The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1910-11-03

|
splendid address at the recent Corn
Picnic near Garden Grove, was so
we'll pleased with what he saw OF
Decatur county land, Decatur coun-
ty corn and Decatur county people,
that he could not refrain from pub
fishing a glowing account of his WIS.,
it to the Corn Picnic in recent
issue of the Breeders Gazette. He
says:
In Decatur county, Iowa, the
farm folks each year hold Corn
Jubilee This year it occurred
October LIST. l sit on the blue grass
writing this and watching the folks
as they come in. Very human are
the country people of Iowa; these
| came once largely from Ohio, In
diana, and other eastern states. They
are almost all purely American.
Down the hill they come in almost
unbroken procession, some the
young folks in strong new auto
seat buggies, the fathers and moth
ers in older ones with the paint
we'll worn. There are great two
horse loads of them in carriages
and spring wagons. They need not
tell me that there is race suicide
in Iowa-not in southern Iowa at
any rate, There are plenty OF
babies and girls and boys-and the
baskets are so full that their lids
are bursted up-chock full of fried
chicken and jelly and angels food.
But, great goodness, look at this
| load coming! 1t is a two-horse
| wagon with eight people-women,
young folks, young men-the father
and mother and two sons and their
! young wives, l guess. And see that
Shire colt beside it's dam-such a
splendid one, and-but here comes
| another wagon with six children
| and all smiles and anticipation. Say,
| it is good to be an Iowa farmer in
October, 1910. Their corn stands
| ripe on a thousand hills. Their corn
went through the terrible drouth
and rains came at last (they always
do if we wait long enough, and the
corn was savea and then everyone
| felt that next it must be frozen, it
was so late, but the frost held of.
| 1t has not even come yet, and now
a glorious crop of corn stands ripe,
| awaiting the harvest. So they have
| Jubilee and you do not wonder at
| it. Groves, woods, fruits? Yes,
they do find them down here in
southern Iowa. would never know
| was not in Ohio down among the
hills of the Miami Valley only that
the trees here are not so big, but
there are oaks, elms, walnuts, hlck-
cries, lindens and more kinds too
! growing here and they are young
vet. When l come back again l
guess they will be as big as they are
| in Ohio.
FredWoolley got me to come down
here. All day yesterday l came by
slow train on the Rock Island to
Allerton and from there took an
automobile to Corydon. Southern
Iowa is one of the most beautiful OF
lands. You see it is not fiat; indeed.
it is almost hilly, but the slopes are
rounded and smooth and the land
is fertile, black right to the top of
he hills usually, and then the spots
If timber now turning yellow and
soon to be scarlet and gold, the
snug houses, mostly emboweret in
trees, and their tidy and well-culti-
rated corntields all together make up
!. charming picture. And the roads:
There is a lot about road to reveal
the kind of men who live along 1t.
We drove from Allerton to Corydon
| by auto; the road is just fair; then
from Corydon to Garden Grove much
| of the road was not dragged. 1t
was rough and execrable. Fred
| Woolley lives near Garden Grove. AS
soon as we got within the zone OF
his home we found the roads better;
they had been dragged-that made
| the difference. By Mr.. WOolley's
home there were good auto roads.
There is a law in Iowa to compen-
safe men for dragging roads, and
making it the duty of township trus-
tees to have them dragged, but the
law is commonly ignored. ] wonder
why?
was to give an address at Cory
| don. l gave it the best l could, but
an auctioneer was selling buggies
at the same time just outside the
court house and his eloquence proved
more drawing than mine, although
the men and women who came in
to hear of corn and alfalfa were
good and stayed by me Loyalty.
1t was in the cleaning that Fred
| Woolley and drove across to
Garden Grove, and before we reach
ed home, lights cleaned cheerily out
from many farm house on hill.
1t was good to pass a night in an
Iowa farm house with good plain
Iowa country folk. 1t was good once
more to eat a bountiful country
breakfast by lamplight, then to get
out and explore. Fred Woolley is
the man who taught US to test seed
corn by the ear-to-row test, plant
ing only half the ear and saving the
other half at home. think he in
vented the scheme. At any rate,
he was the first man ever heard
tell of 1t. He has the patience,
persistence and thoroughness of the
great corn breeder. and he has
evolved a very perfect and high
yielding type of yellow corn. Withal
he is a most modest man and by
no means sure that he knows it all.
We walked over the fields and
studied the crops and the soil.
wish that l knew the soil better;