SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 



557 



This farm is in the hands of a successful renter, but what this man 

 has accomplished is merely indicative of the opportunity which is open 

 to the industrious and business-like tenant in Iowa. 



Within the border of Iowa is an area of more than thirty-five mijlion 

 acres, fully 95 per cent of which is arable land which may be made to 

 produce something of value. No other state in the Union has so large a 

 percentage of its domain available for agricultural purposes. This great 

 body of fertile soil is divided into approximately 210,000 farms with an 



During the fall and ■winter the corn is husked from the shock. The nut- 

 ritious, brown stover aads largely to the farmer's store of roughage. 



average acreage of ISSVj acres. Of the total number of farms, 65 per 

 cent are occupied by the owners and 35 per cent by renters. Practically 

 without exception all of these farms are devoted to the joint production 

 of crops and live stock. Fortunately only a limited number of farmers 

 in this state grow grain and forage crops exclusively. By far the greater 

 portion of the grain is fed to live stock. This system of farm manage- 

 ment tends to maintain the fertility of the soil, and it is a well known 

 fact that the live stock farms of Iowa have apparently not as yet been 

 reduced in productive capacity, even in the smallest measure. Commer- 

 cial fertilizers have not found a market in Iowa and not one farmer 

 in a thousand here knows anything about the nature of these products. 

 Is not Iowa land, which is in superior physical condition and which pos- 

 sesses a liberal supply of all the essential elements of plant food, and 

 which does not require annual applications of expensive commercial fer- 

 tilizers, cheaper at fifty or even seventy-five dollars per acre, than much 



In October corn is ready for harvest. From daylight till dark the -work is 

 pushed to garner every ear before the snow lies deep 



