Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-04-10
FARM BUREAU
HAS MEETING
Members Evidently Mean
Business as Shown
By Attendance

| AAS WdQcAO SooAAty oiAA wa o<Su
evidently means business, for In spite
of the bad weather Saturday, large
number Of members gathered to heal
several speakers, who dwelt upon tn
necessity of having bigger and better
crops this year, and also to make
plans for a series of meetings which
/, will be held this week. It has beer
planned to hold gathering OF farm
ers, members of the bureau, every
township being represented, in a
school house or township house. after
moons and evenings this week, where
F. G.. Churchill seed corn expert from
Ames college will address them.
Mr. Churchill was the first speaker
on Saturdays program. He spoke
Especially upon the Increased produc.
ton of farm crops. There are three
ways In which this may be done, he
said. First by getting the best variety
or strain of crop seed. Second by
selecting and choosing the best strain
from the varieties already found to be
better than the average. Third by i'm
proving the soil and condition of the
farm itself.
Mr.. Churchill did not think it neces
sary to send away from this county to
secure better seeds. but said that the
strains which have been found suc
cessful and which are local here. may
be improved with better results. He
advised the farmers to build up the
local strains instead Of importing
others.
He suggested corn contest for the
men similar to those which have been
arranged for the boys. except that he
stead of one. So that the men would
get actual field conditions. In this way
the different kinds Of seed could be
tried out and the best strains picked
lout. Mr.. Churchill said that the
iaSsraEes corn crop IN iowa harvests
only about thirty-four or thirty-five
bushels to the acre This he thinks,
is entirely too low figure, and he be.
lieves that 1t can be greatly increased.
He also advised the farmers to be
very careful Of their seed corn, for he
said that with the present high prices
OF corn. they cannot afford to be
wasteful
Rex Yockey. also from Ames college,
spoke of raising hogs. He said that
the condition Of hog raising in Iowa
was far from what it should be. He
asked the farmers to raise the STAN
ing industry itself. Farmers, he said.
in a great many cases do not feed cor
rectly.
Some Of them are afraid o. over pro-
duction, he said. but there can be no
such danger The United States de-
partment Of agriculture is ready and
anxious to help in solving the farm
er's problems. He suggested pork and
beef and other clubs as a means Of
stimulating interest. There are sew
eral difficulties in keeping up this in
terest and the clubs also have hard
time to exist. In regard to boys. Mr..
Yockey said that it was difficult in the
first place to get them to enroll Next.
It was hard to get them to start work
after enrolling and still more difficult
to get them to keep up their work dur
ing the hot summer and fall months.
He asked the farmers to encourage
their boys in carrying out this work.
mostly Of the war situation and the ex-
ira demands upon the Iowa farmer be-
cause of this situation, and how the
farmer must meet these demands. Mr..
Andrew said that the farmers must de-
velop their highest efficiency this year
for 1t is going to be increasingly DIM
cult to feed the actually starving world.
He placed the producers Of food upon
par with the soldiers actually engag-
ed in fghting. for he said without food
our nation cannot fight.
He advised the farmers to cooperate