Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-04-07
BIG TRACT OF WORTH COUNTY
LAND GROWS SAME CEREAL
YEAR AFTER YEAR.
NOTHING BUT OATS RAISED
FOR THIRTY.FlvE YEARS
Unusual Crop Story in Worth County
Induces Fisurer to Got Busy and Re.
suit 10 Surprisins-Land Still Pro.
dueins Good Crops-Has Never Boon
FertiIized-Wilsen's Observations.
Special to Times-Republ,can


kensett, April 7.-Mr. c. Cleophas,
one time business man of kensett,
owns a farm Of 274 acres near this
town. He secured possession of the
land thirty five years aso when WORTH
county land was new. lie was OPP
Grating a grain elevator aEi conduct
ing an agricultural implement business
in those days when Horsepower was
employed in elevators ana when inp!e-
ment me1l hauled farm machinery over
the country more than is the case at
the present time. He kept eight horses
for use in town ard to keep caeSc hGsy
he figured out a farming plan to sup
plement his town worn. tie fa-Scd
oats. This crop could De PUT III, III
the early spring when ne had no ether
use for his horses, then tnere was
nothing more to Go until mar est tine,
when two or three binders were set TO
work, some men hired ami lie gram
cut, shocked and threshsd as QuicAiy
as possible and in the fail the ground
plowed and all was really for rep
etition OF the performance the next
season. After about twenty years o.
this business Cleophas retired but n
had no difficulty in finding tenant
who wanted to raise oats, and oats thar
farm has produced. almost exclusive ely
to this day. This year there is
clear field of more than 24o acres OF
fall blowing for the seeders aud disks
to run over and then will appear what
is probably the largest single field OF
oats in this part of Iowa, very posi-
bly, the largest in the state. Now, an
average crop of Gao acres OF oats with
an average Worth county yield. or bet
ter, for thirty five years in succession
means some oats" 1t is said that
thirty-fve bushels per acre annually
for the entire period is very con-
sentative estimate. One year there
was a crop of 10000 bushels taken
from 274 acres, an average Of nearly
eighty bushels per acre. Figuring the
thirty five bushei average, however, we
obtain the sum of $4,000 bushels or
enough to fill 1876 cars, nine or ten good
train loads. If put in wagons, seven
ty- five bushels to the load the entire
production would fill 4,4S0 boxes. which
would make about twenty-five miles
of teams and wagons placed as close
together as the, safety OF the END
gates would admit. Enough to reach
clear across an ordinary Iowa county.
Estimating a grain sack to contain two
and half bushels of average oats, all
! this grain sacked and the sacks placed
end to end would reach nearly eighty
miles.
All Of this has been done without
the application Of any fertilizers Of any
kind and still the process goes on. Is
it any wonder that such land is high in
the market and is going higher all the
time? OF course this is really nothing
uncommon for an Iowa farm so far as
aggregate production is concerned,
only the single product grown attracts
attention to the greatness of it. No
wonder Iowa farm land is high priced.
One Of the finest farms along the
Shell Rock river is a quarter section
few miles east Of the town of Manly.
The Improvements are first class; fine
! residence. good barn, splendid grove of
great evergreen trees, everything to
make farm valuable and desirable.
The owner has an automobile and
about everything else that other pros
porous farmers want and buy. Amt
this is the story of how he got his sta.s
in life. Came a young man from a
European country and hired out to a
Worth county farmer for three years
at s21O per year. At the end of that
time his employer owed him $500. Re-
peated the performance on another
farm, bought this quarter section for
500 per acre married and started in
| for himself. That was about twenty
years ago. How did he live on that
SO year at first? Well he wore heavy
cowhide boots, coarse overal1s. stayed
at home nights and Sundays. lot of
things that not all hired men of these
times are willing to do.
c. E. WILSON.