Pag: 4 



The Illinois Agricultural Association RECORD 



i 



October 1, 1926 



111 



Auto Insurance For Members Considered 

 At September Meeting. Action Expected 

 Next Month. Presidents To Meet Oct. 8 



I Ml tual auto insurance for mem- 

 bers of the Illinois Agricultural As- 

 socia ;ion may become a reality judg- 

 ing f rom the interest created by the 

 repoi t of the business service com- 

 mitt* e to the executive committee at 

 the r lonthly meeting on Sept. 10. 

 f Th 3 committee decided to give the 

 propi sed project careful consider- 

 ation before taking steps. But a mo- 

 tion )y Taylor^ seconded by Oexner 

 provi ding that if a farm bureau mu- 

 tual luto insurance company be set 

 up, i be for and controlled by mem- 

 bers 3f tfce Illinois Agricultural As- 

 socia ion was passed unanimously. 



A iefinite decision on the question 

 of ai to insurance will be forthcom- 

 ing ( ollowing the October meeting, 

 schec uled for the seventh. Farm 

 buret u presidents are being invited 

 to at :end a meeting in Chicago on 

 Octol er 8 in conformation with the 

 precedent established several years 

 ago of securing e.xpression fresh 

 from the membership, on general 

 farm bureau policies. 



A motion was made by Tullock, 

 secorded by Cope that the I. A. A. 

 lend ts aid to W. P. Flint, state en- 

 tomo ogist, in preparing for the ad- 

 vanci of the European cornborer. 

 Geor; re Thicm, director of informa- 

 tion 'epresented the I. A. A. at the 

 Inter national Cornborer ConSerence 

 at T( ledo and Detroit on Sept, 24-25. 



J. 3. Macherle of the State Farm 

 Mutual Auto Insurance Co., Blocm- 

 ingto n was given a hearing before 

 the c )mmittee in which he presented 

 facts and figures regarding his or- 

 gan!: ation and its advantages. 

 Aftei careful consideration of Mr. 

 Mech erle's message, and the report 

 of th I financial business service com- 

 mittc e. the executive committee de- 

 cided that if the I. A. A. entered in- 

 to th e field of auto insurance in a 

 state wide capacity, it would set up 

 its ovn organization for farm bu- 

 reau members. 



Th; public relations committee 

 made the following recommenda- 

 tions regarding protection to mem- 

 bers against thievery to farm prop- 

 erty : 



Yojr Public Relations Committet 

 has c onsidered carefully the demand 

 that las come up from the member- 

 ship for protection against lossef 

 that occur through the thievery of 

 , farm property. 



It has been suggested that the 

 Stat* Association should provide foi 



such 



force 



protection to its members 



throi gh one of the following plans 

 or a combination of them. 



1. The organization of county 

 protc ctive associations and the fed- 

 erati )n of the county organizations 

 into J 1 state association, such associ- 

 ation s to be organized under the law 

 providing for associations to detect 

 and apprehend criminals and ap- 

 point deputy sheriffs within the 

 couni ies. 



2. The offering by the State As- 

 sociaion of rewards for the detec- 

 tion, a'pprehension and conviction of 

 those guilty of farm thefts. 



3. The employment by the State 

 Asso iation of a competent detective 



that could operate throughout 



the s ate in conjunction with county 

 farm bureaus for the detection, ap- 

 prehi nsion and conviction of those 

 guilt ' of crime affecting the farmer 



4. The offering by the State As- 

 socia ;ion through the. county farm 

 bure; it^s, or their agents, of an in- 

 surance policy that would protect 

 the I olicy holder against loss from 

 farm thefts. 



In considering the question of pro- 

 tectii e associations, your Committee 

 has tiken into consideration the fact 

 that' there are such protective or- 

 gan!: ations now in the field and 

 open ting with varying degrees of 

 success. The popular feature of of- 

 ferin ; rewards is also being worked. 

 We < o not desire to interfere with 

 the e fective activities of such organ- 

 izati( ns as the A. H. T. A., the I. S. 

 D. A, and others now operating in 

 these fields. However, in case it is 

 the d esire on the part of any county 

 to or ?anize a protective association, 

 the ) lecessary forms for same can 

 be ol tained from the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association. 



Yd Lir Committee cannot at this 

 time recommend the employment of 

 a detective force for the purpose of 

 detec -ing, apprehending and convict- 

 ing t lose guilty of violations of law 

 affec ing the farmer. The expense 



of maintaining such a; force over 

 such a large field of opeijation would 

 probably be too great, i 



Investigation has indicated quite 

 clearly that theft insurance alone be 

 too expensive. The premiums col- 

 lected from such insurance is not 

 large. To make such a form of in- 

 surance available, it must be offered 

 with other forms of insurance pro- 

 tection. 



