Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-02-06
:LooKER-0N IN IOWA
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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Manly Junction, Feb. 5.-A recent
letter to the st. Paul Dispach gives
one an idea of the popcorn business IN
one place in iowa. According to the
writer. there rs more popcorn shipped
from the town of Odebolt than from
any other station in the world. II
1902 the shipments amounted to 14i
cars. and the crop for 1903 is esti-
mated at $50 cars AT the ruling prices,
which range from SO cents to 81 per
100 pounds, the value of the popcorn
crop will reach nearly $4,000. An av-
erage yield of popcorn is about Il ton
and half to the acre, so that In av-
eage years the crop from an acre
will bring from s25 to $50, delivered
ait the railroad station. Some half
a dozen years ago several farmers in
the vicinity, of OdeboN began raising
popcorn and found THAT they could
grow 1t successfully in large tracts.
| They had trouble at first in finding
known that the farmers were willing
to, grow 1t in large quantities. buyers
came from Boston. New York ani
other eastern cities prepared TO bus
| all that was raised and contract for
| the next crop. Popcorn Is cultivated
| In the same way as Indian corn, 'ex-
cept that it is planted in drills and
worked only one way. instead OF on
the '.checkerboard" system. 1t does
best when drilled quite thick in the
| row. The number of acres generally
raised on one farm Will vary from
fifteen to thirty, but some farmers
make 1t a special feature and grow
nothing else. Sometimes the farmer
plants his entire farm in popcorn and
does not even raise the feed for MS
|own teams. In such cases from q
hundred acres upward are grown by
one farmer, and In one instance Il
5oo-acre crop is reported. On account
of the smallness of the ears popcorn Is
more extensive TO husk than field corn.
Therefore, when grown on a large scale
| II is generally cut and bound into
sheaves with a corn harvester, ana
afterwards run thru the husking and
shredding machines used for field
corn.
When this is done the stalks make
valuable fodder for cattle and sheep.
Odebolt Is situated on the divide be-
tween the Mississippi and the Mis-
souri, rivers, and is one OF the high
| est points in the state. This fact, to-
cethe,. with the extreme fertility OF the
soil, is believed to have something TO
do with the success of the popcorn
crop, The demand for popcorn has
rapidly increased of late, which would
Indicate that some new use has been
found for 1t, and it is believed that a
good ieal OF 1t finds It's way into some
fof the new breakfast foods and into
self raising pancake -four.
II begins TO look as tho the town of
Clarion made wise investment OF the
money and land used in securing the
Great Western railway to build In
there. The writer is told there is not
va.ant house in town. That the
new round house built last year does
not bsgin to accommodate the engines
whose, resting place Is there. and sew
eral az these hard worked iron horses
have to stand out all night exposed 10
the weather That eighteen freight
crews now end and begin their runs
In Clarion, which means In the near
futur,, at least twenty-five families of
these men will move to Clarion. And
the writer has positive knowledge OF
the big hotel business 1t has brought
TO TIN. town, for nearly every night late
arriving travellers find the hotel rooms
all taken, and they have the choice of
in, no al n.
ing on to the next town and coming
back to do their work. The present
excellent hotel accommodations are
likely to be Increased the coming year.
An unusually large number OF restau-
rants exist, and one hotel man told the
writer he cleaned up $4,000 last year
ting new railroad.
Speaking OF travelling men, every
one thinks he has the hardest job
and all others are snaps" But there's
"a meat man. for Cudahy the firm
that paid Pat Grove the biggest price
ever recorded for one cud OF hay
$40. 000-that certainly earns his sala-
nv. He starts from Baskerville on the
way freight at. a. m, works eleven
towns that day, making collections and
taking orders in each town between
there and Clarion. Then to round up
his career, he takes the night train
from Clarion to Oelwein SO as to be on
hand bright and early to work out OF
Oelwein the next morning. These
meat men, to make" so many towns
frequently ride on the engine, so they
can work the town between the time
the engine arrives at the depot and
when the caboose arrives. Some OF
them by .Judicious" arrangement
with the engineer have whistle sig
nal, and in that way see" a customer
after the train starts and then run and
catch on the caboose going by the
platform twenty miles an hour. All
OF which Is told the Looker-On.
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