906. Secretary. On motion the committee adjourned. Auditing Committee Meeting. September 17, 18, 19, 1906. Committee met on days above mentioned with all members pres- ent, as follows : W. C. Brown, C. W. Phillips, John Ledgerwood. All claims on tile were duly passed upon and the Secretary- authorized to issue warrants in payment thereof. Executive Committee Meeting. September 19, 1906. Committee met at call of President with all members present. Petition of Mr. D. B. Gunn, Red Oak, Iowa, for return of en- trance fee paid on County De Kaj^ille, in 2 :18 pacing stake, which horse died August 25, 1906, was considered and on motion the Sec- retary instructed to draw warrant in I\Ir. Gunn's favor for $15.00. being fifty per cent of amount paid in. Petition of Mr. A. M. Utterback, Hedrick, Iowa, for return of entrance fee on his horse Radium, was considered, and on motion the Secretary authorized to make settlement with Mr. Utterback on basis of fifty per cent of amount paid in. Additional facilities for water and light supply on State Fair Grounds was taken up and considered, and on motion the Secretary, was instructed to confer with Prof. G. W. Bissell of the State Col- lege at Ames, and have him prepare plans and specifications cover- ing projects as outlined by committee. 158 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. The matter of providing much needed additional closets on the grounds was taken up and considered, and on motion the Secretary was instructed to confer with Prof. A. Marston of the State College at Ames, and have him investigate and report on advisability of septic tank sj^stem. Executive Committee ]Meeting. October 25, 1906. Committee met at call of President with all members present, also Board members Messrs. Ledgerwood, Brown and Phillips. The purpose of the meeting was to consider an improved water- works system for the State Fair Grounds, and to receive Engineer Bissell's report and recommendations for same. Mr. Bissell presented an extensive and comprehensible report and recommendations, which were duly considered and discussed and on motion the Secretarj^ was authorized to advertise for bids for installation of system as recommended by ]\Ir. Bissell, bids to close November 26, 1906. Executive Committee jMeeting. November 26, 1906. As per previous arrangement the committee met for the purpose of receiving and opening bids for proposed improved water-works system on State Fair Grounds. All members of the committee were present, as was also Prof. G. W. Bissell, engineer for the project. Bids were duly received and opened, and as same were asked for and received on unit basis, they were turned over to Prof. Bissell with instructions to go over them carefully and make report on same to the State Board at December meeting, for their considera- tion and action. Meeting of State Board op Agriculture. Thursday, December 13, 1906. Board met at the office of the Secretary at 9.30 o'clock a. m Meeting called to order with President Cameron in the chair, and SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART IV. 159 on roll-call the following members were found to be present : Cam- eron, Brown, Simpson, Ellyson, Johnston, St. John, Reeves, Pack- ard, Legoe, McDonald, Olson, Pike, Curtiss and Wright. Hon. John C. Crockett, Clerk of the Supreme Court, admmis- tered the oath of office to the follow^ing newly elected members: Cameron, Brown, Reeves, St. John, Legoe, Olson, Phillips and Led- gerwood. The Secretary, on behalf of the Executive Committee, presented a report reviewing in detail the improvements and work of the past year by said committee. The committee also discussed at length in said report contemplated improvements at the State Fair Grounds for the coming season. The report of the Executive Committee in full is filed in the office in the record books of the Department. On motion of Mr. Legoe the Board proceeded to the election of Secretary and Treasurer. Mr. Packard moved that J. C. Simpson be elected Secretary to succeed himself, and that the salary be fixed at eighteen hun- dred dollars ($1,800) per annum. ^Motion was duly seconded by Mr. Legoe. He moved that the President be instructed to cast the entire vote of the Board for ]Mr. Simpson. The vote was so cast and i\Ir. Simpson was declared Secretary for the ensuing year. Mr. McDonald moved that ^Mr. G. D. Ellyson be elected Treas- urer to succeed himself, and that the salary be fixed at one hun- dred dollars ($100) per annum. Seconded by ^Nlr. Packard. ]Mr. McDonald moved that the President be instructed to cast the entire vote of the Board for ]\Ir. Ellyson. The vote was so cast and the President declared G. D. Ellyson Treasurer for the ensuing year The minutes of the Executive Committee meeting for September 10, 1906, and October 25, 1906, were read and approved. The Boar authorized the Secretary to appoint an assistant secretary at a salary not to exceed $100 a month and a second as- sistant secretary and stenographer at a salary of $75.00 per month and such other help as was needed in the office during the year. On motion IMr. Jas. H. Deemer was elected Superintendent of Grounds to succeed himself at a salary of $900 per year. On motion of Mr. Packard the Board adjourned until 2 o'clock p. m. AFTERNOON SESSION. Board met at 2 o'clock p.m. with the following members pres- ent: Cameron, Brown, Simpson, Johnston, Phillips, St. John, Packard, Legoe, Curtiss, Olson and Pike. 160 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Prof. G. W. Bissell of Ames, engineer employed by the Execu- tive Committee to prepare plans and specifications for the water distribution system at the State Fair Grounds, appeared before the Board at invitation of the Secretary and submitted a report of the classification of bids opened by the Executive Committee on No- vember 26 for the proposed water system. A detailed list of the bids properly classified by ^Ir. Bissell were put on file in the office of the Department of Agriculture and were made a part of their records. Mr. Curtiss moved that the contract for the water distribution system as per bids submitted November 26th to the Executive Com- mittee be awarded to the Des Moines Bridge & Iron Works of Des Moines, they being the lowest bidder on the cpiantities specified, all service pipe included. Motion was seconded by ]\Ir. Brown and on roll-call the members voted as follows : Ayes : Cameron, Brown, Simpson, Johnston, Packard, Legoe, Curtiss, McDonald, Pike, Ol- son. Nays : None. President declared the motion to have carried and the contract was awarded to the Des ^Moines Bridge & Iron Works. Mr. Bissell informed the Board that he was unable at this time to present a detailed report and recommendation for increased light- ing facilities at the State Fair Grounds. He further stated that he hoped to have the matter in shape sometime early in February so that some action could be taken. After listening to the state- ment made by Mr. Bissell, ^Ir. Curtiss moved that the matter of lighting be referred to the Executive Committee with power to act. Motion was seconded by ^Ir. Olson and prevailed. The Board elected the following gentlemen to act as marshals at the Iowa State Fair of 1907, and fLx^ed their compensation at $35.00 each, each marshal to furnish his OAvn horse and feed. Mar- shals elected w^ere as follows: C. ^I. Akes of Leon, T. D. Doke of Bloomfield, T. J. Hudson of Winterset, and Carl Shields of Afton. Mr. Donald Hill of Storm Lake was elected to the position of Chief of Police. The following list of assistants and heads of departments for the Fair of 1907 was presented by the Executive Committee and on motion of Mr. Curtiss report was adopted. List of assignments can be found in the premium list of 1907 and in the proceedings of the Board meeting to be found in the Secretary's office. The matter of location for the erection of headquarters and rest pavilion for the State Fair Grounds was referred to the Executive SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. ItJl Committee with power to act. On motion of Mr. Packard compen- sation for all help and assistants for the Fair of 1907 was fixed the same as that of the Fair of 1906. Considerable time was consumed in discussing- what permanent improvements and repairs were needed at the State Fair Grounds and what recommendations, if any, should be presented to the Thirty-second General Assembly asking for appropriations for such work. It was agreed by the Board to recommend that an appro- priation be made by the Thirty-second General Assembly to cover the expense of a swune barn and show pavilion and steel con- structed amphitheatre, and for the purchase of twenty acres of land lying north of the present race track. The exact amount for each of the several items to be determined after plans had been prepared and estimates made by the architects. The Executive Committee was instructed to have plans and estimates made at once and when plans and estimates had been completed by the architect to have bills drawn and presented to the General Assembly for said appro- priation. On motion Board adjourned until 9 o'clock a. m. the following day. i\lEETiNG OF State Board of Agriculture. Friday, December 14, 1906. Board met at 9 o'clock a. m. with following members present: Cameron, Brown, Simpson, Johnston, St. John, Phillips, Packard. Curtiss, ^IcDonald, Olson, Pike, Wright and Storms. Minutes of the Board meeting of Thursday read and approved. Mr. J. R. Sage, Director of the Iowa Weather and Crop Service, was before the Board and discussed proposed changes in his de- partment, which, if adopted, would necessitate a discontinuation of the present manner of co-operation with the Government Weather Service. On motion of Mr. Packard the matter was referred to the Exe- cutive Committee. The revision of the premium list w^as then taken up. ]\Ir. Cur- tiss presented revised classification for the Horse Department rec- ommending an increase in premiums amounting to approximately !f;2,500, and on motion same was adopted. A detailed statement of the classification as adopted will be found in the premium list for 1907. 11 162 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Mr. Packard moved that the advisability of adding a class for the Suffolk Punch Breed of horses be referred to the Superintend- ent of the Horse Department and the Executive Committee. Mr. Packard presented recommendation for changes in the class- ification and added premiums in the Cattle Department, and on motion of I\Ir. St. John same was adopted. ]\Ir. St. John moved that $300 be added to the Iowa State College Scholarship Contest — prizes to be divided as follows : $325 for the boys and $175 for the girls. The rules and regulations governing said contests to be prepared by the Secretary. Motion was sec- onded by Mr. Johnston and prevailed. On motion the revision of the premium list in the Poultry De- partment was referred to the assistant superintendent of the de- partment, ^Ir. Shivvers, and the Secretary'-. Mr. Pike presented recommendations for changes in the Sheep Department and moved their adoption. Motion prevailed. On motion of Mr. St. John a revised classification for bees and honey was adopted with increase in premiums amounting to $2,400. Revision of the classification in the Floriculture and Fine Arts Departments was referred to the respective superintendents and Secretary. On motion Board adjourned. Afternoon Session. Board met at one o'clock p. m. with members present as at morning session. Minutes of morning session were read and ap- proved. President announced as the auditing committee for the ensuing year Messrs. Phillips, Legoe and Johnston. On motion of Mr. McDonald the reserve fund of $15,000 was continued for the ensuing year. On motion of Mr. Reeves $200 was added to the classification in the Fruit Department. ■]\Ir. Curtiss moved that the Executive Committee be authorized to obtain plans and estimates for the buildings for which it is proposed to ask appropriations from the legislature, and the archi- tectural fees for the work for any buildings which may be erected be three (3) per cent, this to include such personal visits and con- sultation.s with the architects as may be deemed necessary by the Executive Committee. ]\Iotion was seconded by Mr. Olson and prevailed. