The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1911-05-18
FARMS And FARMING
Col. Swain Tells of Observations
at Home and Abroad.

tions of the value OF pfoduC lon Vi
land in Iowa ana other places.
Among other things he says
Southampton, May 5, 1911.
That was walloping big Herald
baby that you Matched out from your
printery and did us the honor TO send
overland for which we mako our
curtsey, and say, thank We, kindly!
You are good flock OF children, We
are,-and a credit TO the old folks!
We have some big things over here.
which / want to poke under the nose
of the farmer readers of your great
family regulator, and they relate to
crops, Say, you agricultural fellows
of Mahaska do not know anything
about big crops, when you come to
consider the kind of soil you are
blessed with! That's just the bless
ed truth,-and now you hear me
"chirp" for the work Of the farmer
folk round about here i'll Hampshire!
Last harvest time | saw fields OF
wheat that threshed out SO bushels OF
prime wheat by measure, and 81 by
weight! That's going some, boys!
But then they cultivated that wheat.
they did,--ahd got SCH fine results!
In a large way. the General average
in wheat is more than twice the best
average in the dear old United States.
Why? Just the matter of seed, seed
bed. care and cultivation,-a judicious
mixture of seed, Oil, brains, and fer
tilizer! And / can repeat the same
story about oats, barley, hay, taters,
beans,-and garden truck galore! -
and that in soil that you pan cake
eaters of Mahaska know nothing
about-for it is largely on the line of
a modified gravel pit! But work
counts here,-done when needed to
be done,-done right, and never
slouched! There are no plantations
of weeds. in the fields or along the
roadside,-not any,-can't afford them
for many reasons! Hence big, bounc-
ing crops,-and good stuff all around.
Now. get your pencils out, for here
comes a whopper!-and lot of you
will say that Swain does not know
whatever he is tipping about!
Let's take mangels All the fig
ures | shall give are those made by
independent judges and measures in
contests for the best crops. What
about one hundred and seven and
quarter of tons for one acre-101
tons, 500 weight and sc pounds
grown in 1910. That was top line but
there were a whole lot whose official
record went from IS to 95 tons of the
same valuable product! One farmer
tells me that when his mangel crop
falls down below SIS tons to the acre
there is some tall looking around for
the loss. / have reserved one story
to beat them all: On the Ryefield
farm. Harting, this county, Mr.. A. }.
Christmas grew and harvested one
hundred and nine and a quarter tons
per acTe,-and this crop was weighed
and measured October 26, 1910! The
judges were farmers from a distant
section of the county, and the matter
was then proved by an official &C
countant. These seeds were all rails
ed by Southampton tirm,-been in
the work for centurT,-from father
to son from away oaCk,-the Messrs.
ToogoOd, and they made it possible
thing for this work TO be done by a
long continued policy of selection and
proving reaching back for years and
years. When the yammers about the
great fertility of other soils tan those
of central Iowa come around send
them to go q" and then see if our
deep black Ioor1 cannot Le made to
come half wa Ip to the hard, gravel
ly soils of this southern England! !
have told yeovle O. the arms here,
in lectuTine. that We had millions of
acres covered with from two 10 five
feet of black IOam,-richer than
grease.-and no need for ill-smelling
fertilizers,-and then they wonder
why,-if the story | was telling was
true,-why We d Id not raise more to
the average acre. I have NJ answer.
They have the Official tigures,-and
we ougL to better then in some way!
have told them, in pJSt-prandial
way, that in the greater portion of
the States,-especiallg in the republi-
can sLAtes,-we had no doubt what
ever about the resurrection OF the
body,-the soil was so rich that ev-
erything planted just had to come
up! And when | have told them
about finely improved farms selling
at 920-s100-per acre, near every
comfortable convenience Of life-they
have their own doubts about it since
they never see land that is not worth
and sells when offered at from 5000
to $500 per acre; and if any is found
near town, just double those figures
two and three times. Yes, Mother
Earth over here is a very respectable
sort of thing.-and the men on the
land are the best off and happiest
classes.
Now, boys, your big paper was the
cause Of this screed being kicked OF
on an American machine by an Amer
lean who has found continued grow
ing pride in all things American!
For he knows that the time will come
when our wasteful, easy-going agri-
cultural work will give way in the nat
ural order of things,-aDd man not
be any the more tired in body! |