Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-09-14
'ecial to Times-Republican.

Special to Times Republican.
Ellsworth, Sept. IA few years
ago an eighty acre farm near this town
was purchased by a man who proceed
ed to Improve 1t at a cost of about
$4,000. This year 1t was sold to another
man who bought it ''for home" paw
ing $3.50 per acre or $3.50 per acre
deducting cost of improvements for as
good a tract of land as there is in
this locality Of fine farms.
Three years ago a farmer bought
the last unimproved piece of land in
this section, paying s45 per acre for
400 acres. He erected some good build
1ngs, put in a train load of tile. set
out windbreak, broke up part of the
land and doesn't dare say s1OO an acre
for fear of having to move out. His
| farm has cost him, according to his
estimate, about $3.50 per acre. If this
| is correct he has enriched himself Just
$4,000 In the transaction. The rise in
| land prices saved the other man from
| financial loss. The two examples illus
trate the fact that it is one thing to
Improve place for home" and
quite another to improve one for prof
| it.
One Of the well-known farmers nv.
Ing near Greene who has given a great
deal of thought to the subject of road
making had this to say the other day
on the subject OF highway improve
ment: Incorporation between the iif-
ferent counties in road work is one
OF the first requisites. Much money and
time is wasted because the work is
not done when 1t should be done. The
grader is the best machine for maxi
ing and maintaining road that has
yet been devised, and is not to be dis
placed permanently anywhere, even by
the King drag. If from each county
seat town two or more graders were
operated on the principal roads at the
time when road grading ought to he
done and so arranged that the forces
from the starting points would meet
between towns, then work back to
their respective starting points. II a.
|
OF tires so that only light loads might
be hauled where narrow tired vehicles
are employed, and if this work were to
be intrusted to men who made road
working business instead of lob
to he attended to when farm work
was not crowding them, there would he
less reason for the complaint that we
are not getting results In road work
|
volved. We are not yet ready to build
concrete roads and must work VIII,
the material at hand. The road grader.
operated by an expert, at the nrono,.
time, and wide tire legislation will
result in highways that we can fol-
crate until the day of the better and
more permanent form of road has ar
rived.
The two automobiles were STONED bv
their drivers just before thew reached
the grade and the farmer with the
load of corn urged his team to swift
er pace until he reached the spot where
he could give half the road When the
machines had passed on he remarked:
Those men are my neighbors; there
are four autos owned by farmers with
In mile and a half of my place."
Inc little town of Jewell seems to be
veritable automobile center. Forty
machines are flying over the roads at
the present time, all of them owned by
residents of the town and nearby trib-
utary territory. The local liveryman
mas almost entirely dispensed with
horses and it is said that individuals
and families DESTROYS Of visiting friends
| several miles away, or in neighboring
| towns are taken out in the morning i'm
an auto, which. returning at once to
the starting point for more business of
Similar character, calls for them in
the evening at the hour previously
agreed upon, the charge for the two
trips being no greater than the visitors
were formerly accustomed to pay for
a team and buggy
| A young farmer near Ellsworth who
owns fine new car one Sunday after
noon started out with his wife and
babies for little ride. AS they came
thru town they picked up another small
family and ran to Jewell, then on to
Stanhope, the next station to the west.
The road leading to the south looked
smooth and level and it wasn't long
until the little party found themselves
In Boone. Then they remembered about
| the big railroad bridge west of that
city and went out and viewed the
great structure. Somebody mentioned
Ames and the famous college town was
the next stop. At 9 o'clock that Sun
day evening the travellers were at home
having made a run of eighty-six miles
and yet taking plenty of time to do
the towns" visit the bridge and eat a
lunch. Farm life in Iowa isn't all
drndgery. There's more to it than
blowing corn, milking cows and feed
ing hogs.
An extensive landowner in one coun-
ty in northern Iowa, who controls some
thirty farms has them all rented for
the coming year for from 81 to $3.50
per acre. All over this part of the
state there is a very noticeable ten