The Committee has been advised 

 by the executive officers ihat there is 

 a possibility that an in^irance pro- 

 gram of the associatibn will be 

 adopted at an early date. If such a 

 program is adopted, this Commit- 

 tee will be ready to make recom- 

 mendations along the line of protec- 

 tion from this source. This type of 

 insurance can be and should be cor- 

 related with other typds of insur- 

 ance offered to the menibers of the 

 State Association. 



Supplement to Report tp Executive 

 Committee — 



After due consideration of the 

 question of what should be done by 

 the I. A. A. and Farm I Bureaus to 

 boost the adoption of the Revenue 

 Amendment to the Sta e Constitu- 

 tion, we recommend that the Novem- 

 ber issue of the Record lie published 

 iln time to get into the lands of the 

 membership by Satui-duy prior to 

 election day and that At. Watson 

 and Mr. Thiem take car ! of prepar- 

 ation of the publicity re ative to the 

 Amendment. 



In this connection we 1 ave further 

 recommended that Pr^ dent Smith 

 write a letter to all Cou ity Legisla- 

 tive Committees sugg 'sting that 

 Ihey get before their B( ards of Su- 

 pervisors and urge then as super- 

 visors of election to do all in their 

 power to get voters to vote on the 

 amendment. This to be followed a 

 little later with sufficien ; number of 

 posters and back auto curtain stick- 

 ers to reasonably post tie most im- 

 portant road corners, banks, etc. 

 Further that literature explaining 

 the main points of the Amendment 

 be, in so far as possibl ^ placed in 

 *he hands of every farm family. 

 The posting of posters and distribu- 

 tion of literature to be d me through 

 the various tax comm ttees, com- 

 munity chairmen or ( ther Farm 

 Bureau committeemen. 



The Public Relations Committee 

 has had its attention ca led to com- 

 munications from W. I . Hedgcock 

 relative to the activities of the I. 

 A. A. in the matter o ' Boys and 

 Girls Club work. Nam;ly: ' 



1. The I. A. A. Breakfast to Ill- 

 inois Club Boys and Gir s, and, 2. 

 The appropriation of money toward 

 the conduct of the Boy j and Girls 

 Club and the vocational ligh School 

 iudeing contests. 



With reference to tie I. A. A. 

 Breakfast we recommend that the 

 I. A. A. Breakfast be riven to all 

 Illinois Club Boys an 1 Girls on 

 Wednesday of International Week. 

 The anticipated attendai ice is 200 to 

 2.50. 



Relative to the second point it ap- 

 pears that heretofore \'e have ap- 

 nropriated S250 for the conduct of 

 tl\e live stock apd dairy udging con- 

 tests and that the appr ipriation of 

 ^200 as made this year is not suf- 

 ficient amount to take ore of what 

 we have done in the past and that 

 failure on our part to appropriate 

 the full $2.50 will make t necessary 

 for those in charge of t his work to 

 seek help from othi r sources 

 Hence, we recommend that the I. 

 A. A. appropriation for :his purpose 

 be increased $50. 



G. E. Metzgcrr, directe r of organ- 

 ization reported on the Mid-wes* 

 Conference at Saugatu ck, and 

 recommended a similar school for 

 Illinois. 



The Committee on ( rganization 

 and Publicity made the following 

 recommendations whicl^ were adopt- 

 ed as read: 



Due to the growing sentiment 

 among our members ar d organiza- 

 tion workers for strengthening the 

 sei-vice of the Department of Infor- 

 mation to members of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Associatior, the organ- 

 ization committee after thoughtful 

 consideration makes .the following 

 recommendations for eitecution at 

 the earliest posible momi nt: 



1. That the Illinois . Igricultural 

 Association RECORD, now pub- 



A Trip Thru Ohio, 

 Michigan and Canada 



(Continued from col. 1. pare 1.) 

 the cob BhowinK''premature dryine and lack 

 of kernel development. 



Mud Roadi No Good 



We were forced to abandon several of our 

 stops located on the mud roads. The bus 

 drivers would not venture off the pavement. 

