The enterprise-recorder. (Madison, Fla.) 1908-1933, 1908-08-20

Vhly SIX per cent. OF the human race.
The genie who built Aladdin's pal
ace in a night was the champion
hustler Of the fairy-tale countries.
But he was not so tremendously SUI
perlor to the farm laborer, who takes
can Of gasoline and cuts fifty cords
Of wood In day, or to the man who
milks a herd of sixty cows in two
hours, by machinery.
To-day farming is not a drudgery
Rather It is a race-an exciting rlv-
airy between the different States. For
years Illinois and Iowa have run neck
and neck in the raising Of corn and
oats. Minnesota carries the blue rib
bon for wheat; with Kansas Oreath-
less in second place; California has
shot to the front in the barley race;
Texas and Louisiana are ted in the
production Of rice; Kentucky is the
tobacco champion, and New York
holds the record for hay and potatoes
Iowa-A State Of New Farmers.
To see the new farmer at his best,
went to Iowa. No other State has
invested so much money-S60, 000,-
O00-in labor saving machinery; so
that It may fairly claim to be the
zenith OF the farming world.
Here are 10000 women and 300,-
900 men who have made farming a
profession. They are producing
wealth at the rate of $500, 100000
year, nearly $500 apiece How? By
throwing the burden Of drudgery
upon machines.
Iowa is not so old; she will be
sixty-two this year. She is not so
large; little England is larger. Yet,
with her hog money she could pay
the salaries of all the monarchs OF
Europe, and with one years corn
crop she could buy out the Harvester
Trust, or build three New York sub
ways.
When the Indians sold Iowa to
Uncle Sam they got about eight cents
an acre. To give the price exactly, to
cent, 1t was $2,S77574.S7. When
this money was paid there were
statesmen who protested that 1t was
too much. Yet this amount was less
than one-quarter of the value Of the
eggs in last years nests. Every
three months the Iowa hen pays for
Iowa.
A Farmers College.
In a small, out-of-the-way town
called Ames / came upon a farmers
college-a veritable Harvard Of the
soil. Here, on a thousand acres
which fed the wild deer and buffalo
in the days Of Andrew Jackson, is a
college that equals Princeton and
Vassar combined in the number Of its
pupils. It's farm machinery building
is the largest of its kind, and It is
curious fact showing how new the
new farmer is, that the professors in
charge Of this department are obliged
to teach without a textbook.
The Iowans pay 100000 year to
sustain this college. They pay 1t
cheerfully. They pay It with a hur-
rah. Why? Because it is the big
gest money maker in the State. One
little professor. named Holden-the
smallest Of the whole 14O-is revered
by Iowans as a King Midas Of the
cornneld. He has shown them how to
grow ten bushels more per acre, by
using a better quality OF seed.
And Iowa is not an exceptional
State. A traveller hears the same
story-from OK cart TO automobile
in almost every region of the prairie
West. The various States are only
patches OF one vast grassy plain,
where
painted harvesters feet after feet,
Like yachts, career through seas OF waving
wheat.
Selling Farm Machinery in Texas.
-My first experience with the new
farmer, as you call him, was IL
Texas said a Kansas City susiness
man. Il had taken an agency for
harvesters IN a section Of Texas that
was bigger than several dozen Ver-
monts, and made my headquarters in
a town called Amarillo. The first
morning / went into a bank to get
While / was there in
came big. roughly dressed man.
Come here, BILL said the banker.
Maybe you want some farm machin-
cry
Maybe do. said the big fellow;
50 ! gave him a catalog and went on
talking with the banker.
"Ten minutes later the big fellow
looked up from the catalog and
asked; How much do you want for
ten OF these binders?' / nearly had
a spell Of heart failure, but I gasped
the price. He said; All right