A ^^Book Farmer^^ Succeeds 



Farm Management Tour Uncovers Inter- 

 esdng Facts About Making the Farm Pay 



^^V|i^WENTY years ago folks in 

 ^■^^Waltham township, LaSalle 



\J county, winked knowingly when 

 John A. Cosgrove whom they called a 

 "book farmer" spread limestone on some 

 of his fields. But John's reason for 

 building soil came from practical think- 

 ing, not from books. 



John was thinking of his three sons 

 and four daughters and of the generations 

 that will follow them. To Cosgrove it is 

 incidental that better farming gives him 

 a greater income, places him in a posi- 

 tion to retire right on his own farm and 

 enjoy city conveniences while living in 

 the country. 



Let John's daughter, Mrs. Conway, 

 tell the story: 



"I was eight years old when Dad 

 sold his business and bought this farm. 

 He wanted to provide his family with the 

 same clean, hearty living he had known 

 as a boy on the farm. 



"Dad worked hard and he sat up late 

 nights studying new ways to farm better. 

 He read every "Prairie Farmer" and 

 "Wallace's Farmer" that came out. It 

 was through these papers that he first 

 learned about limestone, clover and crop 

 rotation. That was more than 20 years 

 ago. 



"Our neighbors liked Dad but they 

 looked at him as a business man. They 



didn't take to his ideas about growing 

 clover to increase com yields." 



And Cosgrove is a business man. The 

 150 folks from Bureau, DeKalb, Kendall, 

 LaSalle and Lee counties who came to 

 his farm, September 15, at the end of 

 Farm Bureau-Farm Management tours in 

 their own counties, saw the records. 



Prof. M. L. Mosher, extension special- 

 ist in farm management. University of 

 Illinois, showed seven reasons why Cos- 

 grove is a better than average farm busi- 

 nessman. 



First, his rotation, com, oats and sweet 

 clover, gives him a large percentage of 

 his acres in high profit crops. 



Second, he is an efficient feeder. His 

 50 acres of sweet clover pasture carried 

 67 head of beef cows and calves this 

 summer and provided a high income per 

 acre based on the amount of feed fed. 



Third, Cosgrove's ability as a stockman 

 resulted in a high income from livestock. 



Fourth, his crop yields are far above 

 average. During the last six years, Cos- 

 grove's corn has averaged 51 bushels p)er 

 acre. The average for higher income 

 farms in northern Illinois in the same 

 period was 36 bushels. 



Fifth, Cosgrove received better than 

 average prices for his products showing 

 that good salesmanship is an aid to higher 

 farm income. 



A. C. HENSEL 

 Usei horses, hires little help, (arms a 

 quarter-section. 



Sixth, labor costs were low. Since 

 Cosgrove rents most of his land, he gives 

 Lester Harmon, his tenant, credit for 

 efficiency. 



Seventh, horse and machinery costs 

 were kept down. This, too, is credited 

 to Harmon. 



But for all his efficiency, John Cos- 

 grove has always looked on his farm 

 as a source of income for better living. 

 His dreams were of better living, not of 

 great tracts of land under Cosgrove own- 

 ership. 



In line with good farming, Cosgrove 

 was one of the first in LaSalle county 

 to practice erosion control. The original 

 160 acres is rolling, and sheet washing 

 occurs when the land is not protected by 

 a crop. Cosgrove is careful to provide a 

 cover for this land during most of the 

 year. 



The additional 80 acres that he bought 

 in the war period is more rolling than 

 the remainder of the farm. It slopes 

 in such a way as to provide natural 

 drainage for part of the 240 acres. This 

 waterway has not been plowed since 



MINNESOTA TYPE TURKEY BROODER HOUSE — 

 used by Gilbert Moloch last spring, easily moved, 

 easy to heat, has ample window space for sunlight 

 and rentilation. durable and cost less than SIOO. 



BETTER LIVING THROUGH BETTER FARMING 

 I. A. Cosgrove. left, ownen E. G. Fruin. center, farm 

 management serrice; L. C. Harmon, right tenant Work- 

 ing together, these men hare made possible a better than 

 average living for two families. 



