Show hogs at the fairs it can not be dented that exhibits of swine at the small and large fairs of the country have done a great deal of good in tes ching farmers the types of the various pure breeds of swine and in stimulating them to attempt the am provement pro of their home herd and fully develop the pigs by adequate feeding and good care such as Is given to show by the protes exhibitor and his assistants it Is no less irue that the exhibits at most of the state fairs are growing un weldy and less instructive to visitors than would be the case were 60 or CO per cent of the animals excluded from he exhibition breeders evidently bring far moie hogs to the fair than they have any intention of showing and indeed many men chow but throe or four hogs out of an entry of per haps ten to twenty head this we think Is correct but we may be a little off as to exact figures the principle Is at least correct in that many of the hogs entered are not brought forward tor competition but are merely brought to the fair with the hope of finding a purchaser this Is all right for the breeder and per haps good for the prospective buyer in a few instances but it Is not tor the general good of the visitor who a ants the best possible chance to see the best hogs and compare them so that he may learn correct lessons as to best types and improvements that are being made from year to year in the various breeds of swine times are changing the time was was when the number of bead of swine at a show was taken as the criterion t success the management came to the conclusion that where a great many breeders and a vast number of swine came together there surely would be the best possible alon of swine tor the education of the farming public but they erred in this estimate for we have seen a bet ter show of swine where but two or three hundred were exhibited than was the case where a thousand head crowded the buildings to overflowing when but a few hundred were shown they were the pick of the breeders home lot of hogs now that many hundreds are shown a few of them are fine specimens and the majority are of medium or interior quality and brought forward to sell it Is good that the breeder has an opportunity to sell his bogs at the state fair but it is unfortunate that the present method of exhibiting allows the ex to fill any number of pens he cares to pay tor and with any kind of hog he fancies will sell to good ad vantage we do not desire to cur tall the opportunities of the breeder but we do wish to improve those of the visitor and student to this end the management of every fair should set apart accommodations tor hogs intended for sale but not tor show the houses tor show hogs should be kept clean well dis infected deodorized and ventilated so that visitors go the rounds in comfort and the hogs be less exposed to the ravages of contagious disease into these show houses a single ex should not be allowed to put more than sufficient swine to give him one or at most two or three bandl dates for honors in each event were this done the visitor could then make an intelligent study of the winners and by looking at the pick of the swine would best educate himself to improvements taking place in and among the different breeds the work of the judges would also be greatly for it takes time to weed out the poor hogs until the good ones remain to be given the prizes another necessary improvement in connection with the exhibition of hogs at the state fairs Is better drainage of the sites of the hog houses at some fairs should a rain come the ground about the hog houses Is speed lly trampled 0 o a mush and visitors can not get about comfortably with out rubber boots it would be a corn easy matter to properly drain such places and to provide side walks built high enough above the ground to keep them from becoming water logged and mud covered during a wet spell lastly it will be well when hogs can be housed according to classes as well as breeds but much simpler things have to be properly at tended to before such a radical meas ure as this can be instituted A S alexander in farmers review the stone drain on farms where the land ta stony stone Is used exten in the construction of drainage ditches the work of building a drain of this kind Is much greater than it is of building a tile drain but when it la built it often proves very effective in doing what was required of it the ditch must be made wider than in the case of the tile drain and there BUS be room tor a man to worl at the lot torn there is however the advantage in favor of the stone drain that it does not have to be below the frost line eg does the unglazed tile drain tl a floor of the drain must be hard anil even the sides ars made by putting up stones of nearly uniform height the top consists of flat stones placed on top of the sides over tho stones are thrown in smaller stonia ard very email stones on top of those usually hay Is thrown in and an eva layer made and on top of this is placed the dirt the hay will rot but by that time the soil will have compacted itself and Is not likely to work down into the drain the dilapidated farm Is argement to all the people that live on it A farmer should keep ap a show of prosperity whether he la or not this will indirectly aid him in being prosperous the water table in the soil must receive the early attention of the farm er it should never be near the sur ace after the ground has thawed it in the spring there Is some crop that will grow on almost every ot land 1 1 |