THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART XI. 677 



MANURE SPBEADERS. 



On my farm in Adair county I have about 125 cattle, thirty horses 

 and 300 sheep. They make a great deal of manure and it is a big job to 

 haul it out. I got a manure spreader to tempt my man to get out the ma- 

 nure on our land. The spreader makes it cover more ground by thoroughly 

 there is a supreme satisfaction in setting the machinery in gear and see- 

 ing it work. If there were some way to get it on as easy as off men would 

 pay for the privilege of hauling out manure. 



The manure spreader saves nearly half the labor and does a better 

 job than it is possible to do with a fork. We usually put too much ma- 

 nure on our land. The spreader makes it cover more ground by thoroughly 

 pulverizing it and spreading it on evenly all over. 



HOME SURROUNDINGS. 



C. W. Lau, before the Scott County Institute. 



We are told again and again by persons who are in a position to know, 

 that Scott county as compared with other counties, presents an appear- 

 ance of substantial wealth and prosperity. It is studded with farms wen 

 worked and well managed, large buildings well repaired and under paint, 

 an air of thrift and economy pervading the whole which reflects credit 

 upon the individual farmer. However true this may be, there is lack ot 

 attention in one particular place and that is the immediate surroundings 

 of the dwelling house. While he may bestow great care on his live stock, 

 his grain and his fences, while he may furnish the interior with all modern 

 requirements and luxuries, viz., furnace heating, acetylene gas light, 

 piano, books, telephone, etc., yet the immediate outside as a rule presents 

 a most God forsaken appearance, decidedly not in keeping with the in- 

 terior, and out of harmony with the balance of the farm. 



Weeds have unrestricted liberty to grow as far up to the door as they 

 can; so have dogs, cats, chickens, ducks and other nuisances. This botan 

 ical and zoological display is offset by a liberal sprinkling of empty fruit 

 cans, tin pans, broken crockery, slop buckets and ash heaps. And this 

 promiscuous accumulation constitutes the sum total of what might be 

 called "landscape gardening in the country-" 



If there is any part of the farms or yards which would show to the 

 best advantage for attention received, it is that part surrounding the home. 

 And if the average farmer is industrious and well-to-do as he unquestion- 

 ably is, he is least of all to be excused for tolerating such a state of 

 affairs around a place where he has asked his wife to live and labor with 

 a sweet and unruffled disposition and children to grow up to manhood 

 and womanhood with lofty ideas and appreciations of the beautiful. 



Although shiftlessness and slum conditions are unavoidable in the 

 crowded cities, there is no earthly excuse for allowing them around your 



