554 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



''Iowa is especially the beneficiary of the new spirit of agriculture. 

 We hope for diversification in our industries, hut we know that agricul- 

 ture will always he our paramount interest. There is no state in the 

 Union that even approaches Iowa in the proportion of area capable of 

 successful and profitable cultivation. It is therefore natural that our 

 College of Agriculture stands as one of the chief exponents of our educa- 

 tional system, and I am glad indeed to introduce a distinguished member 

 of its faculty to the American public." 



Albert B. Cummi>-s. 



Iowa is not a state in which truck farming or intensive farming are 

 the dominant or even important lines of agriculture. Farms which aver- 

 age in size about 160 acres and which are devoted to diversified farming, 

 are the rule. Therefore, the landowners of Iowa do not make from one 

 hundred to five hundred dollars per acre annually. But their business 

 is profitable because the cost of production is low. This fact is proven 

 in the following statements regarding the operations of successful farmers 

 in various sections of the state. An honest effort has been made to give 

 data which fairly represents the true status of farm conditions in order 

 that the man who is in search of a location may accurately judge of the 

 opportunities which are open in the different sections of Iowa. 



WHAT SOME IOWA FARMERS HAVE ACCOMPLISHED. 



1. A man who has for many years been a successful farmer in 

 southern Iowa owns an 800-acre farm in Montgomery county on the 

 Missouri loess soil. In 1905 this farm produced 11,000 bushels of corn on 

 250 acres. Eighty acres of wheat yielded 1,450 bushels; sixty acres of 

 oats yielded 1,800 bushels; sixty acres of meadow produced 80 tons of 

 hay, and one and one-half acres of potatoes yielded 300 bushels. The 

 rest of the farm is in pasture. All of the crops except the wheat and 

 potatoes were fed on the farm. The sales for the year were as follows: 

 Eighty -five fat steers, $7,620; two hundred fat hogs, $3,470; twelve hun- 

 dred bushels wheat, $912.50; two horses, $350; one hundred and seventy- 

 bvBShels potatoes, $105. Nine thousand bnshels of corn were bought at a 

 cost of $3,000. This corn was fed to the stock which was marketed, 

 in addition to the crops grown on the farm. The total income was 

 $9,457.50. This fairly represents the annual income from this large 

 southern Iowa farm. A farm like this one will not make a great for- 

 tune for the owner, but it is a safe and a profitable investment. 



2. An energetic resourceful young man owns a 160-acre farm in the 

 southern part of Cherokee county on the same soil. This farm is valued 

 at $60 per acre. What this farmer has accomplished in one year is stated 

 thus in his own words: 



"Twenty-five acres of the farm are in pasture and twenty acres in clover 

 meadow. During 1906 I grew forty-acres of Early Champion oats and 

 marketed 1,500 bushels at twenty-seven cents per bushel, amounting to 

 $405. Average yield forty-two bushels per acre. Twenty acres of wheat 

 yielded twelve bushels per acre and sold at sixty-two cents, amounting 

 to $148.80. Fifty acres of corn yielded forty-five bushels per acre and is 

 all being fed. Market price is thirty-two cents at present. It will bring 



