Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-11-09
High Price Of Iowa Land Brings
Realizing Sense of Value
of Economy
BETTER CARE OF THE CROPS
Bottor Cribs Are Being Built for Corn
and More Judgment Exercised In
Feeding lt--Ccment Floors For That
Purpose Built by Many--TiIing Elk
pcnsivc But Profitable.
Special to Times Republican.

SDeC1ui W
Jewell Nov. Tt is always inter-
estlng to observe the efforts oil sue
cessful man to adapt himself to chang
Ing conditions which have q direct ell
feet on his occupation. This necessar-
ily constant struggle Is very noticeppie
on the average Iowa farm and Is occa-
stoned largely by the recent rise III
land values.
In driving over half dozen rurai
mail routes In this vicinity the patrons
of which are for the most part thrilly
and prosperous class OF people VI
Scandinavian descent. the writer nus
noticed at least a score OF double coiii
cribs newly built and painted ana set
on stone foundations put UP apparently
with as much care as tho they were
TO be the foundations of dwellings,.
They are large handsome structures
ornaments to the farms on which they
stand. The owners OF these new build
lngs all tell the same story Wneh .ne
subject Is mentioned. Land 10 100
high to raise corn to be wasteo oy
| weather and rats. The expensive GRID
was u necessity.
| A number OF farmers near StrhlAoiu
are building hog houses this ran WIN
cement floors and with feedlng iiooi
in front laid something after the fash-
ion of q cement walk, but using coaisei
material. One man who was flnishlnB
one OF these structures said ne was
tired of throwing fifty cent corn IN the
mud and seeing half Of 1t wasted.
! Nelther did he intend to continue
boarding a lot Of hogs the greater part
OF the year. only to have their pigs
killed by drafts of cold wind ana py
accidents caused by uneven dirt floors.
He thinks that he can now produce
nork cheaper than his neighbors UNI
less they adopt similar measures.
#A*
The other day several men were seen
digging bitches for taling low fut
| tract of twenty-five or thirty acres sur
rounded on all sides by land consider
ably higher, but there was an "outiet
about thirty rods distant, ana over
hin between 1t and the land to be
drained were two long high banks OF
earth---a ditch thirteen and a half feet
deep at once point afforded the neces-
sary connection, and next year the
cnltIvable area of that mans farm VIII
| he Increased by about thirty acres. He
couldn't afford to allow his high priced
land to remain idle, so he tiled 1t nltho
ut great expense, the digging OF the
deep ditch alone required the work OF
four men two weeks.
Another feature Of this section Is the
Frequency with which farm scales are
seen and these together with the mar
ket report obtained by daily paper or
telephone places the stock raiser on an
equal footing, so far as information is
concerned, with the man who buys his
stock.
There is road making machine in
operation u few miles from here that
is certainly up to date. 1t consists OF
a pow which throws furrow on a
canvas working in an elevator similar
to the straw stacker Of a threshing ma
chine. Twelve horses are required to
pull the huge affair, eight OF which are
hitched ahead and four behind. When
fill is to be made low wagons, built
specially for the purpose, are driven
alongside the machine as it operates.
receiving the dirt from the elevator.
, These wagons are emptied when de-
sired by means Of levers and the a.
mount Of filling that can be done in a
given time is astonishing. After the
grade is brought to the desired height.
gravel, which is abundant here, is
placed in the middle, then more dirt is
carried to the sides to hold the gravel
In place and the result Is a first class
permanent road. Hamilton county
owns two of these machines. which are
said to have cost $1,000 each, and hires
the men and teams necessary to their
operation.
was told that the owners of many
of the farms here obtained their land
by tax title. and that former owners
who abandoned them years ago as not
worth paying taxes on and learning of
their present value are to this day oc-