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 163 On motion of ^Ir. Packard the $200 addition to the premiums in the Floricnltural Department recommended by Mr. Greene, were not allowed, for the reason that no funds would be available the present year for adding any additional floor space for such exhibit. The following resolution was offered by ]\Ir. Packard : "Whereas. The alarming increase of noxious weeds in the State make it proper for the State Board of Agriculture to make an investigation with the view of ascertaining the best way to remedy these evils, and to suggest the necessary legislation and to impose upon the county su- pervisor or township trustee, or both, the authority of the law to eradi- cate these pests, therefore be it Resolved, That the Committee on Adulteration of Foods, Seeds and Other Products are instructed to investigate the subject and report from time to time, and that the sum of five hundred dollars ($500) or as much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated for expenses for the year 1907." On motion of ^Mr. Simpson resolution was adopted. Mr. Packard presented the report of the committee on the adulteration of foods, seeds and other products and offered the fol- lowing resolution in connection therewith :* "Resolved, That the State Board of Agriculture adopt the report of the Committee on the Adulteration of Foods, Seeds and Other Products, and approve the bill, which is a part of their report, and directs that a copy of the report and bill be sent to the Governor of the State and that he be requested to consider the matter in connection with his forth- coming message to the Legislature, and that five hundred copies of the report and bill be printed for distribution." On motion of ^Ir. St. John the report and resolution as offered by jMr. Packard was adopted. Mr. Packard presented the bill of Prof. L. G. ^Michael for ex- penses incurred in collecting samples of seeds, etc., and making analysis of same in connection with the report of the pure food committee, amounting to $118.96, also bill covering expenses of Mr. Packard in the same work amounting to $12.52. On motion of Mr McDonald the bills were allowed and the Secretary instructed to issue warrants in payment thereof. On motion of Mr. St. John all unfinished business was referred to the Executive Committee with power to act. • Report of committee published in part five of Tear Book. 164 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. The Committee on Per Diem and ^Mileage reported as follows : DAYS. RATE. AMT. MILES. W.W.Morrow.... 3 $4.00 $12.00 82 C.E.Cameron 6 4.00 24.00 140 W.C.Brown 6 4.00 24.00 102 R. S. .Johnston. . .. 6 4.00 24.00 158 C. W. Phillips 6 4.0u 24.00 E. M. Reeves...... 3 4.00 12.00 123 R. T. St. John 6 4.00 24.00 195 S. B. Packard 6 4.00 24.00 58 T C. Legoe 6 4.00 24.00 100 C. ¥. Curtiss 4 4.00 16.00 39 John Ledgerwcod 4.00 87 M. McDonald 6 4.00 24.00 65 O. A. Olson 6 4.00 24.00 155 H. L. Pike 6 4.00 24.00 200 AMT. f 8.20 14.00 10.20 15.80 TOTAL. $20.20 38.00 34.20 39.80 24.00 12.00 19.50 43.50 5.80 29.80 10.00 34.00 3.90 19.90 8.70 not present 6.50 30.50 15.50 39.50 20.00 44.00 Total $409.40 R. S. Johnston, O. A. Olson, H. L,. PncE. Committee. On motion of Mr. Johnston the report was adopted. On motion of ]\Ir. Johnston the dates of the Iowa State Fair were fixed August 23-30th, inclusive. On motion of ^Ir. Johnstor the Board adjourned sine die. J. C. Simpson, Secretary. PART V. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON Adulterations of Foods, Seeds and Other Products, and Legislation Recommended AND Enacted by the Thirty- Second General Assembly, Regulating Same. COMMITTEE S. B. Packard H. R. Wright C. F. Curtiss Submitted to the State Board of Agriculture at a meeting on December 14, 1906, and was unanimously accepted. Mr. President, Officers and Members of Board. — Your committee, in- structed at the last meeting to investigate the subject of adulterated agricultural seeds, concentrated commercial feeding stuffs, and condi- mental stock foods, beg leave to submit the following report: The following states have laws on the subject of concentrated commer- cial feeding stuffs: North Carolina, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Massa- chusetts, New Hampshire, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Rhode Island, New York, Wisconsin, Maine, Michigan, Virginia, and Georgia. Maine and Ken- tucky have laws regulating the sale of seeds. The brief time given the committee to investigate the extent of adul- teration of these products made it proper to pursue the inquiry through experts on the subject. Professor Michael was, therefore, employed by your committee to visit the leading centers of the State, and to take sam- (165j 166 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. pies of commercial feeding-stuffs on sale at the various points, and to make analyses. The detailed reports of the investigations are herewith submitted, and the earnest attention of the Board is called to them. From the results of these investigations, your committee is certain that various commercial feeding-stuffs sold in our markets are generally adulterated, sometimes very grossly adulterated; that agricultural seeds sold for seeding purposes in this State are found to contain to an alarming degree the seeds of noxious plants, such as Canada thistle and quack grass; and that numerous condimental stock foods for which extraordi- nary claims are made are sold at a price out of all proportion to the cost of their ingredients, or to their nutritive or medicinal value. Your com- mittee has, therefore, prepared a bill for an act designed to regulate the sale of these articles. Following the laws of other states, the bill proposes a tag tax upon feeding-stuffs and stock foods, and a label specifying the ingredients in mixed feeds and condimental stock foods, and a statement of the percent- ages of crude protein, crude fat, and crude fiber, so that the purchaser may know the relative feeding value of the feeding-stuffs he purchases, and the ingredients in the condimental stock foods for which he pays a high price. The bill seeks to prohibit the sale of seeds for seeding purposes if certain noxious weed seeds are present, and requires labeling of seeds when harmless weed seeds are present as an adulterant. Your committee, therefore, recommends that the matter be brought to the attention of the Legislature with the approval of the Board of Agri- culture for the bill herewith submitted.* Respectfully, S. B. Packabd, C. F. CURTISS, H. R. Wright, Committee on the Adulteration of Foods, Seeds, and Other Products. RESULT OF ANALYSES AND INVESTIGATIONS MADE B\^ PROF. L. G. MICHAEL, CHEMIST AT THE IOWA EXPERIMENT STATION, FOR THE COMMITTEE. CONDITIONS OF FEEDING-STUFFS AS SOLD IN lOVt^A. The keynote of the attitude of not a few feed producers to the feed buyers, was recently given by a miller in Burlington. This miller was running corn hulls into his wheat bran. To the objection that this was an adulteration, and that corn hulls did not contain as much protein as wheat bran, he replied, "What in does a farmer know about protein." We buy a concentrated feed for its protein. It is protein that feed producers guarantee their feeds to contain. Bran, shorts and middlings, by-products of all kinds, are quoted at market prices governing pure, stan- dard feeding-stuffs, containing a standard percentage of protein. We pay the price, but almost nowhere in Iowa are we able to get a standard com- modity in return. • Bill as passed by the Thirty-second General Assembly published in lieu thereof on page 196. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V. 167 Analysis of the samples of blood meal received during the last year show this feed to run 1.25 to 2.58 per cent below the guarantees of the producers. Tankage guaranteed to contain 60 per cent protein, has dropped as low as 47.25 per cent; and thirteen analyses give an average of 6 per cent below the standard set by the company placing this feed-stuff on the market. This is equivalent to a cash shortage of $3.30 to the ton. Meat meal, also guaranteed to contain 60 per cent protein, has averaged 2.13 per cent below that standard, one sample dropping as low as 52.47 per cent. Both products, stated to be free from stomach contents, have been found to contain undigested oat hulls and hair. Even as high as 4.4 per cent of silica (the basic constituent of sand) has been found in some samples. Of thirteen samples of cotton-seed meal examined, only one was found to be "prime," or up to the standard of 41.2 per cent protein, set by the Cotton-seed Crushers' Association. The samples below grade are heavily loaded with cotton-seed hulls, which brings the protein content from 1 to 3.5 per cent below guarantee. The by-products of the wheat flour industry vary greatly, according to the process of milling. The quality of the output, from a number of mills also fluctuates according to the other grains that are being ground, whose inferior offal is run into the wheat by-products; or fluctuations may be due to other adulterating material at hand. The averages of our analyses of the mill feeds sold in Iowa show that most of these products are below the standards of those manufacturers that stamp their guarantee on the sacks containing their feeds. Low grade flour is standardized at 21 per cent protein. The average of ten analyses of flours sold in Iowa is 14.71 per cent, or 6.29 per cent low. Middlings should contain 18 to 20 per cent protein. We have found an average of eighteen analyses to give 17.12 per cent, or 0.88 to 2.88 per cent low. Mixed feed should contain 18 to 19 per cent protein. Averaging the six analyses we have made, gives 16.19 per cent, or 2.81 per cent low. Wheat shorts should run 17 to 19 per cent protein. Our average of thirty analyses of shorts sold in Iowa is 15.59 per cent, or from 1.41 to 3.41 per cent low. Wheat bran should contain from 15 to 17 per cent protein. We found an average of twenty-six analyses to give 14.92 per cent, or 0.08 to 2.08 per cent low. It is a common practice to run scowerings, corn hulls and offal oat hulls, and the hulls of weed seeds into the bran, the ground weed seeds and screenings having been run into the shorts. The effect that this prac- tice has on the quality of the bran and shorts depends upon the extent of the adulteration. At a few mills where such admixtures were made, it was possible to get samples of pure shorts and bran direct from the dus- ter; and other samples from the packer at which the sacking of these by- products for shipment was made. 168 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. The analyses, reduced to the same moisture content, are given below: BRAN. • (Amounts stated in pounds per hundred weight.) Name of Mill Co. Water Protein Protein (from duster) (from packer) Pure Mixed Shannon & Mott, Des Moines 8.75 15.63 15.26 SIIOKTS. (Amounts stated in pounds per hundred weight) Manufacturer Water Protein (from duster) Pure Protein (from packer) Mixed Shannon & Mott, Des Moines. 