 Near Monroe, where we pulled up for 

 luncheon, we went throuKh the state and 

 federal laboratories. There we saw thou- 

 sands of cornborers in fflass bottles. The 

 borers were being used to breed the two 

 parasitic wasps, Exeristes Roborator and 

 Habrebracon Brevicornis. Their names are 

 in keepinjT with the importance and esteem 

 with which they are looked upon by our 

 entomoloicists for these two insects are the 

 great white hopes of the corn belt. 



Will they be able to lick the corn borer? 

 So far the latter has the best of the armi- 

 ment by reason of his ability to multiply 

 rapidly under averaee corn belt conditions. 

 But a new champion may come out ot the 

 west, and Exeristes or his brother, rather 

 her sister. Habrebracon may be it. Here 

 agrain the female of the species is more dead- 

 ly than the male. 



The cornborer invariably bores throuRh the 

 side of the stalk or into the cob of the ear 

 and taken possession of the entire interior 

 where he roams at will. Protected as he is 

 from prowlinsr birds, bats, and other natural 

 enemies, he lives a sumptuous, secluded life 

 eatinir away the core and sapping the corn 

 plant of its life's blood. His domain is the 

 entire tenjith of the stalk, from the brace 

 roots below to tho upper extremities. 



Cornborer Good Host 



But Mrs. Exeristes and her kin Habre- 

 bracon have discovered that the borer makes 

 an admirable host for rearing their children. 

 With her lonir swordlike ovipositor un- 

 sheathed for action, the female wasp settles 

 on the cornstalk where inside a borer is 

 feeding, and humpinir her back like a jack- 

 knife drives the sword through the tough 

 woody stalk stinging the cornborer inside. 

 The sting paralyzes the borer rendering him 

 hora dp romhat. whereupon the mother 

 wasp deposits her eggs in the flesh of the 

 host. 



The egps hatch in from 24 to 48 hours, 

 and the little maggots finding a fresh meat 

 supply awaiting them, attack it until there 

 is little left but the crumbs. During the 

 process, the Exeristes and Habrebracon mag- 

 gots or larvae spin a web about the un- 

 happy remains of Mr. Cornborer possibly 

 tb hold him more securely. 



Now the problem is to propagate the 

 parasitic wasps in large enough numbers 

 to stem the tide of cornborer population. 

 In Essex and Kent counties, Ontario the 



lished once each month be changed 

 to a semi-monthly. 



2. That the form of the REC- 

 ORD be changed to a four-page 

 seven-column newspaper of regula- 

 tion size to cost approximately $500 

 per issue including printing, paper, 

 makeup, composition, proof-reading, 

 mailing and cuts, based on a circu- 

 lation of 60,000. 



3. That to finance the project, 

 the budget committee for 1927 al- 

 low the Department of Information 

 the fifty cents per member to go for 

 the Illinois Agricultural Association 

 RECORD as stated on the Farm 

 Bureau membership agreement. 



4. That in the event of a possible 

 shortage in funds to carry out the 

 program of publicity planned for the 

 coming year, the Department of in- 

 formation be empowered as a last 

 resort to seek advertising at going 

 '-ates, to defray added expenses of 

 the department based on this en- 

 larged program. 



The committee believes that a field 

 contact with the membership and 

 County Farm Bureaus of the state 

 for the sake of more effective local 

 publicity is essential to a well ord- 

 ered program. Under the present 

 restricted means of the department 

 this is not possible. 



President Smith reported a favor- 

 able meeting with the officials of the 

 Illinois Federation of Labor in 

 which the latter extended to the I. 

 A. A., the use of their radio station 

 on the Municipal Pier at any time. 



Secretary Fox reported that the 

 Mooseheart Radio station officials 

 had been to see him and were de- 

 «:iriou8 of having the I. A, A. broad- 

 cast from their station, WJJD. 



A statement on the revenue 

 amendment prepared by Evering- 

 ham and Watson was adopted as the 

 expression of the committee. 



It was moved by Taylor, seconded 

 by Finley that the farm bureau 

 nresidents be requested to meet in 

 Chicago on Oct. 8, and that the farm 

 advisers be invited. Carried. 



The next meeting of the Commit- 

 tee was set for Oct. 7, Chicago. 



authorities bred and liberated 900.000 Habre- 

 bracon and 60,000 Exeristes flies last year, 

 and since 1922, 109,300 Exeristes and 2,&11,- 

 100 Habrebracon have been liberated in the 

 cornfields of these two Canadian countiei. 



It is difficult to measure the effect of these 

 parasites, but so far they are not numerous 

 enough to control the borer. One authority 

 told me that they couldn't hope for more 

 than a 25 per cent control of the borer by 

 means of the parasites for the next few 

 years. 



