Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-12-24
Additional Value Added to the
Farm Through Well Kept
Buildings
THE VALUE OF GOOD EXAMPLE
A Neat and Prosperous Looking Farm
Place Sets the Neishbors to Thinking
Lack of Uniformity of Crops Leads
to Wide Divergence of Opinion as to
the Crop Situation.

Brooklyn, Lee. G4.--IHdI the Stdte ol
Iowa is large state. and that but few
people realize the extent of territory
difference of opinion about the crops.
| Go into Wright county and they will
tell you that there never was as poor a
crop raised in the state Of Iowa; that
there is not corn enough raised for seed
| and will predict all kinds of things that
are liable to happen In the next twelve
months. Then take the train and in a
| four hours ride reach Poweshiek coun
| ty and take drive out from Brooklyn.
You will find the cribs filled with corn
and the oat bins full. I drove for six
complain about the condition of his
crops, with the exception of the fact
| that his corn was under snow.
| Go out into some of the counties in
northern Iowa and after getting away
from the buildings of the town you can
see every mans house that is on the
mail route-the country is SO fiat and
there are so few trees.
But go into Powesheik county and the
county while not hi!ly is rolling and
each man has his own grove and trees
which completely hides his house ex-
cept from the road view.
! never ride thru Powesheik county.
but that am impressed with the
beauty of the country and the class of
people who go to make it UP. Nowhere
in the country are there as many fine
buildings. houses and groves as in this
|county. There are, of course, many
individual cases in the counties where
they have everything as nice as could
be but taking as whole country Pow
Iesheik leads them all for fine homes.
[ On farm near Malcolm on the south
side of hill is situated the neat, pleas
ant home of Mr.. Bailey. Surrounding
the house on the north and west is
large grove. Here on this farm Is
small elevator with a gasoline engine
which he uses also to pump water all
over the farm. Many large booms and
feed yards are all grouped together sys-
tematically so that everything is done
with least possible expense.
On another farm near Brooklyn lives
A. Shadbalt, who in connection with
his farm runs his own creamery. Here
is young man, a graduate of Iowa col
lege, farming. He is up early every
morning and milks between twenty and
thirty cows and runs his creamery and
farm His buildings are all painted
white and with the evergreens and close
cut grass they make a sight which
makes one think he would like TO live
on farm himself.
/ have cited these Instances to show
that people in community like TINS
have some ambition besides seeing how
much they can take off the farm.
The improvements on the farm are like
the Notwithstanding. II Smith cuts
his grass in the front yard and paints
his fence, Jones, who lives across the
road, does likewise, and Browns Wife
who lives down the road notices 1t and
insists on having things fixed up too;
and so it goes, and that seems to have
been the ambition of a great many to
,fix things up, and 1t is not at all sur
prising that such places sell for 500
per acre.
There is one thing that should like
to see, but failed to find it anywhere,
and that is the naming of the farm
such as evergreen High View"
Connecticut Farm" etc. The only
thing that approaches it was a sign
nailed to tree in the farm yard: 'Ro-
dalbush, 206 acres, 1882" This is his
tory more than anything else. In old
settled communities like this where
farmers have grown up and there are
four or five boys all living around, it
would be much nicer to say. High
View Farm than the Jones Place." or
"Old Man Jones' Place."
Brooklyn was the second town in
Iowa to have rural routes. These
routes were established in 1897, five
years ago, and in all my six days drive
I did not find men too busy to read a
daily paper, many of them getting two
or three, and I find that they not only
read the markets, but the news and
editorials, and was told three times in
one day the same opinion about the
iowa Idea" in almost the same words
each time, as his own individual opin-
ion, and as supposed they all took the
same daily paper and their original
idea was the ideas of an editor In their
daily, which shows that they not only
read, but remember what they read.
GEORGE F.. THAYER.
T. O, RYAN APPOINTED.