9.48 18.40 At some mills a system of "padding" is carried on. That is, a sack is partially filled with shorts and the balance of the sack filled with bran. The whole is then sold at shorts prices. Sweepings from the floor are also used as padding. Corn and oat chops is one of the most widey used feeds in the State, and one that shows the greatest variety of composition. Many local mill- ers complain that they cannot buy corn and oats and grind them at a profit in competition with the brands of this product that are shipped in from outside their vicinity. These "shipped-in" chops invariably con- tain oat hulls, light oats, ground cob, and milling offal that render it pos- sible for them to be offered at a figure the local grinder cannot touch. The cereal mills are offering oat hulls at about $7.00 per ton. Corn and oat chop is selling at from $15.50 to $25.00 per ton. From a number of samples in our collection it is evident that the temptation to mix oat hulls with this feed has proven too great for many millers to resist. We have found this feed lo be composed of: Pure ground oats and pure corn meal (free from hulls). Pure ground oats and pure ground corn. Ground 'oats, corn and corn cob. Whole oats and cracked corn. Light oats, corn and corn bran. Ground oats, oat hulls and ground corn. Shredded oat hulls and cracked corn. The mixed feed industry presents a problem of unusual interest. Such feeds are made to sell and too often but little regard is paid to the in- trinsic value of the mixture. A number of manufacturers use shredded oat hulls as the base of each of the feeds they place on the market — com- bining this offal with corn, barley, and other grains. Such feeds are mar- keted under fanciful or standard names, at fanciful or standard prices. It is the common practice to work oat and corn hulls, and other milling offal into the mixed feeds Iowa farmers are buying. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART Y. 169 One such mixed feed was found to contain: Ground alfalfa and molasses 600 pounds Crushed grains, not corn 750 pounds Crushed corn 250 pounds Oat and cereal hulls 400 pounds This feed, selling at $20.00 a ton, contained 14.04 per cent protein. Another feed contained: Ground alfalfa 731 pounds Corn hulls 357 pounds Linseed meal 476 pounds Blood meal ' 289 pounds Ground corn 147 pounds This feed contained 23.95 per cent protein, and sold at $2.50 per hun- dred pounds; when oil meal containing 32.90 per cent protein was selling at $1.60 per hundred pounds. The oil meal containing 9 per cent more protein was selling at 90 cents per hundred less than this mixed feed. Our markets are surfeited with condimental and tonic foods, more or less valueless. The preposterous claims under which many of these stock foods and tonics are sold are absurd. Home of them are fraudulently misrepresenta- tive; the virtues claimed for them being contradictory or impossible. The following, taken from the printed matter on the outside of the same box, illustrates the gullery practiced by these manufacturers: "One measure full is mixed with their regular feed every night for a week or ten days; then you can feed morning and night for a few days; . after that you can reduce the amount of grains you were feeding. Three quarts of corn, oats or meal, well mixed with one ounce of Food, is better for an animal than four quarts without it. "For Horses: "To prevent colic or disease — one tablespoonful, three times a day. "For cows: "To prevent abortion, garet, milk fever, and dairy diseases — one table- spoonful daily. "For Poultry: "To prevent roup and all other diseases — one tablespoonful to each "For Hogs: "To cure cholera and hog diseases — one tablespoonful scalded and mixed with milk and fed daily." This marvelous cure-all and do-all was "scientifically" (?) com- pounded of: Anise seed Carroway seed Foenugreek seed Flax seed 1 These are not recognized in veterinary Tumeric ( practice as medicines. Sassafras bark Poplar bark Slippery elm bark 170 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Gentian. Blood root. Powdered charcoal. Common salt. Pepper. The beneficial drugs it did contain were in such small amounts, that when given in tablespoonful doses there was not enough medicine present to affect the animal in any way. The experiments* conducted by the Iowa and other State Experiment Stations have not demonstrated that the benefits derived from the use of such foods warrants the exorbitant outlay of money necessary for their purchase. Many of the drugs of which these foods and tonics are com- pounded are excellent remedies, when used in proper strength. Common salt is a wonderful digestive and profitable lo use at 50 cents per hun- dred pounds. The farmer is accustomed to feeding a little sulphur now and then. Red pepper is not a bad remedy, nor is gentian, nor is char- coal. But it is folly to buy these simple drugs heavily adulterated with bran, shorts, pine bark or oil meal at $4.00 to $14.00 per hundred pounds, simply because they contain a little foenugreek, anise, fennel or sassafras to make them smell pleasant, and because the manufacturer says their use will double the flow of milk of your cows, or will give your horses those Dan Patch qualities that smash records. Opposed to the claims of manufacturers, we have the evidence from experiments performed by the various stations: The Iowa Experiment Station found that the use of International Stock Food increased the cost of beef production twenty-four per cent; that Standard Stock Food, when fed to cattle, reduced the value of each bushel of corn consumed twenty-four per cent, and increased the cost of beef production eleven per cent. In another experiment, Standard Stock Food, when fed to swine increased the value of each bushel of corn only one and two-tenths per cent; that Iowa Stock Food decreased the value of each bushel of corn fed one-half per cent. Pratt's Stock Food, fed at the Massachusetts Station, increased the cost of milk and butter production ten per cent. Acme Stock Food, fed at Kansas Station, increased the cost of butter fat production 18.7 per cent. Globe Stock Food, fed at the same station, increased the cost of butter fat production 6.3 per cent. At the Indiana Station, American Stock Food was found to increase the cost of pork production 15.3 per cent. At the same station, Rauh's Stock Food, fed in conjunction with Standard Stock Food, decreased the cost of pork production nine-tenths of one per cent. These condiments and tonics can be compounded by a local druggist at a fraction of their present cost. Iowa is not only disregarding the maintenance of even an average quality of the feetffe produced within her borders, but has become the dumping-ground for those feed-stuffs that are of too inferior a quality to meet the requirements of adjoining states, protected by a consistent feed- ing-stuff inspection law. • We have not space at this point to po into the details of condimental foods and tonics. Those interested will find the subject discussed fully at the close of this report. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART Y. 171 .2 a> OQ .^ O CQ S ^ o o) « J3 Ma cSOQ -^ 0) -oqjBO apnjo niajojj ve^ jajBAi -BJoqBT CO rH to ^.u^ o o o o o ;ss?s W W « ?2 CQ < y^ r^ t>i H u'^ coo CO M< CD »0 t- !s??; O il -HO r-t O CI W X t- = = = = ;z; ij li o 9 •= ~ •- o . . . . o odd d 0000,:g S3! 8)Bjpi(q -oqjBO qev apnjo ntajojj IBJ JaiBM. 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Bicki lulienl: ins Br ey Bu 1 1 o «5 o 3 10 a a s m 0) grt-i- > H 3 ^ ^ ti u "m o a O ^ i B a a ai a cS c3 a ^ H^S" J J o ^. «* ^ 0) a 03 c 1— 1 >>;''" 1 •> 1 . r ' tjC 1 (-t ^ a j5o wO id 1 1 e 1 =s a d 2 d a Eye Mills Co., Slee Minn ilienburg, Perkins, la s Bros., Sioux City, urn & Crosby C oiiDolis. Minn . .. _^u jo o" i j 1 i > o a rt 0) a a S^ i 1 §o- a M a W i 1 a < o d O O .O .2 o a aO o =3 a 05 w. m O U a a § i d 5! ^ >i '"' CS ^ & S 1 a S a IK ■a a o S -3 a t.1 o o =3 ^ .= =.a = T" — ;n iTj ^ 2 S a tea 3 a a Sleep; Bye D. M Marti Wash Mill Irl U ■2 -3 3 C ll ^ dt: Oo 1 J K S i a a If. 1 i a CS o a i n r"s,,- CC O I- M u2 00 r^ o t^ ^^ 1 lo ci ol" o o n CO -♦ l.•^ "^ "" CO ^ :c to t^ t- r^ 1 180 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. aptiJO niajoJd J9JBA1 ■5i^ -Bjoq aa a2 s o ^ CO -^ g 00 m s LO lO g t^ " - cS t^ s -* g -ti ■* ■* ■* OJ to So ^?; Ol CO ■fe to b-«0 . o => d .2 ^ a Eo.9 ft << 5^„- faSS « a o-g.2 ajEjpXii -oqauo >ODt^OCOCDiOr^incD gtOin-^QiO-^CDGOCO jaqij apnjQ niajojd 1 -* 0-* iiH iH in in '«i* t«- to o iHCvtOJi-tCQCOiHOin-* OM jSjoj -BJOqBl coir:^<>iQ(MoiOQin^ corHOiinooi-iootoinoo C^COOiOSOOoirHOod-* ^«Dir^oo-*OopQ<©in CO^CQCOOii-l-^«COO COCOincOCO-^C^COCOCD a5i-HCOin^QOi-ioo-*co Sit^COrJicO^inOOOin OOii-HOoici?Ot^C-Oi M Cj Om .2 n cs cs >jj Q -=sa£ ci" •Sea C3/^ ^Z2 >* ] T £^ _ !S •« cj ra >- HH^.a • -go 2g.2 •6 a ci'l-^ ?, i-2.es S3 , aj . C3 o SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V. 181 £=^g CO 3 Is o u Ma (u a h3 s « > § -1< « CO § s OT s g g 8 s O g CO 00 t- C: l> ^ " t- CO t- t^ o o o 3 g M 00 8 S s? & rH Sg ^ CO 8 t~ §5 O w s o CC CO s § s (N t~ s tn. f=-i case C30 a-" :k" ■g^.2« jj.-^ ^S ."s a_ a — rH - 0) o a ,^ a> a mS •-: o £ o) K^Uaa a o " a _'S >.— a a a '' a a2"^".r^- ~> a - sfc! '^ ' 00 ^ ''" "i I " oii'^-g ' -^ '^ Ci OJ Q X ^ !0 XI o 502 ^a u a tics sa a . a cs «! a^ « a-a t£ CO 5a a "^ aa <^ a o a fa o _ „ „ o ID— M aa2 1 < c; ci =5 I - I a -^ £"3 c 3 „ a- a " ci a r' a ^ ^, o tt s ja P a - a »3ri wia 2^ a -O c: *^ .> .a 'o - r? a'^ u a'"S';:j^_2 ^ y: tf a ^ _- 2 w a tti aja~2255.-H2 III fill M a a a ij M h5 ^ 1 : ^ _, a cq_a oi a 1^ --.^ I* -Mot SS.2 ■3-3-3 a o ,, ci a a c:a_ao --S a o u ife I o 0) CS ri § ^ . 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S 50 KH O Sr- -«2 M P3 <5 c g -^ a;M a; "^ ^ 0)0 a a cri-H s ao; . '' r. ^ •" '3 « 1_1 § s i1 Jfa CJ 5 I— 1^ "^ ^ S 6-5 •7= rr S !» i ° . «2 K Eh ^ Si S Ksc as 02 mS ^ 184 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. t3 .. a> - O 03 S ft ft _aj "5 "o rQ bjo H ft o o o "•J o u o V o * C o o o ot o Ss? ;^ ^ ^ o # c o C *"• o 5^'^ ■5 c 3 ■^ o ■-1 CJ o c o*- 43 d 2 5J c s o t; V oo ^ of^ «£ c» O , ;^ "T~ , , a. ^ r^ o SB I u a; Ci K c; o o .a 1 c X 1 a. 0} ^ il^ 5 x 1 -J S' 1 . rH .- .. -3 a 1 ■; C N ^ tJ ^ X 1 o 1 o ■" c: "3 c a c T 1 .. ^ OJ p -i- m O P « ^ : o 'it-i o y ^ 5 'z ^ 1-^ o j; C ^ ;^ > .^ ,^ .• t2 +J ':^ ^ ^ 1 -M c ^ 0/ % s ®« 1° .a o O 5 a X c ^1 ■= ij ^ w^ a X ci o g 0) X a s c a 0) X u — ^ a PI a * X rH a o X c o x5 fci li; >-iH liS ::3 K C a '-' -a ^ =: >, ~r "V a a I !«' S .2 O 1 O rt 3 a c a i X o S X i 1 c, l'3 5 0) a a 1 !>l g S t, ■S a I ■d S 1 o X 2 ii- s ;.. 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X X u '"3 X ^ s Cli 3 c: 'x c: ^ 5 X CM C ^ CM o a c: o o 3 Ci 3 o o 3 o 3 CJ ! *^ o o a. a C3 XlH o £i cj o o >. 0) c ^ ^ a X c; p — .a " -*-' ^ 43 .a < < -< < < H K O O u ^ ^ a "3 Z SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART V. 185 V V V O O O a a o o o ■ - 5'5 K-l 1 O x O X ;=« S & r>} t^ t^ ;-i O O O -ftaa !.§.§.= o '5 "3 s o o C3 g •-0 c; O c-* a o o o KB Ci »o rH ci : - *o t-GO i^ •* ci e • < «? rH t-^ CO 1-4 C C\iOCi>-HOCO^i-HCNiOOir:)OCO(NO»rirH -* CO lO Ci O »i^ E o CM in in o CO 5WOC0i-Hr>rH'*C>JO rH 00 in 00 Oi 00 Ci lO 1— t «— I c: c . „ GO C vn -f -f ^ CO '-0 t^ r- in CD c: i^ r-i CO 05 O Cl C^ coinoGomioo^D ioc<( ^^^J.^^^ ^^^_^^^^^^_^^^;s_^^^s_^^^^^^^?i_^^^ O;3;i-IG000C0CiG0CsO-t< GO g^ ?0 i-H rH J Cl O est t-- O i-H Cl C jgqij apnjo 0-* Q 18 I N t^ CO i-H i-H I I rH 050 « <© I < CO •-< CO CO C« I t-OOGOOCOi-linrHi-HOO t-inr-^Ocoin-fcoooo 00 CO GO CO CO* go' 00 X OO I> I 3^S-2i2'*^^22!2 ^t^Oco^^'*co«?^-r^lnrH(^>:0 1-'Oil-tlnc>^^^,lr^-f^'-^lr^r^>,^-*^ fe^?SE3'^£??5^ lOCiOCOrHCDOJt^ODCOOJt-CO^C i-H t^j r-l C^ Of rH 1— I rH r i GO ■'i^ 1— ( 05 O c: -+ I 5OC0t-HOr?it--(-t< COi— IQWOO l-HQWOOl-^(7^t-(5^i■-*db(^ rH O-^ in ^00 Oi-hOO in CO in WCO'^COOONt-OOOO-rOl^inrH 'ijoinc^i^rHt^coc^oinoiDOin'HH(ooJci— rciOii-H aaqrariM : i-( Ci C5 CO r-t r-J OOI>^-^^>COt>^-OOOOOO^^I-l^-^CS>r^r-^r-^<:doDC>icCr i-*<-^^i;^Cii-Hr-^G0t^'*'O IP 'l°l Oo?» 5--; « S^-jj Q >- 1^ o r^ 'rSf^ p -a Ji P • ~% ci J KiS'"' cs : I « « CD - >■. cj t: >> I j^^-.">5Ua>^-^ cScicJjj .