Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-09-12
DRY SEASON CUTS YIELD or
SMALL GRAINS AND CORN
ONLY SLIGHTLY.
HIGHER PRICE AND CHEAPER
LABOR EVEN UP MATTERS
Profit in Feeding kaffir Corn in Dry
Ysar-Nsw Method Of Handling Mil
Ist-Farm LABOR Materially Cheaper
&C. E. Wilson's Rural obssrva.
tions.
Special to Times-Republican.

toPSCIdI 10 1lH1SS.kSSOuOnCan,
Ellsworth. Sept. 12.-Altho the creek
beds are dry in this part Of the coun-
try as they are this fall in other locali-
Ties OF northern Iowa, the farmer here
lis not finding anything to complain
about In the yield of the crops he has
already gathered or in the outlook for
that of those yet in the fields. Thresh-
ing reports indicate thirty to fifty
bushels Of oats per acre and estimates
of forty to sixty bushels are being
placed on the corn fields by the men
who cultivated them. A farmer who
raises oats for the market figures a
better profit from his crop this year
than he realized year ago, the high
er price and cheaper labor overcoming
the somewhat greater yield of last sea-
son one Of the best for oats in recent
years.
Mr.. p. o. Peterson. q farmer living
on an Ellsworth mail route, last spring
planted ten rows Of Kaffir corn on a
tract OF ground about twelve rods Ions.
He drilled the grain in thick and by
july l when pastures were about dried
up ne began cutting and feeding it to
eight cows that he was milking. He has
Deen feeding 1t ever since and has the
greater part of three rows left. He
declares that it is the finest thing for
summer forage, and a supplementary
feed when pasture is short that he
ever tried The stock ate every par
tfcie OF the stuff and the growth of
the corn was enormous even in the UNI
usually dry season that prevailed.
A. n. Christensen. Of Radcliffe, has
method Of handling millet that does
away with much Of the difficulty of
getting 1t ready for feed in the ordi-
nary way. Instead OF cutting 1t with
q moving machine. waiting long time
for 1t to cure" sufficiently to stack
and overworking himself trying to
pitch 1t on and OF the wagon in small
forkfuls when 1t refuses to be separat-
ed into such divisions he cuts it with
binder, sets 1t up so that it will dry
out, and then stacks IL as he would
oats. He has practised this plan for
several years and believes that 1t is not
only the easiest way to handle the
stun but that It makes better quality
Of feed than when stacked loose.
Z sss
Oscar Thoreson, local farmer has
cornieid fenced hog tight in which
ne soWed rape at the time he gave the
corn Its final cultivation About two
months ago he turned In eighty three
shoats and has since fed them nothing
fbut water. The animals are in the
finest. condition Imaginable. Last year
he followed the same plan with graft
flying. results. At about this time in
the season they began to eat the corn
and what was left at husking time was
harvested In the usual manner. BY
this method the pigs not only get their
entire living off the weeds. rape and
an occasional corn stalk that blows
down during the growing season, but
they take care Of themselves in the
busiest season Of the year on the farm
and help gather the corn besides. Many
other farmers In this locality have
adopted the plan and unless the silo
comes in and creates a demand for the
stalk "hogging down" corn will soon
be general in this community.
$50
The difference in experience and
opinion among employers Of farm labor
in this section is remarkable. One
farmer asserted that help can be OBJ
tanned at least $40 per month cheaper
than a year ago. He said thing oper-
ations have been suspended for the
time being because OF the dry season
and that lot Of labor usually en-
ployed in that occupation has been
made available for the farms. In an
adjoining neighborhood 1t was declared
that there had been no decline In
wages and an example was cited in the
case Of farmer who few days ago
hired a man at S35 per month. Then
a story was volunteered of profess
sional tiler going to farmer In the
haying season and offering to work
for one month for "only $50" Nothing
else presented itself and the farmer
told him to go to work. 1t is said that
in the language OF the baseball writer.
1.-The fifty-dollar beauty made good"
and the employer was perfectly salts
fed with the deal. Finally farmer
near Jewell talking on the wage ques-
ton told how a very scantily attired
and half-starved man stopped at his
house and asked for something to eat.
He insisted on doing something to
pay for the meal and was directed to
the cornfield and began shocking corn.
Now 1t wouldn't be expected that any
body. least Of all a tramp. would want
to shock corn very long for any kind
Of q meal whatever. but noon came be-
fore the man left the field. He wanted
to work longer 30 the farmer donated
some old clothes and the man began
to work for a dollar a day. He Is
still at It," said the farmer. "and doing
good work. He put away an awful
lot Of grub the frst two days he
worked but he eats like an ordinary
man now" II any one can tell from
the results Of this investigation wheth-
err farm wages around Ellsworth and
Jewell are higher or lower than they
were Q year ago. he can do more than
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