The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-02-16

led by James yermazen OF Charleston.
and embraced rather wide range of
ideas.
The Uses Of Concrete.
Concrete on the farm was the chief
topic Of Mr., Cables lecture. Poor ma
terial, improper mixing, lack of sea-
'soning. lack Of reinforcement, setting
before placing, improper placing and
improper tamping, were things
against which the speaker warned the
farmer.
The lecture was practical and in
cluded many easy tests and details of
method. It showed that concrete may
be used to make a thousand and one
things on the farm from big barns to
pig troughs and from water tanks to
fence posts. The speaker was bonn
barded with questions and much in
terest manifested.
Conserving Iowa Soil.
The rich soil of Iowa can be ex-
hausted in one mans life time, said
M. A. Hauser of Ames, who had the
last address this afternoon. He re-
viewed the history of soil exhaustion.
The colonial soil lasted 200 years be-
cause thinly settled--the trans-Ap-
alachian soil lasted 100 years: the inn
migrants who came to the black soil
sof the corn belt thought it would last
a thousand years but it won't by a
long shot, he said, and last year
Illinois spent million dollars for
commercial fertilizers.
Pattasium, nitrogen and prosperous
must be added to the soil and
humis must be maintained for their
home. This may be done by fertil-
sizers which cost Is cents per pound
sor by legums which cost only one
cent per pound. 1t is best accomplish
ed by rotation of crops. The very
best rotation is four year cycle.
Some Mistakes Of the Farmers.
That the. farmer is not doing his
best as stock raiser Is the opinion
strongly expressed this morning by
M. T. Helm, who ought to know, for
he was long farmer and has been
a butcher for several years
Hogs at present prices can be
probably made on 10 cent corn-the
farmer is practically the only meat
producer in this country today-this
last fact is logical, because the farm
er has the corn and the pasture-the
meat output OF the farm is immense
in quantity-With this introduction,
Mr.. Helm swung into his topic.
He indicted the average farmer for
half heartedness in this business OF
stock raising. He charged that stock
is marketed only half fatted, at a loss
to the farmer and an increase of cost
to the consumer. Then he told of the
lack of care, shelter and feed given
stock. Because of this the result is
III health in the animal which sug-
gests the too common custom of Civ
ing ice water to the stock in the win
ter, of which they do not drink
enough-and then came a picture of
nerd OF cattle drinking from POND
covered with green scum.
The speaker went on to show that
all of these things show loss OF
profit. While Mr.. Helm talks straight,
he did not scold and his whole obiact
was the good of the farmer--a fact
the audience seemed to appreciate.
smyser captivates Audience
Donnellson people like to hear Ed
gar Emyser k-they showed their
appreciation of him last evening
when they applauded him to the
echo-and it looked like all of them
had crowded into the hail to hear him
speak on Modern Slavery
The lecture has for its topic,
Habit, its causes, phenomena and eff
fects. AS an address it is more