^" .a .h-l>--c3_, I I « o o^ C O CJ 1 •O o o - C --a -a -a o ° ° o §000 O 'i) o o : - -£ ^ ® aggg o ^ a — rt a a -tJ • - -^ a tc C„- --1; cr :: = SB " - a W S p- 1» t; " f? rr o^ qj c; ar^-" a >'~'^m ^a w '-' « § o afe o CS+J 50^^.^, ■r>o>-- a; o o o fU ' 00000 ooooSoooo ooooSoooo OOOOoOOOO opooooooo m m VL yi m Tfi xfi m m TTi 'Ji TJX Tti m xfi rj: Til m ■-i^T— 'COlOir^OCJCOOOSrHCO 10 CO CO O CI c~-^ffOt-^eo':OCi-*b^c m i-H O -»> 04 rH t 5 m O (N •-( r-l (?4 « W CO kft CO 190 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. uoiuuioo ^•^■ -oqjB3 CO O 1" OJ rH OS 00 00 C^ ci O « CO W CO -^ CO « O C in CO t^ i-H -* CO o ■*m iH C7i ^^oo - ggs »n CO (M in 00 rH ■* w ■* C2 00 CO rM CO CO COr^C:5^-00 Oit^CiC^lftMC *COt^t*CO^I>t^COt^ ■-H .-I rH e< Jaqjd apnjo 3;^ CC> O CD O in CO OS in *M in (N (?i ^ o CO i-H cs 00 c — J o ■* t- -^ vn (M iM (>* t-t N CO ^ CO o oo'-T i-< SCO 00 i-H CO O ^ OS CO 1 ilOr-t-^COOOO^lCO CSCOCS * in CS CO CO i> CO OS t^ t^osco ooco-^csinosoDt^-^inco-* ^ CO a f>i 1-i Oi r-t rH T-l T-H w -f Ml -ti O JOBJaxa aaqia O "* CO -ti- cs 04 -*' co' 5 0in rH s o in t- csi— iQO-^cscocsosoinco i-i-hw co coc:scoi-h Ni-I^CSrHt I"00C4i— lOQO Wine- — cococooot^-rcococociicoM' coc^ir cs X CO cs ocomcoco -t^ooocoirinco'^-ocsooo -^oco oo oocsoooo MCONCO-Ji t-t^OCOCSCOOC^tCSf^min OOCOCS t* r-l-*M'CO t^oc--*co Oi-'-t't-ininooocs-i'^Ht^ inoi-H rn oot^cso g O O <~^ a - _-c: B P-i 'C^iS S13 £a a; o S S!>2<: 03 0) « 2 5" x:;/^::: 3- -=:^>^' a Sii ^ ^ a ^ = ' 0)1-1 .5 a a 0) M *-> 0) OJ 0) vJ 0; — J - 3 '? cS .- cj ■'■' o)^-'.-; a ^ ;5£:j"£>£:4d^ o o o o V o o o 0000 opp o 23 ^ , , ci cs rt'H O a o o - O w -0) >i Sgp§ . ^ s c3 a _ cSciO OOfe -T^^a -f >.i-l fj O) 0) o •■ ^ao o a o) 0; v,5^ a=« 30 43 0) a «" S i-i^^iSSc .^^3 cj-oZi a : » OM c3 a>>r 5 « a o S^ O > CM 7ma O O o ©_o§ mmtp, ft" O Op, a, .u a a O 0) O ; a a 3 i KTIllKtZlOPQJOJXitlii o'oi'oi'ai ij.i;.^ c3 c: : o o 4) 0) -— .— I I- « ; "oj 'm ^ 02 M 02 _Sp 0) OJ O C3 jaquinM SSSS OSCOt'-^COt^ rHOOWCOt^t^C rH C* CO CO rH c CO CO i-l i-l SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART Y 191 »o ir- r- -1" < !gS?g ) CO »M CO r-l O 'O Q "^ *© ■»?• 00 O "^ t><^ t-I O l> CO CO O I OJ (M 0< C^*t|j^|__|^ (O M* CD t- 5fi CO -I- M rn' ,-; co" P o in :i; CO CO t^^^^c:ctc5cowcD il'iSSESSS coococDi-coo5-^t^--i ci-fOi'^'Coir Ji;pi;jf,>fS}cQww^'— 1-1 ,-1 Oi r-- W l-H l-H oococooOi^Q^^'^o-*' (M OJ CO 05 «^ P OD ir CD c: lO t> •TJ^l-HO:^^^-G0^-C0C^«0 t^CO rH "-in coci-*«30tr^^J rj r- -*• lO CO «0 I « e- o c5 ri Jo -* t-^ 55 •* ^. ■*. '^. "i "*. "^ ti - I 1 . I ■ P ci a* O I , a t. t- :: : — . a ^t; gp ^-_2 ■•'■ . s '''2_ ' ' ' o ' ^"^ '^1 g o o cfa cair- <^ Q CI ^ r-H 192 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. INVESTIGATIONS BY PROF. L. H. PAMMEL, BOTANIST, IOWA EXPERIMENT STATION, AMES, lA. rilE SALE OF AGRICULTURAL SEEDS SHOULD BE REGULATED BY THE ENACTMENT OF A LAW. We present to you herewith a statement concerning our investiga- tions concerning the quality of clover, timothy and other seeds sold upon the Iowa market. The facts determined by us are sufficiently important to merit the consideration of the coming session of the Legislature. We present these facts on the invitation of a committee of the Board of Agriculture, consisting of Governor Packard, Professor Curtiss, and the State Dairy Commissioner, Mr. Wright. Our forage crops are so impor- tant in the agriculture of Iowa that this question of pure seed merits serious consideration. AREA DEVOTED TO TIJIOTHY AND CLOVER IN IOWA. In the census of Iowa for the year 1905 we find that the area devoted to the growing of clover was 237,309 acres, and to timothy 3,642,424 acres. In addition to this, large, areas are devoated to the growing of blue-grass and some minor leguminous crops, such as white clover, alsike and alfalfa. A law regulating the sale of agricultural seeds, in regard to their purity, prohibiting adulteration and misbranding, is imperative. Such laws are in force in Canada, Kentucky, Maine and Florida. THE INTRODUCTION OF BAD WEEDS WITH AGRICULTURAL SEEDS. Since the areas devoted to the growing of red clover and timothy are frequently renewed, large amounts of seed are annually required for seed- ing purposes. The farmer pays a large amount of money for this seed, often paying high prices for poor seed. In this seeding there is always a chance that some bad weed may be introduced. In this way new weeds are constantly brought into the State. Recently there was brought into the State with alfalfa, a weed native to Europe and common in the West, known as the knapweed, a very objectionable, spiny weed. In addition to this, burr clover, or alfilaria, a troublesome weed in the West and Europe, has been widely disseminated by means of alfalfa. Throughout the State ribplantain, plantain or buckhorn has been scattered by means of clover seed from the East and from Europe. The Canada thistle has been intro- duced in a similar way. The clover dodder and common field dodder are reported as menacing the clover crop in different parts of the State. Quack grass, which promises to be one of the most troublesome weeds in northern Iowa, has been introduced with grass seed. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART V. 193 COST OF EXTERMINATING WEEDS INTRODUCED IN BAD SEEDS. It will cost the farmers of the State a good many thousand dollars to exterminate the Canada thistle, quack grass and rib-plantain introduced carelessly with impure seeds. It has been estimated that it will cost from ten to fifteen dollars per acre to remove these weeds from the farms of Iowa. The financial loss, therefore, to the farmers of the State will be enormous. Can we afford to introduce these weeds with impure seeds? It has been estimated that samples of clover seed containing 1 per cent of weed seeds as impurities contain about one thousand weed seeds per pound. That in another case where the per cent was 2%, the number was 27,600 weed seeds per pound. Mr. Pieters says: "If fifteen pounds were sown per acre, the farmer plants about 414,000 seeds of weeds, which have an equal chance with the crops in which they grow." From our investigation, we may cite what was found in one sample of red clover. The percentage of impurities was as follows: Canada thistle, .707; bull thistle, 1.04; timothy, 1.267; field sorrel, .75; curled dock, 2.05; yellow foxtail, 3.704; green foxtail, 1.25; other weeds, 2.02. The farmer who sent this sample of clover seed would have thoroughly sown his field of ten acres with Canada thistle at the rate of 10,000 plants per acre, 15,000 bull thistle, and 30,000 common curled dock; in addition, foxtail and other weed seeds to the amount of 2,000,000 per acre. It would have kept the farmer busy for three years exterminating these bad weeds. We advised the farmer not to sow this seed. The farmers of the county in which this seed was offered for sale refused to buy the same. In some Iowa grown clover seed, some years ago, Mr. Stewart, in the writer's laboratory, found impurities to the amount of 3 to 67 per cent weed seed. Fortunately, most of these impurities were weeds which were common to Iowa. IMPURITIES IN CLOVER SEED. Rib-grass was found seven times. The Canada thistle and common dodder did not occur in the Iowa grass seed. In our own recent investiga- tion, out of 238 samples of red clover seed examined, 155 samples con- tained timothy, 137 contained dirt and sand, 128 yellow foxtail, 125 con- tained green foxtail. 111 Rugel's plaintain, 105 crab or quack grass, 61 rough pig-weed, 44 lamb's quarter, 35 bracted plantain, 27 old witch grass, 27 dooryard plantain, 21 Canada thistle, 20 barnyard grass, 20 cockle, 20 smooth crab-grass, 15 bull thistle, 10 dodder, 7 wild carrot, 7 starry com- pion, 4 blue vervain, 4 hoary vervain, 4 spurge, 3 English charlock, 3 pep- pergrass, 3 ragweed, 2 cowherd, 2 black bindweed, 1 chickory, 1 couch grass, 1 water hemp, 1 yellow trefoil. PER CENT OF IMPURITIES. The percentage of impurities of these 238 samples varied greatly. In a. few cases there were no impurities, but in other cases the impurities amounted to 18.606 per cent. The average for red clover was 1.93 per cent. The sample of alfalfa showed a better state of affairs. The highest was 2.417 per cent, with an average impurity of .838 per cent. Alsike 13 194 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. varied from .152 to 7.568 per cent, with an average of 3.437 per cent; timothy varied from .073 to 6.97 per cent. This shows that the farmer pays 26 cents for impurities in 100 pounds of red clover, 12 cents for impurities in alfalfa, 51 cents for impurities in alsike, .and 23 cents for impurities in timothy. The farmer does not want to pay a high price for weed seeds, of which he has enough. ADULTERATIONS. When the farmer asks for alfalfa seed, he does not want the substi- tute, burr clover or sweet clover, which are frequently mixed with low- grade alfalfa seed, as indicated by the extensive investigations of the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. These weeds have most objec- tionable qualities, and the farmer cannot afford to introduce these plants. Canadian blue-grass is substituted for blue-grass and other green substi- tutes are frequent; mustard is sold for rape, etc. VIABILITY OF SEEDS. The farmer is interested not only in obtaining pure seeds, but he also wants seeds that are capable of germination. The following table, taken from Mr. Pieter's report, shows the condition of a few different samples: Five of the samples of red clover in the following table were fairly good seed, but the price was not always proportionate to the real value. Samples 2 and 7, though inferior seed, were really the most expensive. while for sample 6 less was paid per pound of good seed than for any of the others. Most of these samples were purchased in the same place, and two of them, numbers 1 and 3, from the same dealer. They illustrate how little local dealers regulate prices according to the real value of the seed. Table 1. — Comparison of market price of clover seed with price actu- ally paid for the good seed: Market Price Per Cent No. Lbs. of Price Paid Per Sample No. Per Bu. Good Seed. Good Seed. Bu. Good Seed. 1 $5.50 93 55.8 $5.58 2 5.25 76.2 45.72 6.90 3 5.00 92 55.2 5.40 4 4.75 93 55.8 5.10 5 4.75 80.1 48 5.94 6 4.00 87.3 52.38 4.59 7 3.50 46.2 27.72 7.56 In this table the cost of the seed has been reduced to cost per bushel of good seed. A consideration of the table shows that neither the highest nor the lowest priced sample was the cheapest. The lowest priced lot. No. 7, cost more per bushel of good seed than any other, while lot No. 6 was the best one to buy because it was sold for the lowest price per bushel of good seed. If this lot had contained the seeds of injurious weeds, that fact would have to be taken into consideration when judging of its value. The presence of dodder, even in small amounts, should con- demn any sample of clover or alfalfa, no matter how good it may other- wise be, and the presence of more than 1 per cent of weed seeds will SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V. 195 take far more than 1 per cent from the value of the sample. The impor- tant point is that the value of clover seed should be judged, not by the price per bushel, but by its price per pound or bushel of pure and ger- minable seed. We have found in our own investigation that seeds sent to us last spring from various parts of the State showed a very low degree of vitality. COMPARATIVE VALUE OF PLUMP SEEDS IN SPRING AND FALL. March, 1906. November, 1906. Alfalfa 56.91 15 Alsike clover 66.34 35.6 Red clover 79.8 48.2 COMPARATIVE VITALITY OF PLUMP AND SHRUNKEN SEEDS. March, 1906— Plump. Shrunken. Alfalfa 56.91 24.16 Alsike 66.34 28.92 Red clover 79.8 30.9 November, 1906 — . Plump. Shrunken. Alfalfa 20 10 Alsike 35.6 10.8 Red clover 48.6 25.2 This table, made up from the germination studies of thirty-five sam- ples of red clover seed, shows that 20.2 per cent of the seed would not germinate under the best of conditions — alfalfa, still greater; and the same was true of alsike. The farmer paid $1.30 too much for every bushel of clover seed purchased where it had such a low vitality. Good clover seed should germinate from 93 to 95 per cent, and the average test shows only 79.8 per cent. The shrunken seed was immature, and also showed a low vitality. Much of the clover seed tested by us was un- doubtedly adulterated. The shrunken seed is frequently mixed with old seed. An honest dealer would not mix his old seed with the new, but there are unscrupulous men in this line of business, as in others. I have known of seed merchants buying old millet and old clover seed. The farmers of Iowa are, however, paying for poor seed. We may ask, should not the farmers have some legislation to remedy this state of affairs? We need better seed. The farmer does no want to introduce the Canada thistle, dodder, quack grass, ribplantain, in clover seed, and he wants his seed to germinate. ' Prof. L. H. Pamjiel. 