Wasps QHite Prolific 



The wasps may bring out several broods 

 a year. The Iffe cycle of the Habrebracon 

 is approximately two weeks. Wesley P. 

 Flint, state entomologist for Illinois has 

 liberated thousands of this latter species in 

 this state. He is doing admirable work 

 among the farm advisers, extension men. 

 and through the farm press to prepare 

 lUJnoiB for the coming of the borer. 



Worst Damage in Canada 

 The next day we saw our real cornborer 

 damage. Crossing the St. Clair River to 

 Windsor. Ontario early Friday morning I 

 had my first five-cent ferry ride. The ferry 

 boats dock every seven minutes and before 

 you know it. you are whisked across the 

 channel to Canada. 



Congregated at the Prince Edward in that 

 rather quaint, oldish tfiwn where every busi- 

 ness house is "Limited" and where the going 

 names for banks are "Imperial," or "Crown" 

 we found a larger crowd than had assembled 

 the day before. The farm machinery men 

 from the colleges, and from implement com- 

 panies, the Canadian officials, our own as- 

 sistant secretary of agriculture, Ren nick 

 Dunlap, Worthley who is in charge of the 

 control work for the federal government. 

 Dean Curtis and Mark Thornburg of Iowa, 

 Director Chri.stie of Purdue leading the In- 

 diana delegation a score or more of Ohio 

 officials, Michigan and Wisconsin men and 

 our own Illinois crowd represented by Pro- 

 fessors Flint, Hackleman and Bauer from 

 the un iversity, county advisers Kercher. 

 Keltner and Simpson from Vermilion. 

 Winnebago and Gallatin counties. W. H- 

 Givler, chairman agricultural committee the 

 Illinois Bankers Association. Delx>ach from 

 Armour's, Frank Ridgway. Chicago Tribune, 

 Vice-President Perkins and Cooley from the 

 International Harvester Co., Brice Martfn, 

 Decatur Herald. Glenn and Anderson of the 

 state plant inspection survey, and others 

 were there. 



The ride to Chatham, 60 miles northeast 

 was through a flat, level, rather poorly 

 drained country settled largely by Canadians 

 of early French descent. The soil was fertile 

 but the drainage was through open ditches 

 almost entirely. Naturally we saw lota of 

 water on the fields and in ditches. It was 

 still raining. There was comparatively little 

 corn. Kent and Essex counties, Ontario 

 are in about the same latitude as our north- 

 ern Illinois tier of counties, and normally 

 this section grew quite a heavy acreage of 

 corn, but today, four years after the corn- 

 borer got a toehold on Canada's lower ex- 

 tremity, farmers have been scared away 

 from this crop into smalt grains, sugar 

 beets, alfalfa, grapes, and truck crops. 

 Cash Raised to Help 

 And why not? The provincial government 

 has appropriated money and is aiding farm- 

 ers to raise funds to develop other interests. 

 Already $100,000 has been raised to build 

 plants and equip them for processing grapes 

 in making tight wines, jellies, etc. One 

 acre of grapes brings in a net return 

 equivalent to about 10 acres of corn. 



Another 1100,000 has been raised for a 

 sugar beet plant, and the Essex County 

 Farm Bureau according to Ira L. Graham. 

 president, has raised money to start an 

 alfalfa mill. Canadian farmers haven't 

 stopped growing corn altogether but they 

 have reduced the acreage from around 150,- 

 000 to 60,000 acres in Kent and Essex, and 

 in the worst iirfested areas, the reduction 

 is close to 90 per cent. Next year a fur- 

 ther reduction of 10 to 20 per cent is pre- 

 dicted. 



On the Charles Archibald farm in Essex 

 we saw corn 90 per cent infested. The 

 stalks were loaded with borers, from top to 

 bottom. Farther on near St. Joachim we 

 saw 100 per cent infestation oi% the Delphis 

 Beaulieau farm. There was hardly enough 

 good corn in the field to bother with. This 

 corn was white cap yellow dent, planted 

 May 24. It average S2 borers per stalk. 

 The corn was short, much of it broken over 

 due to rottenness caused by the insect, and 

 altogether a discouraging mess. One could 

 see the destruction plainly from the road. 



"Our worst areas are where our farmers 

 have borrowed American customs and left 

 their stalks standing in the field," said Law- 

 son Caesar, provincial entomologist In 

 charge of the eradication work. "Where 

 our men are in the habit of removing the 

 corn stalks for feed and fodder, the borer 

 hasn't done nearly so much damage. Our 

 problem now is to get every man to clean 

 up and burn all his stalks. Our farmers 

 are cooperating with us now that they see 

 how serious is this problem." 



