Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1919-05-20
500 ATTEND CLEARING
DEMONSTRATION
500

More than 500 Marathon county
people watched the demonstrations of
the Land Clearing Special at Athens
Wednesday, and enthusiastically ap-
proved the work They saw expert
enced crews handle the horsepower
stump pullers, doing effective work
under varying conditions, explaining
the use of devices such as takeups and
root plows that make the operation
more rapid and efficient Near the
pullers the Conrath piler crew worked
throughout the day showing farmers
how one of the worst problems of land
clearing can be solved at moderate
cost, and how teams can be made to do
the heavy work that men have always
had to handle before
Times have certainly changed"
said one Marathon county pioneer,
Wednesday. 81 came to a wilderness
to make a home, came afoot and
looked forward to a time when / hoped
to own an OK team and to have some
thing to haul to Wausau to sell. Now
the state even sends men to show this
generation how to clear land to grow
stuff for which there is always a mar
ket ready. We had nothing but our
labor and time, and it would have been
foolish to show us how to- save either,
but today it is different
MY cleared land was worth very
little more than the woodland for a
long time, but clearing land today i'm
mediately gives it loan value of $1OO
the acre, and farmer really earns
while he clears. 1t was years before
the labor l put into clearing my land
was reflected in it selling price, but a
rev cleared acres now will sell forty
the day it is put on the market.
felt rich when l was able to buy the
hrst box OF dynamite for stump blast
ing, but have seen today how waste
fully L used it. AS for stump pulling
machinery we never dreamed of such a
thing in those days"
Well Developed
The territory around Athens is well
developed and farmers have had much
land clearing experience. They have
been familiar with the use of dyna
mite. but it was interesting to see them
learn the little points which make the
use of explosives on the farm safer
and more efficient. Throughout its
entire history the land clearing special
has been proving that 20% dynamite
is just as effective for work in stumps
as the higher priced grades, 400 and
500, and at considerable saving in
cost
The demonstration proved this to
men who know stump blasting through
years OF experience, but who had never
seen any 20% used before G. A.
hreutZer, who has had cleared nearly
4OO acres, said that the 20%o produced
much better results than he had seen
before. The dynamite demonstration
was in charge of Alfred Mathewson of
the E. /. DuPiont de Nemours & Co..
Wilmington, Del. The use of dynamite
for ditching was also shown and made
a great impression as it was new to
our people and very effective and
cheap in it's results.
Need More Cleared Land
OF the 994,56O acres in Marathon.
there are approximately 1928 acres
cleared on 5,519 farms or 1882; last
year there were cleared 2,917 acres or
a little more than half-acre per farm.
At this rate how long will it be before
Marathon is a thoroughly developed
farming area despite the fact that
years ago it won a premium for grass
es over the entire country and is con-
ceded to possess wonderful agricul-
tural soil? A half-acre farm per year
is practically standing still, and no
man can afford to stand still when
clearing his land gives it loan value
of 500 the acre. On this basis a man
can earn as much clearing his own
land as he can make cropping it.
The 1919 special is in charge of John
SWenehart, and is operated by the Col
lege OF Agriculture of the University
OF Wisconsin with the cooperation of
the U. S. Railroad Administration and
manufacturers of land clearing ma
chinery and explosives. j. F, FARRELL.
of the Agricultural Section of te u. s.
K. A., and Harry Funston, of the 500
Line were with the train at Athens.
q. ID. Jones, regent of the University.
with party from Wausau, also at
tended the demonstration,