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IT GOT FARMERS TO TJUkkik>f> 



AND Uenimf Vo^Utm' 



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\/^V Hr. first time wc visited Union 

 / C^oimty, Illinois, was some 12 



y_J years aj;o. It was in the fall. 

 There had been a rich harvest ol' fruits 

 and vegetables for which this pittur- 

 escjue re/iion is famous. The city of 

 Anna was bustling witli trucks ^oinj: 

 and coming loaded with baskets of 

 apples, peaches and pears. Prosperity 

 was evident on every hand. The last- 

 ing' impression you ^'ained was that of 

 a horticulturist's paradise where nature 

 and man conspire and work together 

 harmoniously to brin^ peace, prosper- 

 ity, .md li.ippiness to a fortunate peo- 

 pk. 



That the county boasts ot oiore than 

 its neat hillside orchards, vineyards. 

 and small fruits and vegetables is not 

 apparent as you drive north or south 

 on the main hi^'hway. Therefore, when 

 the estimable aj;;ricultural adviser. Mr. 

 E. for l:lmer. A. for Alfred Bierbaum 

 suggested recently that we i;o out and 

 see one of the county's livestock and 

 grain farms, it was natural to raise a 

 skeptical eyebrow and wait to be shown. 



Driving west the windin^y lii^hway 



takes you through the blutfs and hills 

 tlownward to the broad Mississippi 

 river plain where you find some ot the 

 states richest soils and best alfalfa, 

 corn .mil wheat ^rounil. Here Dan 

 Davie s parents brou/;;ht him as a small 

 boy from a coal mining region in soutli- 

 eastern Iowa back in the 'HOs. The 

 Davies settled on the flat land around 

 Ware, much of which '^O years a^'O was 

 marshy and covereil vsith timber and 

 underbrush. But even in those early 

 days drainage and the building of 

 levees was under way to convert this 

 area from a refuse for ducks, wild 

 geese, and other water fowl to the 

 more profitable purposes of producint; 

 corn, wheat, and livestock. 



Mr. Davie took a keen interest as he 

 grew older in better farming. And 

 when the Union County Farm Bureau 

 was organized some 20 years ago he 

 became a charter member. He has con- 

 tinued .IS a member, and on and otf as 

 director, from the beginning, co-oper- 

 ating in the production adjustment pro- 

 grams, and now in the soil conserva- 

 tion plan which he is helping direct as 



V^.' 



^ 



THIS COSTS ABOUT $20 AN ACRE 

 'It Keeps the Mississippi Off the Davie Farm.' 



chairman of the County Committee. 



Dan Davie has acquired certain con- 

 victions of his own about organization 

 for farmers. Perhaps he absorbed some 

 of the philosophy of organization from 

 his father who worked in the coal 

 mines in Iowa when working condi- 

 tions and wage scales were not as fav- 

 orable as they are today. At any rate 

 he summed up his views by saying: 

 'The best thing the Farm Bureau has 

 done is to get farmers to thinking antl 

 working together." 



"Farm Bureau is worth more than 

 twice what it costs every year in ac- 

 tual savings, " he continued. "But its 

 most important benefits come not from 

 these savings, but from the state and 

 national influence of farmers in work- 

 ing for parity prices and fair returns on 

 their labor and investment." 



The Davie farm comprises 350 acres. 

 Cash crops are wheat and alfalfa, al- 

 though much of the hay. both alfalfa 

 and red clover, and all of the corn and 

 other small grain crops, are marketed 

 on the hoof through beef cattle, hogs, 

 and sheep. 



The 20 Hereford breeding cows are 

 kept to utilize the pasture in uncleared 

 portions of the farm. The white faced 

 calves grown on the farm are fed out 

 for market along with an average of 

 around .30 steers bought annually at the 

 national stockyards. E. St. Louis. Mr. 

 Davie invariably markets his cattle, 

 hogs, and lambs through the St. Louis 

 Proilucers because he likes the service 

 he gets there, and believes farmers 

 should support co-operative marketing 

 as the safest way to guarantee the best 

 possible prices. 



Some of the choicest steers tliat come 

 out of Southern Illinois to the St, Louis 

 market are grown on the Davie farm. 

 He has used a good purebred Hereford 

 hull for m.my years. The present heril 

 sire was j^urchased from a purebred 

 breeder, John Cierney of C^obden, in the 

 same county. A finishing ration ol 

 ground corn and cob meal, about two 

 pountis of cottonseed meal per head 





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L A. A. RECORD 



