556 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



4. A young man bought a 160-acre farm in Clinton county in the 

 spring of 1906, for which he paid $75 per acre. Forty acres of this farm 

 in eastern Iowa is in pasture. This season forty acres produced 2,800 

 bushels of corn; five acres of wheat yielded twenty bushels per acre; 

 thirty acres of oats produced 1,200 bushels and thirty-five acres of hay, 

 seventy tons. These crops are now being fed to cattle and hogs. A con- 

 servative estimate, based on present market prices for the live stock, 

 places the 1906 income from the farm at approximately $3,200. The 

 records, which have been kept with much care, show that $125 was ex- 

 pended for labor. 



5. One of the chief sources of profit for the Iowa farmers is found in 

 the gradual advance in land values. An investment in Iowa land is 

 almost certain to increase in value, not by leaps and bounds, but steadily, 

 year after year. The following example is cited to show to what extent 

 land owners have profited during the past decade as a result of the in- 

 crease in the value of farm property: 



In 1895 a farmer from eastern Iowa bought an improved 160-acre 

 farm in the southwestern corner of Carroll county for $50 per acre. This 

 land would now find ready sale at $100 per acre. This farm has made 

 it possible for the owner to accumulate a competence within a few years. 

 The following data prove that this land is a paying investment at its 

 present valuation. 



In 1906 thirty-five acres of corn produced 1,575 bushels; twelve acres 

 of barley yielded forty bushels per acre; fifteen acres of oats yielded 

 thirty bushels per acre; two acres of potatoes yielded 125 bushels per 

 acre, and twenty -five acres of hay yielded two tons per acre. The rest of 

 the farm is used for pasturage. 



With the exception of the potatoes, all of these crops are fed to live 

 stock. Special attention is giving to raising young steers, which are 

 sold as feeders at a weight of about nine hundred pounds, and to the 

 breeding of registered Shorthorn cattle. A large number of hogs are also 

 raised and finished for the market each year. 



All of the work on this farm is done by an aged father and his son. 

 In addition to his income from the farm, the latter receives a goodly 

 sum each year for work done on neighboring farms. 



6. A good farmer, with limited capital, has a splendid opportunity 

 in Iowa to make money on leased land. For instance, a farmer in 

 Monona county owns an eighty-acre farm valued at $110 per acre; but 

 he farms, in connection with his home place, 400 acres, which he leases 

 at $3 per acre. 



In 1906 three hundred acres of corn yielded 16,000 bushels, worth 

 $4,800. Forty acres of wheat produced 900 bushels, worth $525; twelve 

 acres of oats yielded 700 bushels, worth $175. The net gain from sixty 

 head of cattle amounted to $500, and $510 was received from the sale of 

 hogs. The farm of 480 acres produced in one season crops and live stock 

 to the value of $6,500. The farm expenses are given in the following 

 statement: Husking corn, $550; harvesting, $75; threshing, $65; stacking 

 grain, $75; wages of two men, five months, at $30 per month, $300; wear 

 on machinery, $25; blacksmith bill, $18; rent of land, $1,200; total ex- 

 pense account of $2,258. 



