76 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



tained in this act shall not apply to : Any person or persons 

 growing or selling seeds for food purposes only, or having such 

 seeds in possession for sale for such purposes." The law does 

 not apply to the man who sells his grain or seeds to the elevator and 

 does not apply to any person selling seeds direct to merchants 

 and that covers the case of a man producing the seed he wishes to 

 sell to a seed dealer; but this does not release him from the exemp- 

 tion as to its containing quack-grass or Canada thistle and other 

 noxious weeds. The law does not apply to the sale of seeds grown 

 and sold on his own premises by the farmer. The thought is that 

 if you have the Canada thistle your neighbors know it as well as 

 you do, and if he comes and buys it of you he is not harmed or in- 

 jured at all, even though he is sold impure seeds, for the reason 

 that he knows it. The exceptions in the state have been framed 

 to meet all these circumstances at the farmer's end of it. 



The President : The next topic on the program is entitled, 

 "The Earning Capacity of an 80-Acre Iowa Farm Devoted to 

 Dairying," by H. G. Van Pelt, Sup't Dairy Farm, Ames, Iowa. 



THE EARNING CAPACITY OF AN 80-ACRE IOWA FARM DEVOTED 



TO DAIRYING. 



HUGH G. VAN PELT, AMES, IOWA. 



More than once since the subject, "The Earning Capacity of an 80-acre 

 Iowa Farm Devoted to Dairying" was assigned to me I have tried to 

 reason for myself why so small a farm as 80 acres was designated. A 

 farm so small is surely far below the average sized farm of Iowa. Were 

 I to speak regarding the possibiities of a quarter section of Iowa land it 

 could at the present time be made to apply to the condition of a larger 

 number of Iowa farmers; and had I been speaking a decade ago the 

 earning capacity of a half section of land would have been more appli- 

 cable. Following along this train of thought, the reason for my subject 

 has revealed itself. The population of Iowa has increased in great rapidity, 

 and with this increase has followed closely the increased price of land 

 per acre. These two factors are tending to decrease the size of farms 

 in Iowa. Men whom a quarter of a century ago bought section after 

 section of this fertile (Iowa) prairie at low prices, have farmed and 

 grazed it, oftentimes with extravagant methods, but nevertheless have 

 lived well, saved money, and as time advanced their wealth increased by 

 leaps and bounds by the natural increase in the value of their lands. To 

 the minds of farmers of those times the question of the earning capacity 

 of an 80-acre farm never occurred and neither did a consideration of 

 milking cows except to supply bountifully the family table with milk, 

 cream and butter. Gradually, however, these large farms and estates are 

 being divided, for one cause or another, either among the original owners' 