196 IOWA DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. LAWS. Concentrated Gommerdial Feeding-Stuffs, Gondimen- tal Stock Foods, and Agricultural Seeds. EFFECTIVE JULY 4, 1907. Section 1. Every lot in bulk, barrel, bag, pail, parcel or package of concentrated commercial feeding^stuffs as defined in section tbree (3) of this act; and every parcel, package or lot of agricultural seeds as defined in section nine ( 9 ) of this act, and containing one pound or more, offered or exposed for sale in the State of Iowa, for use within this State, shall have affixed thereto, in a conspicuous place on the outside thereof, distinctly printed in the English language, in legible type not smaller than eight-point heavy gothic caps, or plainly written, a statement certi- fying: 1. In case of concentrated commercial feeding-stuffs: First — The number of net pounds of feeding-stuffs in the package. Second — The name, brand, or trademark under which the article is sold. Third — The name and address of the manufacturer, importer, dealer or agent. Fourth — The place of manufacture. Fifth — Except in the case of condimental stock food; patented, pro- prietary or trademarked stock and poultry foods, claimed to possess medicinal or nutritive properties, or both, the chemical analysis of the feeding-stuffs, stating the percentages of crude protein, crude fat, and crude fiber, allowing one per cent of nitrogen to equal six and twenty-five one hundredths per cent of protein, all three constituents to be deter- mined by the latest methods adopted by the Association of Official Agri- cultural Chemists of the United States. 2. In the case of agricultural seeds: First — The name of the seed. Second — Full name and address of the seedsman, importer, dealer or agent. *In lieu of bill as originally drawn by Commiteee we publish the law as passed by the Thirty-second General Assembly. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V. 197 Third— A statement of the purity of the seed contained, specifying the kind and percentage of the impurities as defined in sections eleven (11) and twelve (12) hereof, provided that said seeds are below the standards fixed in this act. Fourth— Locality were said seed was grown, when known. Sec. 2. Every barrel, bag, pail, parcel or package of concentrated com- mercial feeding-stuffs, as defined in section three (3) of this act, and every feed intended for domestic animals that is compounded from two or more substances, in addition to the requirements of section one (1), shall have affixed thereto, in a conspicuous place on the outside thereof, a statement in the manner and form prescribed in section one (1), giving the true and correct names of all the ingredients of which it is com- posed. Except condimental stock food; patented, proprietary or trade- marked stock or poultry foods, claimed to possess medicinal or nutritive properties, or both; and these shall be labeled or branded so as not to deceive or mislead the purchaser in any way, and the contents of any such package shall not be substituted in whole or in part for any other contents. "Any statement, design or device upon the label or package regarding the substances contained therein, shall be true and correct, and any claim made for the feeding, condimental, tonic or medicinal value shall not be false or misleading in any particular. "The name and percentage of any deleterious or poisonous ingredient or ingredients shall be plainly stated upon the outside of the package or container." "The name and percentage of the diluent or diluents, or bases, shall be plainly stated on the outside of the package or container." Sec. 3. The term, concentrated commercial feeding stuffs, as used in this act. shall include alfalfa meals and feeds; dried beet refuse; ground beef or 'fish scraps; bean meals; dried blood; brewers' grains, both wet and dry; cerealine feeds; cocoanut meals; corn feeds; corn and oat feeds; corn, oat and barley feeds; compounds under the name of corn and cob meals; corn bran; clover meal; cotton-seed meal and feeds; germ feeds; distillers' grains; gluten meals; gluten feeds; hominy feeds; linseed meals; malt refuse; malt sprouts; meat meals; meat and bone meals; mixed feeds of all kinds; oil meals of all kinds; oat feeds; oat bran; oat flour; oat middlings; oat shorts; pea meals; poultry foods; rice bran; rice meal; rice polish; rye bran, rye middlings; rye shorts; starch feeds and starch factory by-products; tankage and packing house by-products; wheat bran; wheat middlings; wheat shorts; and all low grade wheat flour; and all materials of similar nature used for domestic animals; also condimental stock food; patented proprietary or trad'emarked stock or poultry feeds, claimed to possess medicinal or nutritive properties or both; and all other materials intended for feeding to domestic animals. But it shall not include: Hay; straw; whole seeds; unmixed meals made from the entire grains of wheat, rye, barley, oats, Indian corn, buckwheat, and broom- corn; nor wheat flours nor other flours fit for human consumption. Sec. 4. Before any concentrated commercial feeding-stuffs, as defined in section three (3) of this act, is offered or exposed for sale, the im- 198 IOWA DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. porter, manufacturer, person or party who causes it to be sold or offered for sale within the State of Iowa, for use within this State, for each and every feeding-stuff bearing a distinguishing name or trademark, shall file with the State Food and Dairy Commissioner a certified copy of the state- ment named in section one (1) of this act, and shall also deposit with the said State Food and Dairy Commissioner a sealed glass jar or bottle containing not less than one pound of the feeding-stuff to be sold or offered for sale, accompanied by an affidavit that it is a fair average sample thereof and corresponds within reasonable limits to the feeding-stuft which it represents. Sec. 5. Before any manufacturer, importer, dealer or agent shall offer or expose for sale in this State any of the concentrated commercial feed- ing-stuffs defined in section three (3) of this act, he shall pay to the State Food and Dairy Commissioner an inspection fee of ten cents per ton for each ton of such concentrated feeding-stuffs sold or offered for sale in the State of Iowa, for use within this State; (except that every manufacturer, importer, dealer or agent for any condimental, patented, proprietary or trademarked stock or poultry foods, or both, shall pay to the State Food and Dairy Commissioner, on or before the fifteenth day of July of each year, a license fee of one hundred dollars ($100.00) in lieu of such inspection fee. Whenever the manufacturer or importer of such foods shall have paid the fee herein required, no other person or agent of such manufacturer or importer shall be required to pay such license fee) ; and shall affix to each lot shipped in bulk, and to each bag, barrel or package of such concentrated commercial feeding-stuffs, a tag, to be fur- nished by the said State Food and Dairy Commissioner, stating that all charges specified in this section have been paid; provided that the inspec- tion fee herein required shall not apply to unadulterated wheat, rye and buckwheat bran, nor wheat, rye and buckwheat middlings, nor to wheat, rye and buckwheat shorts manufactured in this State. The said State Food and Dairy Commissioner is hereby empowered to prescribe the form of such tag and adopt such regulations as may be necessary for the en- forcement of this act. Tags for use upon concentrated commercial feed- ing-stuffs shall be issued in denominations suitable for use with twenty- five, fifty and one hundred pounds net, except as hereinafter provided. Provided, that any dealer who sells at one time to any other person one ton or more of concentrated commercial feeding-stuffs shall be held to have complied with the provisions of this section if he delivers to the purchaser the tax tags herein required, even though the may not be attached to the various packages. Sec. 6. The State Food and Dairy Commissioner shall cause to be made analyses of all concentra'ted commercial feeding-stuffs and agri- cultural seeds sold or offered for sale in this State. Said State Food and Dairy Commissioner is hereby authorized, in person or by deputy, to take for analysis a sample from any lot or package of concentrated commercial feeding-stuffs in this State, not exceeding two pounds in weight; and in case of agricultural seeds, a sample not exceeding four ounces in weight; but said sample shall be drawn or taken in the pres- ence of the party or parties in interest, or their representative, and shall SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V. 199 be taken from a parcel, lot or number of parcels which shall not be less than five per cent of the whole lot inspected and shall be thoroughly mixed and divided into two samples and placed in glass or metal vessels carefully sealed and a label placed on each, stating the name or brand of the feeding-stuff, agricultural seeds or material sampled, the name of the party from whose stock the sample is drawn, and the date and place of taking such sample, and said label shall be signed by the said State Food and Dairy Commissioner, or his authorized agent; or said sample may be taken in the presence of two disinterested witnesses. One of said duplicate samples shall be left on the premises of the party whose stock was sampled and the other retained by the State Food and Dairy Com- missioner, for analysis and comparison with the certified statements re- quired by sections one (1) and four (4) of this act. The result of the analysis of the sample, together with additional information, shall be published from time to time in bulletins issued by the State Food and Dairy Commissioner upon approval of the Executive Council. Sec. 7. Any person purchasing any concentrated commercial feeding- stuffs or agricultural seeds in this State, for his own use, may submit fair samples of said feeding-stuffs or seeds to the State Food and Dairy Com- misioner, who, upon receipt of an analysis fee of fifty cents (50c) for each sample of agricultural seeds and one dollar for each sample of con- centrated commercial feeding-stuff, shall cause an analysis of the