Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-05-08
FIELD REApN, PApMgRe
WAITING FOR OLD SOL
TO WARM THE SOIL.
Special to Times Republican.

the north line OF Iowa counties to"a1o
the center Of the state this spring very
little difference IL to be noticed In the
progress Of field work on the farms.
Grass and small grain make more OF
showing to the south but all over the
territory noted tho preparation OF the
acreage to b planted to corn 10 the
work In hand and practically every
man directly interested Will be READY
to hitch to his corn planter at the mo-
ment the ground Is warm enough 10
sprout the seed Here al In other
places there will be q slightly larger
acreage devoted to corn than was the
case last year, the bulk OF the increase
resulting from the blowing up Oh
meadows and pastures. Farm drain
age is the big thing in the improve.
ment line in this section these days anu
tiling outfits may be noticed IN opera
ton in practically every neighoorhooo.
The few land transfers OF recent
months have been made at figures run
ming from Sl2s to 1910 per acre. Moro
farm building has been done here than
In tho average Iowa community most o.
this u Of high class structures. Less
than nsty years aEo this was an unih-
habited part Of the country . man
named Madison having homssteadeo
a short distance from this town IN the
wear 1871. Mr. Madison still lives IN
the neighborhood where he settled as
pioneer and has taken active part III
the DEVELOPMENT of the country from
rhe period OF OK team to tractor farm
ing from lumber wagon to automo-
bile methods Of transportation
In q part OF the country where one
town is named Thompson" and the
next one is called "Siels" one woulo
not EXPECT to find many swarthy COM
..laxioned farmers. but nevertheless
there are several such in this commun-
ity and a local banker says they are
good farmers and good citizens, anu
the banker ought to know. One morn
ing last week one OF these roue OH
horse thru the mud to his mail poN anu
took therefrom very respectable siZea
..armful" OF papers and letters. Said
his name is John Haddy' that he is
syrian, came to Cedar Rapids Iowa
from his native land several years ago.
WORKED tneTS aN iNdihNN W
and write English thru the night schooi
method OF instruction and later got into
farming like any other ordinary ierme'
There are several other farmers OF tne
same nationality in this section, Ihes
do not appear to care to coionize out
a re scattered around the community
each depending on his individual re-
sources. Tney must be fairly prosper
ous too, for one OF them drove OUT Oh
town the other day with fve SACKS Oh
flour in his spring wagon and anyone
knows what that means In these days.
Another one of these Syrian immi-
grants said that he started his Amer
lean residence in an Iowa city then
moved to a large town In another stats
and worked for, q time but he explained
that his family was large and ne
couldn't get ahead" any and decided
to go into farming Said he had
great deal TO learn about 1t Is every
thing was done by hand labor IN
Syria
Some Of the prosperous farmers OF
these present times reached the conoi-
ton they are in now thru travel over
roads that many people would not care
to tread no difference what possibiii-
ties might await them at the farther
stage Of the journey. For instance the
case OF Charlie" Hines who owns a
farm near Buffalo Center Mr.. Hines
undertook to support family by WORK.
ing for other people and living In town.
Found himself just about where ne
started In year after year and decided
after a while to try farming. Rented
a place, bought an outfit ION time
struck wet year and went back to
town not only to make a living but to
pay up debts besides. Received a few
hundred dollars as an inheritance and
went out into the country again. Got
down TO the bottom Of the flour barrel
and had to make two separate trips 70
surrounding towns to find a dealer who
would trust him for sack OF flour.
Was two years on farm without q
COW. Declares that he wore a single
pair OF oyeralls a whole solid year.
Kept on tho and reached the period OF
better days. Evidently some OF US
think We are having hard times when
for us there - really nothing Of the
kind.
Ono farmer was talking about po-
tatoss. He was "out" at home and
thought he would buy a few at the
store for "a change" He took out
ten pounds OF the precious product for
which he paid IS cents. The family 10
not a large one but that potato supply
en+ipoIy disa nnea red ut the second
meal. A year or two ago q man paid
4 neighbcr s12 for forty bushels OF po-
tatoes and this spring he bought three
bushels Of the same man and for the
same amount Of money.
Another dog story. "C1int" stowe.
living on Thompson mail route, has q
young collie that he got last fall . pup.
After he had owned the animal awhile
he noticed that while the dog was
gruw4ng '4tl1e . weed he didn't appear
70 bs sa&tng hardy Anything and for .
time there Wa much speculation on
the part u the family ~ to the source
Of food supply. Sam" WAS watched
ana the secret disclosed. Mr.. Stowe,
like other sensible farmers. raises hogA.
He uses seA feeder and along with
other fations he feeds tAnkage. Sam
had seen the hoss helping themselves
and may have decided that tankage
ought 10 erow dog a. we'll ~ pork. Any
how he tried It and found It satisfac-
tory. For time there was no tanka8e
In the feeder. only shelied corn but the
dog still boarded with his p0rcine as
.>nt.&~.>~A s<~~nd h~S %ha sprtrlns until