striking instance of the point in   question.  Its muscles were envel-  oped in huge layers of fat, gathering   here and there into wen like ex-  cresences, unhealthy enough to   spoil the digestion of an ostrich.    Yet this monstrosity of grease   took the premium over another   whose tumors were less protruberant.    I confess to an impression which   is in full sympathy with one   who complains �that the societies   for agricultural encouragement   persist in giving premiums to (so- 



called) fat cattle, mere monsters, not   of good wholesome muscular fibre,   well mottled, but mountains, of adi-  pose substance which no Christian   can eat and which are only dis-  posed of profitability by serving as   an advertisement to some venture-   some landlord from whose table   the reeking fat goes to the soap-pot.�    The truth is that in every organized   substance whether vegetable or   animal it is the harmonious de-  velopment of all its natural qual-  ities that constitutes its perfection,  



and as size is one of these it   follows that it can be enlarged   only in a just ratio to the im-  provement of all the rest.  Every   article and animal entered   for premiums should be shown   in its normal and proper con-  dition.  I mean that condition   in which it will best subserve   its allotted purpose on the farm.    The roadster should present a   muscular development hard   and clean unobstructed by lay-  ers of superfluous fat.  One of the  



indications of excellence in the   milch cow is leanness.  The active-  ty of the organs that supply the   udder ought to prevail over all   others and turn everything not   needful to the vitality of the an-  imal into milk.  The business   of calves is to grow � to grow with   a just proportion and compact-  ness of muscle and bone and   the healthiness of the process should   never be impeded by under feeding   for the farm or overfeeding for   the fair.  Let every product wheth- 



er vegetable or animal be pre-  sented for exhibition precisely   in that state in which it will best   fulfill its specific office at home.    I am glad to say that this tendency   to overrate the value of mere bulk,   is, after all, exceptional, and so   may be looked upon as a depart-  ure from the general practice in   awarding premiums at agricultu-  ral fairs.  Such awards are beyond   question, generally just, and the   few that are not so, under the in-  fluence of the above mentioned prej- 



udice are at any rate in harmony   with public opinion.  The tendency   I have referred to will disappear   before the progress of a more dis-  criminating taste and judgment   counteracted as it will be by more   general education gained at   agricultural institutions.  Another   lack in the completeness of the   many positive benefits conferred   by agricultural fairs lies in the   methods of preparing particular   products for exhibition.  It may   be fairly doubted whether in some  



cases the special policy pursued   in fitting commodities for the fair   will serve as an example which   may be profitably followed in   general practice on the farm.  The   question fully stated is, whether   the thing exhibited fairly repre-  sents the general results reached   by the exhibition, in the production   of the entire class to which it be-  longs, or whether it has been evolved   from stimulating process outside   of his ordinary practice and too   expensive for general adoption.   



In the former case, the article if   excellent is of great value for the   end to be gained by the exhibition.    In the latter case, whatever be its   qualities, it is worthless, except   for the purpose of empty show.    Of course any product however   remarkable in form or beauty, is   valueless as a sample, which has   been and must be produced at   an outlay which its marketable   value can never refund.  Thus a   Canadian once showed with   great complacency, at his county  



fair, a monster carrot, and un-  wittingly killed the interest it   excited by revealing the signifi-  cant fact that it had sprung   from a chance seed on the sun-  ny side of his barn yard and   had been hoed and watered   assiduously throughout the sea-  son, while his staple crop was less   than the ordinary yield.  My   pleasure in dwelling on the round-  ed form and magnificent size   of a yearling heifer was once   greatly disturbed on my being  



told by the owner on a burst of   confidence that up to the very   time of the exhibition it had   daily exhausted the udders of a   brace of cows and that it was   the most expeditious milker on   the farm.  I like magnificent   yearlings but I have an internal   habitual respect for butter and cheese   as well.  The question is, can I   raise such carrots and calves,   by a similar investment of care   and cash, consistently with any   known principle of agricultural  



economy.  Nothing is clearer   than that we can never exhibit   collections of purely representative   objects so long as the farmer rai-  ses by different processes one kind   of produce to show and another   to sell.  Let then every product   which competes for a premium   not only have a high order of ex-  cellence in itself but let it repre-  sent invariably the excellence of   the general management under   which it has produced.  Let the   fruits and grain and stock ex- 



hibited serve as an index to the   policy and processes employed   on the farm.  I have thus glanced   at the prominent evils to be   avoided and the true objects   to be reached in the manage-  ment of a fair.  Let me touch   briefly the benefits it confers.   First then it gives oppor-  tunity to the people for wholesome   recreation.  Occasional relief   from the monotony of constant   toil is a necessity of man�s nature.   



