Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-12-30
FARM rents Soaring
ADVANCING VALUES OF IOWA
LANDS BRiNo GREATER De.
MAMps FROM LANDLORDS.
SEVEN AND EIGHT DOLLARS
PER ACRE NOT UNUsuAL
Tenants Who Refuse 20 Pay inersass
Find Others Ready to Occupy Farms
Pathetic Story OF Retired Farmer
Who Hoped 70 Get Rich Quick on
Western, investment.

Special to Times Republican.
Montezuma, Dec so.-lt the opinions
of n lot Of men in this part OF the
country who are farming rented lana
ara 70 be taken at par value. the adj
vaucins price Of this kind Of property
IN by no means an unmixed blessans'
Farus that but few years ago rented
ut $3.50 to 81 per acre arc now being
held at from IS up. It II being told al
over thi. section how one heavy land
owner living in the east part OF Pow
eahIek county il demanding that his
tenants Sign contracts In which they
agree to deliver to q market point one
half the crop Of corn and otner gram
raised all expenses Of threSnlng ana
ahelling paid and " this half does mol
nav the owner SO an acre on rne
ground from which the crop came. then
the tenant must make up the remain
der from his own share. Thts story
could not be verified but 1t - beng
very generally credited and 1t II Ger
tain that 81 and IS farms are common
in the community. The owner. OF
course. figures that even this does not
pay him q very high rate OF interest
ON his land after taxes and repairs are
paid. but a partial crop failure, always
q possibility, means something GOOD
deal worse to the average renter than
low interest. AS one man put the mat
ten. Either the price Of land here Will
have to drop or there will be an en-
tirely new lot OF men on the many
rented farms around here" And stu
it seems to be in this case like any
other bushes; as soon as q man
moves to some other locality new one
promptly appears to take his place. All
Of these hign-priced farms Will DO cul-
tivated next year as they have been In
years past
J. W. Allen, farmer near the town
Of Rowan, has succeeded In getting q
fine five acre field Of alfalfa started.
He began on corn stalk ground last
spring. seeding this to oats and peas
which he cut early for hay. He then
plowed the ground and sowed at the
rate of twenty pounds Of alfalfa seed
per acre and covered 1t with the bar
row. going over the ground twice. The
object in employing this method Ii TO
get the crop started ahead OF the 1o&-
tail and weeds which, II allowed any
advantage over alfaHa, smother the crop
out, thus preventing a stand There
are few alfalfa fields in this part OF
Iowa, but the owners OF the Scattered
few regard them as treasures and 1t 10
safe to predict that their number Will
increase within short time until they
have become like the silo. common
thing on the farm. The greatest dtni-
Guilty in establishing a stand seems to
be the weeds, and Mr.. Aliens method
ought to be simple and practicable
enough to get around the obstacle In
the way of success.
Something like eight years ago q
farmer living in q northern Iowa coun-
tv sold his 24O-acre farm, bought
fine home in q county seat Town anu
settled down to q life OF retirement. tas
had son who about this tl1ne IN.
vested in small tract Of fruit lano
in q western section Of this country ana
this is the story that 10 told EXPLAINING
how IL came about that the elderly re-
tired farmer OF eight years ago Win
his beautiful homo and $4,000 IN cash:
has become the prospective tenant OF
a farm located few miles from Wnere
his own farm Of other days lies, the
capital. necessary to begin life over
again being borrowed money. The son
had ibouEht the western land ana was
preparing to return to his Iowa nome
Just before his train started q horse
man arrived on the scene with an AMI
maj covered with foam and all played
out,' lust like the one the story writer
uses when the innocent man about 70
be- executed is reprieved. Would the
yoq1nR man sell his place for tnou-
sand dollars more than he had paid Tor
1t? II 20 there was buyer waiting to
take IL The owner wouldn't consider
the offer and tho courier had his hard
ride for nothing(?) The young man
went home and told what had hap
pened. The father caught the fruit
land fever, paid an enormous price lot
q considerable tract and later on real
lied that he was the victim OF q de-
liberately formed plan to get his $4,000
without giving very much in return.
Some men claim that no trick ever
con;uei up could work the effect Of
.feecing" them Of their worldly ac-
and others have declared
that no mortal man 10 proof against
the right kind Of q swindler II he hap
pens to come along. It looks some
times AZ tho there might be more truth
In the latter statement than in the
former one, G. e. WILSON.