Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-11-27
HARD TINES INVISIBLE
Money stringency Not Apparent
in Country Districts and I'M
provements Proceed
MUCH BUILDING IN PowEsHIEk
Many Modern Methods Of Feeding
Stock Being Adaptations Farmer
Has Scheme for Feeding Hundreds
Of Cattle by Neutrality-suspicious. F.
Thayer's Rural Observations.
Special to Ttmes-Republican.

Special to Times-Republican.
Malcolm, Nov. 27.-From the amount
Of improvements going on in the rural
districts one would hardly realize that
the banks were holding to their mon
ey. New barns, corn cribs and houses
are going up on every side. A Few
miles south of here Mr.. Carpenter is
putting up house that would do cred
it to our largest cities. Corn cribs are
always the last thing built, as farm
ers do not build until they know they
are going to have something to put IN
them. The Wolcotts, in Sheridan
township, are building some new ones
which are of the type should think
more farmers VINO feed many cattle
would use. They are built with ce-
rnent floors and are arranged~so that
by raising door the corn is just
where you want it. in the feed lot
This is done by building the crib on
the line. The cement floors keep corn
away from moisture, free from rats
sLnd easy to shovel from.
/ saw d few days ago two farmers
tearing up the floor of crib and with
two spades digging out the rats while
the dog finished them. But when
this was finished, down went the floor
crib, filled with corn. Next season,
more rats. more digging. A cement
tioor would cure this rat pest once
and for all.
Perhaps the greatest thing in Iowa
for the fee ing Of cattle is the new
building JUS. being constructed on the
farm Of Nose Robbins, just on the
county line between Marshall and
Poweshiek. The main feed room is
TOKYO feet. This is covered with
good shingled roof and is open on the
south. Running the full length, 12O
feet, are three feed troughs, such as
are ordinarily used. Over each trough
is q track similar to haytrack, and
on each of these is suspended cas
with a holding capacity Of about twen-
ty bushels Of corn. At the west end
of this large shed Is the storage
house, which by the natural lay of the
ground is much higher than that of
the barn. and by little filling the bot
tom of the storage house is just on a
line with carrying tracks, so that
grain may be passed out thru an OPP
ening into the carrying boxes without
much lifting. Smooth floors are laid
and a set of carriers will slide along
the floor and bring the feed forward
so it will fall in carriers thru the OPP
ening. A gasoline engine is employed
to do all the hard work, such as
grinding the corn, pumping water, run
ming conveyors, etc. The cars run
easily and are arranged so man can
walk down the trough and by turning
crank at one end distribute the feed
equally the whole 100 feet. Three
trips, one for each trough will feed
$50 head Of cattle and it can be done
in from twenty to thirty minutes.
The floor Of this immense shed is to
be Of concrete. Think what one man
can do with the aid of gasoline en-
CINE If buildings are fitted as these
are All he has to do is to start the
engine and open the chute, let the corn
run into the grinder and let the feed
fall into bin below, and with the
cars in place start his carriers and fill
boxes, and in few minutes ESQ head
of cattle are eating 1t up under shell
ter Mr.. Robbins says he can, when
his plant is In running order, feed his
cattle cheaper on corn meal than the
average farmer can feed whole corn.
Mr.. Robbins is one of the big feeders
and this arrangement is the result Of
trying to run a big feeding business
with hired help, but now if worse comes
to worse, he can do it all himself.
He has done another thing which
often wonder more farmers do not
do, and that is to use the water that
runs thru the tile. Down at the foot
Of the hill where the tile empties he
has constructed a large receiving ba-
sin Of cement, into which flows the
drainage Of his land and all around
this tank is cement floor so that the
cattle can drink without standing knee
deep in the mud to do so.
The corn crop is now pretty well in
the cribs and each farmer is taking
account Of what he will need. Many
find corn turning out better than ex-
pected, and when the sales start up
again there Will be good many fell
lows hunting around for something to
feed their corn to.
SO
Hog cholera has had its run thru
here, many losing their entire herds,
but it takes a farmer to look at the
bright side of things after all. In talk
ing with one man who had lost over
200 head, young and old, was just
ready to sympathize with him when
he drolly remarked: well, have got
all this corn, and believe it is worth
more than it would have been in the
hogs had they lived, and l fed it to
them"
GEORGE F. THAYER.