SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 



555 



fifty cents by feeding to cattle and hogs. In a few days I expect to 

 market twenty hogs and thirty-six steers, and they should bring at least 

 $1,850. The cash outlay for these steers a year ago was $450, and $120 

 was spent for pasturing during the summer, leaving $1,290 to credit to 

 corn. Poultry will net $200. Twenty acres of clover yielded one and one- 

 half tons at $5 per ton. I have sold $200 worth of Reid's Yellow Dent 

 seed corn and won over $400 in prizes on corn and garden 

 products. Two acres are devoted to garden products, pota- 

 toes, etc., which were used on the table or fed to pigs. The entire farm 

 work was done by myself with the exception of a few days' work in 

 harvest, the cost of which was $22. I estimate the total expense for 

 the year to be $900. This includes all feed bills, rent of land, all house- 

 hold expense and some breeding stock which was bought. This should 

 leave a profit for the year's labor amounting to $1,733.00." 



This interesting statement sets forth the essential facts regarding the 

 lines of farming which are quite generally followed in this state and 

 regarding the profits which may reasonably be expected. 



The vast prairies are traversed by winding streams whose banks are studded with beautiful forest trees. 



3. In the extreme western portion of the state there is a 160-acre 

 farm which is only a few miles from the Missouri river in Pottawattamie 

 county. This land is worth $100 per acre. The noteworthy thing about 

 this farm is the splendid crops of alfalfa which are produced. 



In 1905 sixty acres of corn produced sixty bushels per acre; five acres 

 of oats, forty bushels per acre; eight acres prairie hay, two tons per acre; 

 twenty acres alfalfa yielded one hundred tons of hay and pastured eighty 

 head of hogs during the entire season; the remainder of the farm is in 

 pasture. The sales for the year were as follows: Hogs, $1,140; cattle, 

 $1,260; seed-corn, $80; hay, $35; one horse, $120; butter and eggs, $300. 



The owner of this farm follows a four-year rotation system on all of 

 the land except that which is in alfalfa and prairie hay. These fields 

 will not be plowed as long as they produce paying crops. The manure is 

 hauled on the pasture land with a spreader, as a rule as fast as it is 

 made. This has been found to be the most profitable method of handling 

 the manure. 