same to be made. Sec. 8. No person shall sell in ground form, wheat or rye screenings containing cockle or other poisonous or deleterious substances. Sec. 9. The term, agricultural seeds, as used in this act, shall include the seeds of the red clover, white clover, alsike clover, alfalfa, Kentucky blue-grass, timothy, brcme grass, orchard grass, red top, meadow fescue, oat grass, rye grass, and other grasses and forage plants, flax, rape and cereals. Sec. 10. No person shall sell, offer, or expose for sale, or distribution, in this State, for the purpose of seeding, any of the -agricultural seeds as defined in section nine (9) of this act, unless the said seeds are free from the seeds of the following weeds: Wild mustard or charlock (Bras- sica sinapistrum), quacli grass (Agropyron repens), Canada thistle (Cni- cus arvensis), wild oats (Avena fatua), clover and alfalfa dodder (Cus- cuta epithymum), field dodder (Cuscuta arvensis), and corn cockle (Lychnic githago). Sec. 11. The seeds of the following weeds shall be considered as im- purities in the agricultural seeds, as defined in section nine (9) of this act, sold, offered, or exposed for sale, within the State for the purpose of seeding: White cockle (Lychnis vespertina), nightflowering catchfly (Silene noctifiora), curled dock (Rumex crispus), smooth dock (Rumex altissimus), sheep-sorrel (Rumex acetosella), yellow trefoil (Medicago lupulina), burr clover (Medicago denticulata), sweet clover (Melilotus alba and officinalis), black mustard (Brassica nigra), plantain, buck- horn (Plantago lanceolata), bracted plantain (Plantago aristata), bind- weed (Convolvulus sepium), smooth crab-grass (Panicum glabrum), com- mon chickweed (Stellaria media). When such impurities or any of them 200 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. are present in quantity exceeding a total of two per cent of the weight of said agricultoral seeds, the aproximate percentage of each shall be plainly indicated in statement specified in section one (1) of this act. Sec. 12. Sand, dirt, chaff and foreign substances and seeds other than those specified in sections thirteen (13) and fourteen (14), or broken seed and seed not capable of germinating, shall be considered impurities when present in agricultural seeds sold, offered, or exposed for sale, in this State, for the purpose of seeding, and when such impurities, or any of them, are present in quantity exceeding the standards of purity and viability authorized in section sixteen (16) of this act, the name and approximate percentage of each shall be plainly indicated in the statement specified in section one (1) of this act. Sec. 13. For the purposes of this act, seeds shall be deemed to be mixed or adulterated: First. When orchard-grass (Dactylis glomerata) seed contain ten per cent or more by weight of meadow fescue (Festuca elatior pratensis) seed, or Italian rye-glass (Lolium italicum) seed, or English rye-grass (Lolium perenne) seed. Second. When blue-grass or Kentucky blue-grass (poa pratensis) seed contains five per cent or more by weight of Canadian blue grass (Poa compressa) seed, redtop chaff, redtop (Agrostis albo) seed or any other seed or foreign substance. Third. When red clover (Trifolium pratense), mammoth red clover (Trifolium pratense var.), or alfalfa (Medicago sativa), contains five per cent or more by weight of yellow trefoil (Medicago lupulina), or sweet clover (Melilotus alba and M. officinalis) seed or burr clover (Medicago denticulata) seed. Fourth, \vhen rape (Brassica rapa) contains five per cent or more of common mustard (Brassica sinapistrum) or black mustard (B. nigra;. Sec. 14. For the purposes of this act, seed shall be deemed to be mis- branded: First. When meadow fescue (Festuca elatior pratensis), English rye- grass (Lolium perenne) or Italian rye-grass (Lolium italicum) is labeled or sold under the name of orchard-grass (Dactylis glomerata) seed. Second. When Canadian blue-grass (Poa compressa; seed, redtop (Agrostis alba) seed, or any other seed not blue-grass seed, is sold under the name of Kentucky blue-grass or blue-grass (Poa pratensis) seed. Third. When yellow trefoil (Medicago lupulina), burr clover (Medi- cago denticulata), or sweet clover (Melilotus alba) is sold under the name of clover, June clover, red clover (Trifolium pratense), medium red clover, small red clover, mammoth red clover, sappling clover, peavine clover (T. pratense var.), or alfalfa (Medicago sativa) seed. Fourth. When the seeds are not true to the name under which they are sold. Sec. 15. The provisions concerning agricultural seeds contained in this act shall not apply to: First. Any person or persons growing or selling seeds for food pur- poses only, or having such seeds in possession for sale for such purposes. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART V. 201 Second. Any person selling seeds direct to merchants, to be cleaned or graded before being offered for sale for the purpose of seeding. This shall not, however, exempt the seller from the restrictions of Section Ten (10) of this act. Third. Seed that is held in storage for the purpose of being re-cleaned, and which has not been offered, exposed or held in possession of or for sale for the purpose of seeding. Fourth. Seed marked "not absolutely clean," and held or sold for ex- port outside the State only. Fifth. The sale of seed that is grown, sold and delivered by any farmer on his own premises for seeding by the purchaser himself, unless the purchaser of said seeds obtains from the seller at the time of the sale thereof a certificate that the said seed is supplied to the purchaser subject to the provisions of this act. Sixth. Mixtures of seeds for lawn or pasture purposes. This shall not, however, exempt the seller of such mixtures of seeds from the restric- tions of sections ten (10) and eleven (11) of this act. Sec. 16. The following standards of purity (meaning freedom from weed seeds or other seeds) and viability are hereby fixed: STANDARD OF PURITY AND VIABILITY OF AGRICULTURAL SEEDS ivTiATTT r>ip oc-I;.T^ Per ccnt ol Per cent of ger- NAME OF SEED Purity minable seeds Alfalfa ( Medicago sativa ) 96 80 Barley 98 90 Blue-grass, Canadian (Poa compressa) 90 45 Blue-grass, Kentucky (Poa pratensis) 80 45 Brome, awnless (Bromus inermis) 90 75 Clover, alsike (Trifolium hybridum) 90 75 Buckwheat 96 90. Clover, crimson (Trifolium incarnatum) 98 85 Clover red (Trifoium pratense) 92 80 Clover, white (Trifolium repens) 90 75 Corn, field ( Zea mays) 99 94 Corn, sweet 99 75 Fescue, meadow (Fescuta pratensis) 95 85 Flax (Linum usitassimum) 96 ' 89 Millet, common ( Setaria italica) 90 85 Millet, hog ( Panicum miliaceum ) 90 85 Millet, pearl (Penisetum typhoideum) 99 65 Oats ( Avena sativa) 98 90 Oat grass, tall (Arrhena therum avenaceum) 72 70 Orchard-grass (Dactylis glomerata) 70 70 Rape ( Brassica rapa ) 99 90 Redtop (Agrostis albo) .-90 70 Rye ( Secala cereale) 98 90 Rye-grass, perennial (Lolium perenne) 96 90 202 IOWA DEPAKTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. NiMF OF ^FFF. Per Cent Of Per cent of ger- i>AiVir, yjr r>i^r.u Purity minable seeds Rye-grass, Italian (Loliuru italicum) 95 80 Sorghum (Andropogon sorghum) S6 80 Sorghum, for fodder 90 60 Timothy (Phleum pratense) 96 85 Wheat (Triticum) 98 90 Sec. 17. It is hereby made the duty of the State Food and Dairy Commissioner to enforce the provisions of this act. The inspectors, assistants and chemists appointed by the State Food and Dairy Commis- sioner shall perform the same duties and have the same authority under this act as are prescribed by chapter one hundred and sixty-six (166), laws of the Thirty-first General Assembly, and the said State Food and Dairy Commissioner may appoint, with the approval of the Executive Council, such analysts and chemists as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this act. Sec. 18. Whoever sells, offers or exposes for sale any of the seeds specified in sections thirteen (13) and fourteen (14) of this act which are mixed, adulterated or misbranded, or any agricultural seeds which do not comply with sections ten (10), eleven (11) and twelve (12) of this act, or who shall counterfeit or use a counterfeit of any of the tags prescribed by this act; or who shall prevent or attempt to prevent any inspector in the discharge of his duty from collecting samples or who shall violate any of the provisions of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars ($100) and costs of prosecution; provided, that no one shall be convicted for violation of the provisions of section ten (10) of this act if he is able to show that the weed seeds named in section ten (10) are present in quantities not more than one in' ten thousand, and that due diligence has been used to find and remove said seeds. Sec. 19. There is hereby appropriated, for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this act, a sum not exceeding three thousand dollars ($3,000) annually. Such expense shall be paid by warrant of the State Auditor upon bills filed by the State Food and Dairy Commissioner with the Exe- cutive Council and approved by them. All fees collected under the pro- visions of this act shall be paid into the State treasury. EXPLANATORY NOTES. BY H. R. WRIGHT. STATE DAIRY AND FOOD COMMISSIONER. STOCK FOODS. (1) Section 3 of the act defines "concentrated commercial feeding stuffs" and includes in the definition "also condimental stock food; pat- ented proprietary or trademarked stock or poultry feeds, claimed to pos- sess medicinal or nutritive properties or both," but the feeds embraced in this part of the definition are treated differently throughout the law. (2) Labels required on feeding stuffs. Sections 1 and 2. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V. 203 (a) Number of net pounds in the Example — package. 100 POUNDS. (b) Name or brand of the article. MIXED BARLEY FEED. (c) Name and address of manu- facturer importer or dealer. SMITH &. CO. (d) Place of manufacture. ST. LOUIS. (e) Statement of percentages of PROTEIN 14'/-^, FAT 2.5 ^o, crude protein, crude fiber, FIBER 10 9^. crude fat. (f) Names of all ingredients. BARLEY, ALFALFA, OAT HULLS, CORN. (3) Statements required upon condimental stock foods comprise the items (a), ("b), (c) and (d) above; also a statement of the name and percentage of the diluents used; for example such a statement might be: DILUENTS USED, 40^^ OIL MEAL, 20^^ BRAN. (4) Section 1 provides that the statements required shall be "dis- tinctly printed or written," "in legible type not smaller than eight-point heavy gothic caps," and that it be "a statement" attached "in a conspicu- ous place." This department will hold that the first two phrases mean that the statement is to be so printed that it may be easily and plainly read; and that the last two phrases mean that the various items required may not be scattered over the package or otherwise disassociated from one another to the extent that the buyer will with difBculty find the information required to be given. (5) Section 4 requires that each manufacturer shall file with the Food and Dairy Commissioner a certified copy of the statement required to be attached to his feeding stuff, and also a sample of each brand of his concentrated commercial feeding stuffs, together with the proper affidavit. (6) Upon feeding-stuffs other than condimental stock foods a tax of ten cents a ton must be paid and a tag stating that the tax has been paid must be attadied to the bags or packages. These tags are to be furnished by the Food and Dairy Commissioner, in accordance with the provisions of section 5. Blank form for such statements and affidavits will be fur- nished on request. (7) Local dealers are liable for the sale of feeding-stuffs not bearing the statements and tax tag