Semi-weekly herald., 1915-07-05
NOVEL FARMER
COMMUNITY IN OHIO

SOUTH CHARLESTOWN. o.. June
30.-A few miles from this town lies
Hustonia, the only built to order com
munity center for farmers in the
United States. 1t was built under the
direction of Foster Huston, ager AZ,
and is designed to bring the neigh
borhood idea to the country, so that
the rural residents may have healthy
amusement during leisure hours and
so that the young tiIlers of the soil
shall not weaken to any desire to
flock to the big cities.
Houston. himself, deserves a para
graph He began life as a boy bound
out to a skinflint farmer who al
lowed him ten cents a week spend
ing money and gave him an orange
for Christmas He worked from 3
a. m. until darkness. He learned
all about farming as it was done be-
fore scinetists took hold of it. When
he inherited a bank and several
thousand acres of land on the death
of two elder brothers, then he began
to widen his knowledge of scientifi
farming.
Three years aPo he began to pun
his ideas on farming into operation.
Owning 10000 acres of good farming
soil in Madison. Clark and Green
counties, he divided his land into 80
farms, and instituted the tenant sys-
tenn, with this important provision
the tenant was his business partner.
Each farm was operated as a separ-
ate business, as Houston and Jones,
Of Houston and Smith, or Houston
and Houston, as happens in the case
of his son, who operates 500 acre
plot. Each tenant is supreme on his
own farm, answerable only to Hous-
ton.
Each of the partnership farms is
operated on card index, scientific
businesslike system. All disbursements
are by check: every animal and cur
ry comb on every farm is listed, and
monthly audit is made of each
partnership. Every field at every
month of the year is accounted for
with colored maps. Expert account
ants keep the books. An expert en-
gineer has charge of the buildings
erected roads constructed and gen.
eral lay out Of the farms, Each Of
the 80 farms produces different crops
and stock the latter numbering into
the thousands. Two farms specialize
in dairying, another in chicken rais-
ing another in horses, etc. The daries
are models, so far as labor saving
machinery and modern methods of
handling milk are concerned. Or
chards are carefully kept, houses and
buildings we'll painted, and everything
conducted on a businesslike basis.
All of the farms are beautiful to
look upon.
Hustonia comprises $50 buildings.
The one which Houston takes the
most pride in is the Huston Athletic
club house, a structure 40x7O feet.
This place has become the veritable
center of the social life of the COM
munity, in addition to be ing the home
Of baseball and other teams, all made
UP of men and boys who live on the
farms.
1--WE have had better corn, better
hogs, better roads," said Houston
"but it is high time we had better
people--more contented, more enlight-
ened, more educated. regard this
movement as one of the most import
ant of the period.
Houston argues that farm boys
leave the country, not to escape work
but to seek entertainment. He has
plans for lectures, motion pictures
and other educational and social ac-
tivities to be held in the club house.
the tenants and Houston
there is no end of good feeling
Houston declares that his tenants
business partners--are not leaving
his farms to get land of their own
This is because their efforts back
ed up by the money of Houston'
brings them gains they could not nope
% make on their own farms.