-l-v^l 



Ready for the Flood Zone. These men went with 24 trucUoads ot teed tor hungry ilvestoclt. 



C. B. Brooks and B. D. 

 Gates, Saline County Farm 

 Bureau greet truckers Wise- 

 garver, Dresbacic and Britten- 

 ham from Piatt county. 



.t 



New Hope By the Truckload 



Farm Bureau Members Send Feed and Seed to 

 Flood Suffering Neighbors - By Lawrence Potter 



y^ M^^^ years ago a drouth 

 ^^-A^ shriveled the crops of cen- 

 QJ^Xfl tral Illinois. The farmers 

 like peoples of old, trekked southward 

 into the land of abundance, the southern- 

 most counties of the state. From then 

 until now, so the stor)- goes, these south- 

 ern counties have been known as Egypt. 



Rain came the following ye.ir and the 

 refugees returned to their farms to sow 

 and they reaped large harvests. 



Tliis year a great rain came to Egypt, 

 but this rain was not one of blessing. It 

 swelled the rivers until the mighty Ohio 

 spread over the land m a record break- 

 ing flood. The tip of Illinois was sub- 

 merged. Lives were lost, livestock peri- 

 shcil and both food and feed were dear. 

 Homeless families found shelter with 

 their neighbors to (he north until the 

 waters receded. 



Under the leadership of their state- 

 wide organization. Illinois farmers helped 

 their brother farmers in the great flooded 

 area like their southern neighbors had 

 given aid to those in the north two 

 generations before. Thcv gathered to- 

 gether stores of corn, oats and other nec- 

 essities from all parts of the slate, and 

 took these things to the stricken folks. 



As the w.iter went down feeds and 

 other necessary materials were sent into 

 the flood impoverished land. More than 

 20 counties sent 1^3 truckloads and Irt 

 carloads of supplies to the tlooil zone. 

 Eight county units, organized to handle 

 these materials, receivetl the supplies 

 which they distributed to the folks who 



needed them most. 



Although the feeds had been gathered 

 and sent to the flood sufferers by the 

 various county Farm Bureaus, member- 

 ship lines were not drawn when the 

 goods were divided. The most needy 

 folks were supplied first as the ship- 

 ments arrived. 



As the water receded and folks began 

 to go back to their homes they found, 

 in some cases, that their losses were not 

 as great as they had anticipated. Never- 

 theless, unestimable losses have oicured 

 on every farm that was covered by the 

 water, 



A survey of flood losses m Pulaski 

 and Alexander counties revealed that fSS 

 farmers lost feed or livestock or both. 

 The total amounts reported lost in these 



"TO PROI^OTE THE WELFARE OF ALL." 

 A township chairman, Livingston county, 

 checks goods brought in. 



counties are: :?93 hogs, 9 cattle, 10 

 horses and mules, 1243 head of poultry, 

 190 tons of h.iy, 11,040 bushels of corn, 

 and small .imounts of wheat, oats, pota- 

 toes and other items. 



In these counties, farm adviser Colvis 

 reports, "Winter wheat which was cov- 

 ered with from a few inches to twenty 

 feet of water seems to be unhurt." This 

 is also true of established fields of grasses 

 and legumes, he says. 



In Gallatin county similar losses were 

 experienced. A survey showed that 497 

 farmers lost 44 head of horses, 10,570 

 head of poultry, 77 head of cattle, 477 

 head of hogs. 2.yjH bushels of oats, 

 1,00"' tons of hay and 58,592 bushels of 

 corn. 



C'onditions in these counties are im- 

 proving rapidly and as the weather mod- 

 crates and it is believed that outsiiie help 

 will soon not be needed. 



"VC'ords cannot express the apprecia- 

 tion of our farmers for this assistance by 

 our neighboring I'arm Bureau members. 

 It is beyond our powers of expression," 

 writes Harry Neville, Saline county 

 farm adviser. 



\X'hen the flood came and homes 

 were washed away, faith in the future 

 was at a low ebb - along came this 

 assistance (feed donated by Farm Bureau 

 members from all parts of the state) and 

 men and women took on new life, new 

 hope and new determination to go back 

 to work. 



They have gone back to work and. 



4 



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20 



I. A. A. RECORD 