Amusements properly intersperse-  ed with labor are exceedingly   salutary.  That farther is unwise   whose strictness in the government   of his children gives no time for   play.  That school or college can-  not attain the highest results in   education which provides no in-  tervals for vacation.  No nation   ever lost anything either of wealth   or progress by its holidays.  Aside   from the night�s sleep and Sabbath�s   repose it is needful that the soul   should find occasional relief  



from sterner employments in   healthful and harmless amuse-  ments.  Many governments ap-  preciating this fact have at   public expense opened galleries   of rare and valuable collections   for the gratuitous entertainment   of all classes of people.  This love   of diversion, natural, universal,   strong, may wreck the fortunes   of many a youth by leading   him to the haunts of vice and   folly, but can nowhere find a   safer gratification than amid  



the interesting objects of an Ag-  ricultural fair.  Then again the fair gives   a healthful stimulant to social   life.  We are social beings and it   is needful that we should have   means of social improvement.  It is   helpful that those who live within an   accessible distance should see   each other often and know each   other well.  Were I the holder of a   farm among you I would if possi-  ble know every farmer of the county   and make his best ideas my own.   



This opportunity for enlarged   acquaintance is offered by your   annual fair and you lose one   of its many benefits if you do not   carry away from it to your homes   not only a gratified curiosity, a   quickened zeal, a steadier courage,   but more active social sympathies   and wider friendships also.  But you who are thus   associated together have a work to   do even wider than the fair embra-  ces.  It is yours to give the warm   welcome to every new settler by  



whose energy the wilderness of the   prairie will give place to   dwellings and school houses and   cultivated fields.  It is yours to   cheer the farmer in every depart-  ment of his various toil - to stim-  ulate his efforts after more genuine   results � to furnish models of ex-  cellence which he may strive to   realize � to reward his successes   and publish them to the world �   to offer him better tools and better   processes for bungling ones � to give   him easier access to all superior  



methods which experience has fur-  nished.  All this is among the   objects which such an organiza-  tion as this ought to attain, for   less than this would not accord   with the purposes of a society form-  ed for the advancement of a   great branch of industry on which   so much of human welfare depends.  I cannot forbear to no-  tice in closing a single feature of   our Agricultural College which will   when completed be more closely con-  nected than any other with the  



Agricultural fair.  I mean the   Agricultural Museum which   we propose to gather in that Insti-  tution.  A fair and a museum   have many points in common.    A fair is a temporary museum �   a museum a permanent fair.    A fair is composed of a wider vari-  ety of attractive articles, simulta-  neously gathered, whose bulk and   value in many instances, make   their transportation expensive and   their retention impossible, and hence   they are on exhibition for a limi- 



ted period.  It is an assemblage   of samples more miscellaneous and   less perfectly classified � the mu-  seum a collection of specimens   completely classified on a scien-  tific basis.  Both present their ob-  jects to the eye and seek to grat-  ify a laudable curiosity � the one   in order to amuse, inform and   excite competition � the other to   instruct.  The fundamental purpose   of our Agricultural Museum will   be as seems to me to make a full   exhibit of all the productions of Iowa  



which are limited to a certain   bulk, and to include complete   sets of specimens illustrating all   the values that lie in and beneath   her soil.  In the first place it will   embrace exhaustive samples of   those geological strata which in-  dicate the qualities and mineral   constituents of the soil in the region   where they are found.  It will also   contain complete examples of the   minerals and ores which have al-  ready proved a source   of wealth to the state.  It will comprise  



moreover illustrations of commodities   for household consumption, of sub-  terraneous origin, in different lo-  calities such as the coals, and al-  so select specimens of all the min-  eral fertilizers, as limestone, marl,   plaster and the like.  The museum   will be likewise a depository for   the more excellent of the machines   and farm implements which have   been tried and approved by actual   practice, together with a collection   of similar articles from the most   bungling to the best, whose purpose  



shall be to display to the eye the   progress of art in this particular.    In addition to these, all the lat-  est inventions, which are useful in   prospect but as yet untried, will   naturally find place in this divi-  sion.  Implements of whatever sort,   too large for the room assigned them   could be represented in smaller   models prepared for the purpose.    This department can be easily fill-  ed by voluntary contributions   from various manufactures, and   by inducing the exhibitors at the State  



fair to give still greater publicity   to the premium articles by a   further exhibition at the museum   indefinitely continued.  Another   portion of the museum should   consist of sample varieties of   wood indigenous to Iowa.  These   samples will be cut into the like-  ness of volumes of uniform size neat-  ly finished, labeled on the back,   and put up in library style.  Again   the museum will be made a depot   for seeds, which shall be perfectly   ripe pure and healthy.  No part of  