required by the law and should insist that feeding-stuffs sent them for sale be properly labeled and tagged. (8) This department can not undertake analyses for manufacturers or dealers, but is required to make analyses for those who purchase for their own use, and samples and applications for such analyses should be accompanied by a copy of the statement attached to the feeding-stuff. Section 7 requires payment of a fee of one dollar for such analyses. (9) Tags will be issued in two forms: (a) Regular shipping tag form. lb) Gummed back paper form, suitable for attachment to such shipping tags as the manufacturer may be using. The above forms of tags will be issued in denominations suitable for use with 25, 50 and 100 pounds net. A tag suitable for use with ton lots 204 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. will also be issued, to be used with sales made direct to the consumer under the proviso fund in the last sentence of section 5. CONDIMENTAL STOCK FOODS. The definition of these foods is found in section 3. A license of $100 a year is required from each manufacturer or importer of such foods, but if this license is not paid by the manufacturer or importer it may be collected from the dealer or agent for such food. Dealers and agents should therefore make sure that the license has been paid by the manu- facturer before attempting to sell the same inside this State. (10) The statement set forth in paragraph 3 is required upon pack- ages of articles of tnis character. See also paragraphs 4 and 5 preceding. AGRICTJLTUBAL SEEDS. The definition of agricultural seeds is found in section 9 and a list of the seeds affected by this act is found, with percentages of purity and viability, in section 16. (11) The sale of agricultural seeds containing any of the weed seeds mentioned in section 10 is absolutely prohibited, and seedsmen will be held responsible for sale of seeds for seeding purposes which contain any of the mentioned weed seeds. (12) The sale of agricultural seeds which may contain an aggregate of not more than two per cent by weight of the weed seeds mentioned in section 11 is not interfered with; but if more than two per cent of such impurities is present, the apprdximate percentage of each of such seeds must be given in the statement required in section 1 of the act. (13) Section 12 defines impurities in seeds. Agricultural seeds sold without statement of impurities are thereby guaranteed to be up to the standards of purity and viability established in section 16. Seeds not up to these standards may be sold only when the statement required in section 1 includes the name and percentages of impurities mentioned in section 12. (14) The statement required upon seeds by section 1 is as follows: Example — (a) Name of seed. CLOVER, RED. (b) Name and address of seeds- man. SMITH & CO., DES MOINES. (c) Statement of purity, etc., in IMPURITI ES — 3'^^ YELLOW accordance with sections 11 TREFOIL, 7^^ UNNAMED and 12. SEEDS, la'"^ CLOVER NON-GERMINABLE. (d) Place where grown. IOWA GROWN. (15) This department cannot undertake analysis or investigations of seeds for dealers, but is required to make analysis for those who pur- chase for their own use, and samples and applications for such investi- gations must be accompanied by a copy of the statement of the seedsman attached to the packages. Section 7 requires payment of a fee of fifty cents. PART VI PROCEEDINGS OF THE Annual Meeting of the Iowa Swine Breeders' Association 1906 BY C. C. CARLIN, SECRETARY. OFFICERS.* WM. D. McTavish, President Coggon JOHN M. COX, Jr., Vice-Presidext Harlan J. A. BENSON, Vice-President Primghar C. C. CARLIN, Secretary and Treasurer Des Moines The annual summer meeting of the Iowa Swine Breeders' As- sociation took place at Des Moines on Tuesday, June 5th, the pro- gram taking up the entire afternoon and evening. President McTavish opened the afternoon session with the following address: PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. WM. D. M'TAVISH, coggon, IOWA. "I want to say to you that the importance of this Association to the State of Iowa is increasing year by year. The United States, I under- stand, produces one-fifth of the agricultural products of the world. In the pork products of the world she has no second. In the pork products of the United States, Iowa produces practicaly twice the number of hogs of any other State in the Union. Illinois follows us and after Illinois the number drops off very rapidly so that Iowa is the greatest swine producing State in the world. She produces more hogs to the square * Election of officers occur.s during State Fair -week. See directory in last part of Year Book for latest elected officers. (205) 206 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. mile than any other State in the world. There is more wealth produced from the rearing of swine in the State of Iowa than from any other prod- uct she produces. Therefore, gentlemen, as exponents of this great industry, you as an organization are here to protect not only your busi- ness, but the business of a great State and one of the greatest wealth producing industries she has. "The object of this Association has been to preserve the interest of this great industry and endeavor to make its conditions better and for- ward its interests in every line. This Association has, from the time of my earliest connection with it, kept that steadily in view and adhered to those principles and it will always do so and it is becoming recognized by the farmers of Iowa as a great help to them and they are realizing more each year the benefits accruing from the efforts of this Swine Breeders' Association. "We have on our program many topics that are intended to shed further light on our industry and to be an aid to beginners and a help to the older ones in the business." At the completion of President McTavish's address Secretary Carlin read the paper of W. Z. Swallow, of Waukee, Iowa, on the subject of "Forty Years a Swine Breeder." FORTY YEARS A SWINE BREEDER. W. Z. SWALLOW, WAtJKEE, lA. When I was in the army in Arkansas we had to catch the razor-back hogs, were not allowed to shoot them, and I said to the boys that if I ever raised a hog 1 would raise a good one. There were more Berkshires than Poland Chinas in our part of the country at that time, in 1864 and 1865. We were raising at that time a coarse hog, heavy eared and spotted. I got my first lesson on medium type hogs from old Mr. Sam Clark. He said you want a pig that you can cut his head off and cut his legs off and put him into a box he will fit in. Then I began to study it up and take to the more medium type. They were a whole lot different from what they are now. They were coarse animals, with heavy ears that came right down to the end of the nose sometimes. Once in awhile one had a sandy spot, but these sandy spots when they would shed would shed white. I bought my first Poland China hogs from Magie, of Oxford, Ohio, and the second bunch from A. C. Moore, of Canton, Illinios, in 1864. The hogs were called by the names of Magie hog and Moore hog. There was quite a difference between the type of the Magie hog and the Moore hog. The Moore hog was more flat, with coarse, rough hair and spotted. Sometimes called it the pumpkin seed hog. The next ones I got of W. W. Ellsworth, of Wood- stock, 111., and they were a more finely finished hog. I paid from $25 to $35 and even as high as $50. Our trade run from $10 to $12 and $15. I think it was somewhere along irt the seventies that I sold a pig at a district fair for $50, the first pig I ever sold for $50. One fellow said he was going to beat me. I had the best pig, but he beat me and bought my SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI. 207 pig and took it to St. Louis, where he won a ribbon on it. I was put on as judge at the Iowa State Fair at Keolvuk, about 1877, and then I began to learn more about the pigs. Then I think another place where I made as much improvement as anywhere was watching the papers, and when Tom Corwin II. came out I watched that type of hog. He had good style and finish, was not so coarse. And then I let the coarse, rough fellows go and took more to the medium sized hog. There was more improvement between the time of Tom Corwin II. and Ideal Black U. S. than in any other period. After Tom Corwin II. came in old U. S. and so on down to King Corwin. I don't know why they don't advertise families of sows, but I think that comes in because as a rule we aim to get our sows as near all of one type whether they belong to the same family or not. "We do not want one sow with a fine bone and then a big coarse one. I watched that pretty closely and no one that followed that course got along very well. They used to bring them to the fair with the ears away over the eyes so you could not drive them anywhere. Old Dr. Grimmel brought them down. I watched that style of hog of Tom Corwin II. and old U. S. and then listened to the Ohio breeders when they came to our fairs in the early day, and that is where I kept getting my information. The most important point is to watch and pick your good male pig. A few dollars on a good male pig is nothing. A good male pig is half your herd and you want to see to that. The type of hog the public demands is the kind of hog you want. If you watch that and tend to it you will climb up the ladder all the time. Western judges go too much by the coarseness which the pork packers don't demand. We have to come down just the same as in cattle. Nice, blocky, compact steers bring the most money in the market, and I think it is the same with a hog. You take the early maturing animal and you can feed them up most any time and it is always ready for mar- ket. When cholera comes along, put them on the market and they will sell. If you have the coarse, lean sort you can't sell them. A good foot means a good hard bone. If you get a pig that stands straight on his toes and with the legs, as we say, on the corners, you will have a wide body and a good hog. There has been a big improvement in feet since 1886. That was when Iowa Champion came out. T. H. Reveal taught me that lesson. We were looking around over the pigs an(3 I asked him to show me the best hog. He got into the pen and pressed the dew claws close to the leg to see if the pastern was short, saying if the pastern was short it would be a good foot. When you have a good foot you always have strong bone and good shape. I picked up all these little things at the State Fairs. I always made it a point whenever there was a new family of hogs coming out that looked like it was reasonable that it would get to the front, to buy some of that stock before it got clear out of reason. Black U. S. was popular because he was more of the medium type and not so big and coarse, and the Black U. S. family had better feet and legs as a rule. I bought him and brought him here just to make that change and it did a lot of good to get him. It put better feet and legs on the pigs, gave a little more finish than the other big, coarse animals I had, and it made a great improvement. The people were looking after that kind and that was the kind to get. I could sell a Black U. S. for $50 easier than an ordinary 208 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. pig for $15 because breeders were looking for tliat type. The size was plenty and the quality was good, and all my females now trace back to him. Take a hog that has ears set wide apart and he will have a wide forehead and as a rule a short nose and if his legs are set wide apart you will always have a great back, which means a well sprung rib and a great loin. That has been my experience, and that is where Iowa Champion came in ahead of all of them. He was of that makeup. I had the first