Gay Mead of Ml 

 Mercer County 



His Kind Malce The Farm Bureau What It Is 

 By John Tracy * > 



MRS. GAY S. MEAD chuckled 

 to herself. "So he told you that 

 looking after the chickens was 

 my job, did he?" Mr. Mead, peering 

 into the dining room from the back 

 porch (his boots were muddy), looked 

 embarrassed. 



"Well," he said hesitantly, "I sup- 

 pose we both take care of 'em," — then 

 smiling thoughtfully at his wife, "we've 

 been partners in everything for quite 

 a while." 



He got a nice smile back. 



And there you have it. Partners. In 

 that interchange of glances, the under- 

 standing smiles, the impulse on the 

 part of both to give each other aU the 

 credit, you caught a fleeting glimpse 

 of a lifetime of co-operation that has 

 few equals. 



Theirs is the sort of place youngsters 

 imagine they'd be going to when they 

 went "Out to Aunt Mary's." A fine 

 comfortable, 14 room house is sur- 

 rounded by majestic trees planted, says 

 Mrs. Nettie Isaac, sister of Mr. Mead, 

 "around 70 years ago." Set away from 

 the home are as nicely arranged a 

 group of 10 farm buildings as you'll 

 ever see. They're well kept up, not 

 pretentious, but combining practica- 

 bility with a simple rugged beauty. 



Gay Mead was born on this land 58 

 years ago. His father, Scammel Mead, 

 a New York stater, married an Ohio 

 girl and came out to Illinois with his 

 bride more than 75 years ago in a wag- 

 on and settled on the land of which 

 Gay Mead's farm is now a part. Here 

 they brought up their family. Gay 

 Mead was the youngest. 



Reaching young manhood, he began 

 making regular trips over Suez way 

 in Mercer county. In 1908, Dora Mc- 

 Laughlin, the cause of Gay's regular 

 trips to Suez, decided that being Mrs. 

 Gay S. Mead wasn't a bad idea at all. 

 Three children were bom to them — 

 Harry Lee, James Clair and Marjorie 

 Marie. They are all married and as 

 Mr. Mead put it with a twinkle in his 

 eye, "just about the time we could 

 use them around here they decided to 

 set up their own establishments." But 

 you can tell he's mighty pleased that 

 his family are happily married and 



well on their way in the world. 



Harry is farming a mile south of 

 Alexis, in Mercer County. James Clair 

 is a minister in Grand Rapids, Michi- 

 gan. Marjorie, Mrs. Clarence Higgins 

 now, lives northeast of North Hender- 

 son, Mercer county — just a few miles. 



The Mead farm comprises 153 acres, 

 of which 50 acres has been limed. This 

 year, 50 acres were planted in corn, 

 20 in oats, 20 in timothy hay which 

 was threshed for seed, and 28 in soy 

 beans. The rest is pasture and the 

 extensive barn and feeding lots. A car 

 load of livestock is fed every year — 

 this year they were Herefords from 

 Colorado. There are 5 milk cows too, 

 and an Angus bull calf, 45 Hampshire 

 hogs, 120 White Rock pullets and 14 

 roosters. There's the dog too, and three 

 of the friendliest just plain cats in 

 Mercer county. Most of the farming is 

 done with horses, but there is a trac- 

 tor to help speed things up. 



Now all this seems like a good deal 

 of farm work. But here's the amazing 

 thing about Gay Mead. He had a swell 

 time this year doing the whole job 

 himself! The only time he had a man 

 to help was during corn picking. There 

 are not many men 58 years old who 

 can get away with it much less do the 

 job that Gay Mead is doing. Nothing 

 has suffered from lack of attention. 

 Things look spick and span. 



Mead is a charter member of the 

 Mercer County Farm Bureau. He's a 

 booster in every sense of the word. 

 He's dependable when the organiza- 

 tion wants to get a job done. He co- 



operates to the maximum and he says 

 "I couldn't think of farming without 

 the Farm Bureau. It just wouldn't 

 seem right somehow. I've belonged 

 ever since it started and I depend on 

 it and the Farm Adviser to help me 

 out with the constant problems that 

 come up in farming. Of course the 

 services are important too." 



All the Mead livestock is shipped 

 to the Chicago Producers. Said Mead, 

 '"I've never sold a hog any other place," 

 and we're willing to bet that goes 

 double for steers. Farm Bureau serum 

 is used exclusively. The automobile is 

 insured in the Farm Bureau auto in- 

 surance company. The buildings are all 

 insured against fire, wind and tornado 

 damage in Farmers Mutual. This year 

 the corn was insured against hail dam- 

 age, which, said Gay, "kept any hail 



FARM ADVISER PURNELL AND GAY S. 



MEAD 

 "Those feeder steers are from Colorado." 



J^'^^A ^Jtl 



SAY MEAD AND HIS WHITE ROCKS 

 "I guess Mrs. Mead and I both take care 

 of 'em." 



storms out of this neck of the woods." 

 Only Service Company products are 

 used in the tractor, machinery and the 

 automobile. He takes his cream to the 

 Producers Creamery of Galesburg and 

 will have them pick it up later on when 

 they have their routes established. 



Mr. Mead doesn't belong to the Farm 

 Bureau just to "belong to something." 

 It's deeper than that. Said he, "The 

 Farm Bureau has helped me to be a bet- 

 ter farmer. The social side of it is a 

 great thing too. Belonging broadens a 

 man. You get the other fellow's ideas 

 about farming and farming problems. 

 You get so you think beyond your own 

 fields, because after all farming doesn't 

 stop at your line fences. That's where 

 the Farm Bureau comes in. It's out there 

 beyond, working and planning and bring- 

 ing it all back to your own county and 

 township. 



"Of course organization is a good thing 

 for farmers. Organization is power and 

 control of price and markets that a 

 farmer has to have. If only one out of 

 three belonged there'd be no stopping 

 the power of farmers. My idea is that 

 every farmer in Mercer county should 

 belong if for nothing more than to lend 

 support to an organization that is do- 

 ing him personally a lot of real good." 

 (Continued on page 20) 



DECEMBER. 1935 