the enterprise can be of greater   moment to good husbandry   than this.  Throughout the wide   domain of organized nature it is   an immutable law, that under   favorable conditions, like produces   like, even in the minutest particu-  lars.  Principles better known and   applied in the breeding of domestic   animals, probably operate with   equal precision in the reproduction   of varieties in the vegetable kingdom.    Hence the sowing and planting of   seeds which are plump and perfect  



are of vital consequence to the com-  ing crops.  �The development of a   plant� says Liebig �depends upon   its first radication, and the choice   of proper seeds is therefore of the   highest importance to the future   plant.  Poor and sickly seeds   will produce stunted plants,   which again will yield seeds bearing in   a great measure the same character.    A feature of not inferior interest   will be found in carefully arranged   specimens of wools from the flocks   of our successful wool-growers, speci- 



mens which should demonstrate   the effect of breeding upon the fine-  ness and compactness of the fleece,   and no less attractive to the stock   raisers in general will be the   numerous engravings donated   by the owners of sheep, cattle or hors-  es, which have become known to   fame, by combining in a superior   degree, all the excellent qualities   which spring from purity of pedi-  gree.  Another department likely   to excite the enthusiasm of visitors   will consist of artificial models of all  



the finer varieties of Iowa apples,   prepared by an inexpensive proc-  ess lately invented, and so accu-  rately finished and painted as   to be undistinguishable by the eye   from the natural fruit.  Specimens   for models can be obtained to some   extent from the best samples   shown at the state fair, and by   gratuitous contributions from   other sources.  No part of the coll-  ection will combine so strikingly   the beautiful and the useful as   this.  But the limited space  



allotted to an address warns me   to forbear a complete enumeration   of the classes of things which will   find a place in our Agricultural   Museum.  I will only add that   our museum ought to embrace   prepared and preserved specimens   of all the smaller animals, which   in this latitude are harmful   or helpful to the farmer.  There is   an urgent necessity for a general   onslaught to be made upon those   innumerable pests that season after   season make such alarming havoc  



with our cops of fruit and grain.    There is a necessity as urgent that   all the quadrupeds and birds   which are naturally destructive to   these noxious feeders should be care-  fully multiplied.  With every returning   summer comes the resurrection of   the swarms of borers curculios, weevils,   worms, and the like, which combine,   in countless hosts, to rob the farmer   of the earnings of his toil.  Partic-  ular families of these have of late   generated with such marvelous   rapidity as to beget a well grounded  



fear that their numbers will re-  sult in the utter destruction of the   crops on which they feed.  In some   quarters this fear is already real-  ized.  The locust once valued for   its enduring wood and grateful   shade, has yielded to millions of   perforations which have well nigh   reduced its limbs and trunk   to dust.  The plum tree which once   offered its sure fruits, round, ripe,   and welting, now casts them an-  nually to the ground, blighted and   worthless.  In all manner of vegetable  



delicacies the worm is demanding   to be served first.  The time may   come when no man can taste an   apple, whose skin unflecked and   unstung, shall forbid the appre-  hension that the first incision   of the tooth will reveal a slimy   occupant.  These various destroy-  ers, threatening such wide spread   evils, demand the wisest and   most vigorous measures for their   extermination.  Such measures   can be founded only on an ac-  curate knowledge of their form  



habits, metamorphoses, and   modes of propagation, and more   can be learned from a glance   at these in their different states   than from hours application   to the unaided descriptions of a   book.  But if our museum shall   present his enemies to the farmer�s   eye it shall likewise present his   friends, the insectivorous birds �   shall present them in such guise,   that he shall be made to appreciate   the value of their friendship �   shall perceive indeed that he who  



wantonly shoots a single wood-  Pecker, gives life to thousands   of injurious insects that propa-  gate in more than geometrical   ratio.  In this way, Farmers of   Delaware County are you and the   Agricultural College laboring to-  gether for kindred ends � To   elevate and quicken industry   and make it productive of high-  er results is our mutual pur-  pose, We shall compass these   benign and worthy objects, not only  



by looking to the farmer�s wants   in the present, but by providing   for his future needs; not only by   offering stimulants to the pro-  duction of single specimens of   excellence, but by diffusing as   far as possible, that knowledge   and skill which shall supersede   the necessity of temporary stim-  ulants and make anything else   than the permanent production   of excellent results impossible;   not only in short by aiding to improve   the quality of the work but by aim- 



ing to elevate the conditions of   the worker.    45 ?? included    Dr. A. S. Welch  Ames, Iowa