Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1919-10-31
LAND CLEARING
CONTEST in 1920
News-Budget Farm Editor
Meeting With Much Encour-
agement for the
Project

With the stimulation of land clear
ing and particularly of the best methods
in reclaiming the idle land in this colln
ty as the underlying purpose, the farm
editor of the News-Budget is working
on project for the Inauguration of a
Rusk County Land Clearing Contest
to start the first of the year and con
tinue until the end of 1920
Bankers, merchants, business men
generally, will be solicited for prizes
and their hearty cooperation, as well
as that Of the farmers, is expected
County Agent Jones has assured the
News-Budget of his support and what
ever assistance possible in making the
project success. Business men who
have been approached on the subject
are all warmly III support of the move
ment, the success of which will mean a
big increase in the cleared land acreage
Of Rusk county. Secretary Doyle of
the Chamber of Commerce lends his
enthusiastic endorsement of the prop
OsitiOn and assures us of the support
Of that body.
The farmer who gets the most land
at the sacrifice of other improvements,
is the farmer who gets on his feet most
quickly. Ten years later, the biggest
barn, the best herd of cattle, the finest
home and the biggest bank account
will in all probability be found on the
farm which made the greatest progress
in clearing during the first year or two
Clearing the land is a most profitable
labor, even if the farmer sees no imme-
diate cash return. Land clearing and
live stock are by far the most impOr-
tant activities of the first few years.
There is money in clearing the land
even at the expense of inconvenience
and discomfort in getting settled and
established in the new home
In the upper parts of Wisconsin, the
cut 'over lands which need only clear
ing and cultivation to make them the
equal of any in the country, there are
now hundreds of hopeful, industrious
and splendid families working away
steadily at a task which not only will
enrich them but which will add appre-
ciably to the wealth and fame of Wis
consin as the greatest dairy state in
the nation.
Speaking of the psychology of the
contest in getting the brush cleared
from the fertile acres of the north"
the Wisconsin Agriculturist, in the is
sue of Oct. %, says:
IAN interesting experiment which is
now concluded has made use of the psy-
chology of the contest in getting the
brush cleared from these fertile acres
of the north. The result has demon
strated that the land clearing contest
aids more than any other way in bring
ing the cutOver lands to a state of cul-
tivation. The history of the expert
ment is given in a bulletin Of the Wis
consin College Of Agriculture prepared
by John Swenehart and w. n. Clark.
'The contest was staged in Sawyer
county. 1t started with two districts,
one made up of farmers and business
interests around the villages of COud-
cray and RadissOn with three town
ships included in it's territory. The
second was made up of three townships
including the villages of EXeland and
MeadOwbrook Prizes were offered by
the local stores, banks, newspapers
and land companies. Every contestant
who cleared three acres or more re-
ceived grass seed to SOW three acres
whether he won any other prize or
not
six hundred and thirty-seven acres
were brushed on eighty-three com
peting farms. A conservative estimate
of the increased value of the land due
to brushing was S25 an acre, or $15,950
added to the value of the eighty-three
farms. The crop raised the first year
on this newly cleared land added sew
eral thousand dollars more to the ac-
tual tangible value of the work"
El
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