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HAVE THE GOODS — ADVERTISE THEM 

 Above: Triplet calves, living proof of 

 Polled Hereford fruitlulness. Below: One 

 of several Womer roadside signs. 



jt LITTLE truck rolled easily 

 ^^im-/^ along a winding Pennsyl- 

 ^^-^ / vania road early one morn- 

 ing about a year ago. In the cab were 

 Henry Womer of Mason county, Illinois, 

 and his driver. They stopped briefly to 

 ask a farmer the location of a certain 

 Polled Hereford breeder's farm. In the 

 stock rack of the truck was a young bull 

 on his way to a new owner. 



The man who directed them might 

 have scratched his head as they moved out 

 of sight and muttered to himself, "What 

 in the world are two Illinois farmers do- 

 ing here with a bull.'" 



But, of course, he couldn't have known 

 that Henry Werner and son of San Jose, 

 Illinois, use business methods in advertis- 

 ing and selling their cattle. He couldn't 

 have known either that the bull he saw 

 was sold by mail in less than a week. 

 Nor could he have known that the price 

 the buyer paid included prompt delivery 

 at the buyer's bam lot. 



What his Pennsylvania neighbor might 

 have thought worried Henry not one 

 whit. His task at the moment was to 

 see that the buyer got his calf and was 

 satisfied with him. Too, he was hurrying 

 to get back to Mason county in order to 

 start for Texas with another animal or 

 two for a customer. 



Mason county, long noted for fine beef 

 cattle, especially Shorthorns, is rapidly 

 gaining a reputation as a headquarters for 

 Polled Herefords. The Worners, Henry 

 and Wilfred J., have done much to build 

 that reputation. 



It was 47 years ago that Henry started 

 operating the farm on which he lives. 



A Pioneer In Better Farming 



The Story of Henry Worner and Son of Mason County 

 and Their Polled Herefords 



By LARRY POTTER 



Through the years his farm has grown 

 both in size and fertility. Always alert 

 for improved breeds or practices that 

 would increase his income and living 

 standards, Henry pioneered in scientific 

 agriculture. 



Early in his career, and farming as Mr. 

 Worner does it is a career, he grew clover 

 and rotated his crops. About 25 years 

 ago, before there was a Farm Bureau in 

 Mason county, Henry joined the Tazewell 



in the plan. Today, 100-bushel yields of 

 corn are not uncommon on 'Worners' 

 black, sandy loam. 



If any unit of the system predominated, 

 it was livestock. Henry raised fine pure- 

 bred Scotch Shorthorns and Percheron 

 horses. 



"I dealt more in horses than I did in 

 cattle. It seemed that everyone in the 

 days just before the war wanted horses 

 but there wasn't much interest in my 



HEADY TO START FOR TEXAS 

 Signs tell the kind of animal in the truck, where it is from and where it is going. 

 Henry Womer, left, delivers the animals sold, sees that the customer is satisfied. 



County Soil Improvement Association 

 to learn more about better farming. 



Through this organization he discov- 

 ered that limestone would make clover 

 produce more of both hay and nitrogen. 

 That was the founding of a well-rounded 

 plan of soil improvement. 



The next step was to use rock phos- 

 phate. Alfalfa played its part in the 

 system. Crop rotation, livestock, manure, 

 sweet clover, soybeans, permanent pas- 

 tures and hybrid corn, each found a niche 



kind of cattle," Henry recalls. 



"About the time I had given up raising 

 purebred cattle, tractors and autos came 

 along and the horse business was badly 

 hit. I still raised a few calves and went 

 into hog raising a little heavier." 



While all this was going on, Wilfred 

 was growing up. As soon as he finished 

 high school he entered Bradley College 

 at Peoria for general training in business, 

 salesmanship and advertising. After grad- 

 uation, he sold cars for a Peoria dealer 



16 



L A. A. RECORD 



