The Forest City series of 1904 gave the following description of the outside displays near the Ag Palace. The scan is from that same issue and interestingly shows where the Great Wheel was in comparison.

OUTDOOR AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITS.—The Palace of Agriculture although the largest building ever constructed for one Exposition department does not by any means include all of the agricultural exhibits. Surrounding the Palace as shown in the picture are many acres of outdoor exhibits. Grasses of various kinds have been grown during the Exposition period and judged as exhibits. The floral display is much more extensive and impressive outside of the Horticultural Building than within. Most notable of the outdoor exhibits is the living map. Upon a slope is drawn in vegetation the map of the United States. Sections, even states and territories, are outlined upon this map by the growing crops characteristic of them. Walks follow the boundaries. Corn grows in Illinois, wheat in North Dakota, rice in Louisiana, bluegrass in Kentucky, alfalfa in Kansas. States that are famed for diversity of production show the variety of growing crops. The principal lakes and water courses are indicated. Strange plant life from western states is represented. Sand hills tell of the arid regions and of the seaboard. But they have lost that shifting character which once made them troublesome. Vegetation in the form of grasses which will grow in sand has been discovered. These grasses are sown on the sand hills. They sprout and root and thrive. Thereafter the sand hill is no longer migratory.

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