Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-12-10

There can be no question as TO the
salutary effect Of our annual fairs on
the industries of the States. They
are means by which we are able to
score yearly the triumphs Of Iowa ex-
pcrtness and skill. They measure
with exactness, the strides which the
State is making toward higher and
still higher excellence in the products
OF educated labor. They furnish the
farmer and the mechanic information
as to the special wants of the con-
sniner and the demands OF themarket;
and they stimulate and guide every
department OF industrial effort.
Specially they help to publish the
successful efforts made to meet par
ticular emergencies. 1t is well known,
tor instance, that last winter thous-
ands OF families were barely kept
from freezing in northwestern Ipwa,
by burning loose prairie hay in com
mon stoves. AT the Dubuque Ex-
position, held the first week OF Sep
TENDER, Mr.. Augustus Beadle, Of
Cresco, Howard county, exhibited a
stove which supplied. from fourteen
pounds of pressed hay, abundant
heat for two hours and a half. Dur
ing this time baking and other cook
ing was safely and thoroughly done.
The hay was pressed by simple
machine which any child can USE
When we consider the seveui1G Of
our climate and the lack of wood and
coal in some parts of the State, this
prairie stove puts ON the character of
a Godsend. 1t renders the rich wood
less prairies of northwestern Iowa,
habitable and comfortable.
Another lesson taught at the Du-
buque Exposition, and tsught thor
oughly, was the method of supplying
the farmer with better milking stock.
Spite Of all that has been written OF
said, the great majority Of Iowa farm
ers are still raising milk COWS that
consume much and return little, and:
the consequence is that vast guam
titles of material that might be turn
ed into butter and cheese go annually
to waste. The cline upon llne, and
precept upon precept" given hereto
fore on this subject, was given over
again very emphatically at the Du-
buque Exposition. Livingston and
Shankland were there with their fine
herd of Jersey cows-the triumphant
result of breeding for butter Their
fawn like faces, soft eyes, delicate
limbs, and broad square set udders,
by their contrast with. the heavy
heads, big bones and bottle shape
bags of the old scrub mixers, reveal
the grand outcome of the improve
ments made in breeding for milk.
Then, too, the oft repeated lesson
of wisdom in the best methods of
turning grass into first class beet, was
made clear IS sunlight by the spcci-
mems on exhibition at the Dubuque
Exposition. Facility in fattening,
early ripeness, rapid and large growth,
were all illustrated to perfection in
the Short-Horns exhibited by Messrs.
Brown, Funk and Jacobs. If the
farmers of our State cannot be taught
the superior value of blood in beef
making by sight of such cattle as
these, they are beyond reach of re-
form in farm management. Scrub
beet is about the poorest product of
western farming and the grade steer
is a complete and comparatively
cheap remedy for it. The short-horn
bull is to change the whole charac-
ter of beef breeding in the west. But
we are too slow about it. Meantime,
keep the short-horn stock on show at
the fairs, and take every means of in
ducing the former to raise grades in
stead of native steers.
Many other valuable lessons were
impressed upon the rural visitor at
the Dubuque Exposition, and if he
would only reduce them to practice,
he would make farm life not only
most productive of material results,
but the noblest and truest life that
man can live.-Rrogressioe Farmer