prize male here at the Iowa State Fair in 1879. That was the first Iowa fair held in Des Moines. It was Young Sampson, bred by Ellsworth, of Illinois. In 1884 I won first and sweepstakes on Dandy Jim, a hog that Shepherd & Alexander bred. He was one of that blocky type. In 1886 I bought Iowa Champion. He was bred and raised by McClung. I showed him as a yearling and he won first and sweepstakes at the lo\/a State Fair, and the same year first at the Nebraska Fair. In 1888 I showed him again at the Iowa State Fair as a two-year-old, and he won first and sweep- stakes; and was killed shortly afterward. In 1889 I showed Iowa Champion II. and won first and sweepstakes on him. Then I got King Tecumseh II. and Ideal Black U. S. I got King Tecumseh II. in 1890 and in 1892 old Black U. S. and in 1895 Ideal Black U. S. I got old King Corwin in 1894, and Pioneer Chief followed. I don't know as feeding amounts to as much as keeping your lots in shape, using lots of lime around the pens and sleeping pens. Whitewash the fences and raise a green crop every year on the lots. I think oats and rape are the best things to raise. It is a quick growth, and when your oats are gone your rape is coming on. I think that is one thing that has kept us from having cholera any oftener. We always haul sand and gravel for the pigs the same as for chickens. They will leave corn to come and eat the sand if they have not had it for a while. It is something they need and relish, and in the summer time it makes the nicest, coolest bed for them of anything you can find. Throw lime around in your sleep- ing departments. It is good for them and the dust will not hurt the pigs. It helps appearances as well as helping the hogs. In the early days we fed heavier with corn. At first we ground corn and oats and fed quite a bit of that. We did not buy feed so much as we do now. Later on we shut down on corn and oats some. We changed mostly because we thought it was a little easier feeding. It was not so much trouble to feed shorts as to grind feed. When I was feeding shorts I aways thought it better to feed dry corn in place of soaked corn. You get better bone and muscle with shorts. The main thing is exercise. Pigs should have plenty of exercise and a good dry place to sleep. They will always take exercise if they have a chance and plent of room. Don't feed them so heavy but what they would like to have just a little bit more. I never have had much trouble with rooting and never ring my pigs. If you keep a hog healthy and in good shape it will not root. I think rings hurt them and make them cross. If you starve them down and don't feed them properly they will root more or less. We always raise two sets of pigs each year from every sow. Lots of people object to that. If we ever kept an old brood sow she always raised two litters every year. Do not breed sows until they are a year old. We get our best brood sows from fall gilts coming near a year old before breeding. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI. 209 I sold Ideal Black U. S. for a thousand dollars cash, the biggest price I ever got for a hog and the biggest price ever paid in Iowa up to that time. The sale was a thousand dollars' worth of advertising right there. Every pig that we had at the State Fair after we sold this hog for $1,000 we sold for $50 just as easy as we had sold them before for $25. I think that on price is where lots of people fall down. If you are offered a good price for a good hog, sell him. A thousand dollars was the highest I ever got. I sold old Black U. S. for $500, a half interest in King Tecumseh II. for $200, and several others for $200. I always sold pretty low at the fairs to get them out before the chance of cholera. I believe in letting the other man make some money, too. That is the way to build up your trade. If I sell a man a male pig and he is not good I send him another in place of it, and the same way with a young sow. It is the only guar- antee I give on low priced hogs. It is just like any other business. You have to do it on a good straight business principle or else you are left. If you have a nice bunch of pigs, say forty or fifty, you are glad to sell them at home for $15 or $20 and make a good profit on them. But you can take them to the Fair and sell them for $20 or $25. Some other fellow will say he won't take less than $40 or $50. He can't sell them for that, so he takes them home, and after he feeds them for three or four months he sells them for $20 or $30. I think it is better to sell at a little lower price and let the other fellow make some money. And i have always found it the best way to look at the prospect of the corn crop, the hog crop, and cholera, and then make up your mind where to start in, and if you are below the other fellow it don't make any difference. Poverty makes a good sale sometimes. We used to have about a hundred pigs every fall. Then we would hitch up to a wagon and attend about four district fairs and peddle the pigs out frcm $10 to $15, and once in a while we got up to $25. That made our sales average about $10 a head clear at five months old, and a hundred pigs made us $1,000. Lots of times I have slept out under the wagon in the rain, but that didn't make any difference — we got there. I have always found it paid to make friends, and to lend a helping hand to anyone In need. My first and best advertising was by showing at the fairs, and it has always been good advertising. In 1S65 I did my first newspaper advertising in what was then the Western Farm Journal (now the Homestead), and have never missed a year in it since. I am a believer in newspaper advertising. I do not favor using large space, but rather a smaller space in the principal farm and live stock papers. When I began there was a good deal of cholera and we had it every year around us. Whenever it came in close we used lots of lime and every- thing that way and would not allow anybody to come into the hog lots from the cholera districts. I think putting hogs on the market and keep- ing the number down keeps cholera off the best way. Let the buyer come, and if he takes all the hogs, all right. Put them all on the market at any price whenever- thew show cholera, if you only get fify cents apiece for them. That is one reason why I like the medium hog that will fatten at any age. You can sell them easier than the big, coarse hog. I started working for $25 a month and aid $125 for my first five pigs. It nearly took my breath away, but I paid it out. I thought it was too much money 14 210 IOWA DlilPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. and too hard work, but the man I bought the pigs of said if I had not done well by the end of the season he would make me a present of a pair of nice pigs. Next season I had sold my pigs for $10 apiece and had enough money to pay out. There was a good deal of difference in the pigs then. Some of them were nice little fellows and some big, coarse fellows. Look back at the records and you find Berkshires, Chinas, Polands and the big white Irish Grazers. It was these crosses that made up the Poland China. The little chubby fellow came from the Chinas and the sandy spots and the black came from the Berkshires and the white from the other. At the fairs they aimed to have breeders for judges. The breeder was much more of a success than the college professor. I see it every time at the State Fair. The Expert Judge Association and its standard brings up the nice type that we have been talking about. A judge well posted in the score card will probably give the size a little more weight than the score card does. The score card is much better now than when it first came out. The size is all right, if you can get the quality. I like to have my litters average about eight or ten pigs, and from six to seven well raised is worth more than eight or ten; and eight, I think, is of more benefit to the majority of farmers than ten and twelve. Not many sows can raise more than eight pigs. The majority of farmers and breeders can not put every sow by herself and take care of her as she should be to raise large litters. There is not much difference between the size of the litters now and when I began. There has been a great improvement made from weeding out the cross sows and those not inclined to be good mothers. And I think the line breeding has been a great help, too. You get more of the same type of an animal in line breeding. I think it makes a more uniform type of animal and that is what makes them look nice — all the same build, color and type, and brings the best price on the market. The change of color has not as much to do as other conditions. Some of the hogs with spots are nearly as good as the black hog. The black hogs have a- better and nicer coat than five or ten years ago because they are breeding them up to that. Old Tom Corwin II. had a nice black, soft coat. He grew to be a good, long, smooth-coated fellow, and that is where they got the start. Tom Corwin II. was the first to get nice ears and nice finish. I bought old Black U. S. on order. I had never seen him but had read a good bit, and I thought I could see that the people that raised the Tecumseh hog had to have a good cross, and I thought it was the time to start in. When I went to Ohio I did not find hogs that looked as good as those at home. The herds looked inferior to me and were away back of ours out here. Those Ohio breeders let all their best stuff go at that time. One Price, King Corwin, Black U. S. and Ideal Black U. S., and they began to see where they had missed it. I went back to Ohio and bought a One Price pig. It seemed like I was pay- ing a good price, but I figured it out that if I could bring him back and win at tlie Fair it would be worth a hundred dollars right there. Indiana and Ohio are nothing to compare with Iowa in the hog business, and it is the same way with Illinois. SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI. 211 A young man with little money can make more money than a man with a good deal who will pay large prices, because he will not pay over $15 or $20 or $25, and if the cholera strikes them he doesn't lose so much. But if he pays $100 or $150 he is gone. He can soon sell out the pigs for $15, $20 and $25, and there is money in it. They don't buy pigs as early as they used to. They wait for the fairs and fall sales. In a way it is a good plan and in another it is not. They don't take the chances of cholera. They pay more money, but the pig is more developed and you can seew hat is is going to be. I never found a hired man that was all right to take care of hogs. In the first place, may be I have not hired good ones, and in the next place they don't take the interest in it that I do. It is hard to get your own boys to take the interest in it that you do. A person pretty nearly has to have an interest and watch the crop if he is going to take much interest and see if everything is right all the time. If you don't like to work then you have no business to try to raise fine hogs. A lazy man can't raise fine hogs. They have to be watched closely to see that every- thing is gotten that they need. There is quite a differnce in the feeding qualities and growthlness, and you must be watchful about it. Some sows feed heavily and suckle their pigs to death. You have to watch closely and net feed heavy, and keep their beds dry. A sow that doesn't suckle well and has a big litter must be fed more. I have had lots of experience with pigs in little houses and big houses and with stoves. Now I use no stoves and no big houses. I did not find any advantage in farrowing houses. They always get too cold. It is hard to keep artificial heat even. Where you keep five or six sows and litters together it is hard to keep them all w