Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-11-05
IMPROVING The FARMS
Substantial Buildings Being
Erected in Poweshiek and
Tama Counties.
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
Structures Designed With the Idea of
Permanency and in Keeping With
tho Value of the Lands-Farmers
Keeping the Best They Raise-Thay
er's Observations.
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
Special to Times Republican.

! Montezuma, Nov. 5.-After two years
of loss of crops by hail storms, the
farmers In this vicinity have good
crop and are smiling again. There
of Iowa than that found between here
and Deep River, and barring the ele-
years ago John Blaine bought a quar-
ter section of unimproved land adjacent
to his home for $4,000, and has never
done anything to improve 1t more than
to rotate the crops and give it such
care as is usual. a few days ago he
refused 800 an acre for 1t. He Is now
talking of putting some building on
! the place and if he does he says that
not less than $3.50 an acre will buy 1T.
1t has been an unusual year for
building operations, many taking adj
vantage of the low price of material
and putting up buildings that Will
stand for years. One of the notice.
able buildings is Il large barn put up
this year by l.. Randolph at Tama.
This is basement barn, 46XSO with
cement wall eight feet high all the
way around. In this basement ne
keeps all his cows and horses, in fact.
all his live stock. and uses the second
floor for machinery and feed. In the
loft, which is 46 feet to the peak. IS
stored all the rough feed that he will
, use during the winter. Here is barn
that even with the low cost of material
cost between $500 and $4,000. The
best thing that he did was to put on
a couple of coats of good red paint,
and it certainly looks good.
One of the advantages of q barn of
this kind is that he can so out there
on a cold winters day and into the
barn and do all his chores and milking
in one building. There is no running
all over the place. The time he saves
in doing his work more than pays the
interest on his money invested. On
some farms the buildings &c all scat
tered around, as on II far near Hart
wick. They were bull. .hg the corn
crib about 100 yards from any other
building, and when I asked him why
he did 50 he said that in case Of fire
they would not all burn down. But
where they get their barns all under
one roof, as Mr.. Randolph has done. the
next thing is to secure insurance,
which they do at a very low cost in the
farmer mutuals.
Another striking example OF build
ings is being shown by Fred Ingersoll.
near the Tama county line, where he
has just completed u new home and
with an eye to the beautiful has placed
his house high up on the hillside. and
painted it white. The view is eXtens-
i've. The farmers are building build
ings around them that will last. They
have abandoned the idea that any
kind of a house will do for them. Here
is house that has a large cellar UNI
der the whole structure and a large
furnace sufficient to heat every room
in the house. There is a complete
system of water, both hot and cold,
bath rooms and closets; also a light
ing plant All the floors downstairs
are Of hard wood and the sideboards
and cupboards are all built in the
rooms. There is probably not a house
in any town in Iowa that is more
complete than this one, and it is built
by a young man who expects to live
on the farm. lie is like a man 1 met
the other day who was butchering a
hog that was the latest and best one
in the pen, and I said to him: THAT
one is too fat for you to eat. You can
sell that one for a good price," In re-
DIV. he said: "The best things that I
raise on this farm are for myself, and
what I don't want sell to the other
fellow The facts are that the farmer