Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-01-10
IOWA TEN ACRE FARMS.

"Wealth, the HOnLuly PuoAASo.
OF the Greater Des Moines committee.
!. publishes an interview with real
estate man in which the policy OF cut
ting up some of the big Iowa farms IN
to ten and twenty acre tracts IS auvo.
Gated. This is the plan that the Courier
has been advocating, believing tnat ~
offers a means of increasing loWa's
nonulation. while similarly increasing
the weld from Iowa soil. This real
estate man is quoted as saying:
.sIf / had a 800 acre farm IN Iowa
would cut it up into ten and twenty
acre tracts and build a cottage on eacn
one: then would say to the man VINO
Ia ekfnp out an existence at desk III
some large city, Come to Iowa, | VIII
rive you comfortable home out IN the
npen. under Gods canopy, where the
sun shines 365 days in the year ana
where there is always a reward 1or
labor. where crops never fail ana
where a man can make an income
suAicient for himself and family ana
save money from the product or ten
acres -.
~ would cite to him the hun
dreds Of cases that are on file of men
who have taken ten acre tracts anu
made them yield from $500 to $2,4oo
ner acre. I would show him that these
men had done these things without
any other aid than decent amount OF
work. and some brains put back OF
the knowledge of farming that they
had obtained from the short courses
in agriculture that are held In all parts
OF Iowa during the winter.
"I would show him that here IN
Iowa. nature provided everything that
is necessary to success In agricultural
nurs,1its That there was not water
to nay for; there we're no fires to bulla
n 1nrotect the fruit from frost.
would say to him here is this ten acre
tract. take It. work It, cultivate 1t,
make it yield its full quota OF wealth
"a YOU. i would make him price on
the land and allow him to pay for 1t IN
YEARLY payments until eventually ne
would own his home and at the same
time have lived better, been freer, and
more independent than he could ever
have hoped to be at the desk back
IN the crowded office where he came
from"
These figures of the yields from
small acreages are not OverdraWn.
Iowa pOp0TS AoNo WV ~ 1884,
$1,000 q year being made from an acre
Of tomatoes, 800 an acre from celery,
$1,000 an acre from apples, $1,000 an
acre from berries and 5000 an acre
from onions. In addition there ls
ready market for these crops, and not
only IL there a ready market, but
there are capitalists ready to open to-
mato canning factories who will con-
tract for every bushel of tomatoes
raised. In this way Iowa would get
the full benefit from it's soil and the
added benefit of additional manu-
featuring enterprises to employ Iowa
labor.
II immigration remains unchecked
and the movement from the farm to
the city continues the economic prob
lem already raised by these two move
ments will become more grave as the
years go by. Eventually the agitation
for small farms and intensified farm
ing In the richest farming territory
will become nation wide. Iowa has an
opportunity to take the leadership In
this movement. 1t can be undertaken
with profit by the owner of land and
with profit to the men who will be at
tracted to the farm by proposition
that is within their means.