Machinery Aids Control 

 New low cutting devices are being in- 

 stalled on corn binders. And the Ohio 

 Experiment Station staff of agricultunl 



J. C WaUon. 



Eight Per Cent Tax 



Reduction in McLean 



AN eight per cent reduction on 



/»- land values for tax purposes 



was made in Mc- 

 Lean County ac- 

 cording to recent 



word from tte 



board of review 



there. 



The reduction 



came following a 



long drawn-out 



controversy re - 



garding the au< 



thenticity of va- 



r i o u s figures 



presented b y 



John C, Watson, 



tax expert for 



the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association and members 

 of the McLean County board. 



Figures presented last year by 

 Mr. Watson showed a 10 per cent 

 disparity between the valuations of 

 farm and city real estate. Again 

 this year, Mr. Watson presented 

 two sets of figures taken from the 

 county records showing land and 

 real estate transactions. Figures 

 which included master in chancery 

 sales showed that land values were 

 12 to 13 per cent higher than city 

 property. And excluding master in 

 chancery sales there was a disparity 

 of eight per cent against the farmer. 

 Criticisms of Watson's figures 

 made by R. L. Carlock, member of 

 a specially appointed investigating 

 committee from McLean county 

 were overruled in making the re- 

 duction. 



The eight per cent reduction will 

 amount to approximately a saving 

 of $40,000 to the farmers of Mc- 

 Lean county. Bank assessments like- 

 wise were reduced 16*^ per cent. 

 This reduction of land valuations 

 for tax purposes in McLean county 

 follows similar reductions made 

 within the past few weeks in Ogle 

 and Lee counties. Word from Ogle 

 county recently was to the effect 

 that a 20 per cent reduction in land 

 values was assured. An 18 per cent 

 reduction in land values for assess- 

 ment purposes was reported several 

 weeks ago in Lee county. 



These three reductions secured 

 by the I. A, A. in recent months 

 will result in a saving to farmers 

 in the three counties of approxi- 

 mately the cost of operating the 

 state association for the entire year. 



engineers designed a new corn combine that 

 cuts, husks, and chops up the stalk and 

 stover into bits killing all borers and leaving 

 the cut stover on the ground, or if desired 

 elevating it into wagons to be carried away 

 and stored. 



The combine is rather cumbersome. It 

 must be pulled by at least a 10-25 or 12-25 

 tractor. The John Deere company already 

 has built one machine which is now in use 

 on the county farm near Monroe. The In- 

 ternational Harvester Co. likewise has built 

 a powerful stubble pulverizer that stashes 

 all corn stubble to bits. Both machines may 

 become practical with further development 

 if the borer hits Illinois and Iowa. 



A recent provincial act in Ontario re- 

 quires that every remnant of the previous 

 year's corn crop be cleaned up by May 20. 

 Inspectors have been appointed to aee that 

 the law is carried out. Weeds and trash are 

 included with stubble, in the order. L. 

 Caesar who is chief administrator in this 

 control work states that most of the cleanup 

 work will be done this fall. 



Ira Graham, an Ohioan farming 900 acres 

 in Essex reduced his acreage of corn from 

 300 to 150 acres. He will make a further 

 reduction next year. The borer promises to 

 itcp canning of sweet corn altogether. In a 

 badly infested field on one farm, the owner 

 had few borers last year. This year there 

 is 90 per cent infestation with prospects for 

 a yield of only 15 bushels an acre. 



The borer showed up in five northeastern 

 counties of Indiana and in southeastern 

 Michigan as far west as Kalamazoo. Ita 

 progress was approximately 65 miles through 

 Southern Michigan according to the state 

 entomologist. An east wind in June that 

 lasted for 10 consecutive days is thought to 

 have aided the cornborer moths in their 

 flight westward. Allen, DeKalb. Steyben, 

 LaGrange. and Noble are the Indiana coun- 

 ties where borers have been detected. 



A strict quarantine requiring the stopping 

 of all cars, wagons, and vehicles coming 

 through the infested territory was found 

 necessarv- Numerous cases are on record of 

 tourists carrying with them infested roast- 

 ing ears. Forty borers were discovered in 

 four ^zen roasting ears taken from a 

 touristj" in Northwestern Ohio bound for 

 Chicafli^. 



If tfce cornborer comes to the corn belt 

 in serious numbers what will be the result. 

 Judge for yourself in the light qf this in.> 

 forniatioB. 



