74 



FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



and he claims he made $1,500 from the 

 seed — a Mr. Mills. 



Mr. Pyles — When I was in Gundy 

 County this spring, it was reported a 

 man had thirty acres of sweet clover 

 for seed last year. He mowed it 

 about the twentieth day of May; he 

 then let it go to seed, cut it with the 

 binder and threshed it and sold it 

 and he had warehouse receipts for the 

 seed showing that he had gotten $130 

 an acre for seed, besides a crop of 

 hay. 



Doctor Baxter — My father had eighty 

 acres of sweet clover; this year he got 

 a crop of hay the first part of June; 

 the first of September he cut that with 

 a binder and threshed it with the 

 threshing machine; he got seven bush- 

 els per acre and sold it at $14 a bushel 

 in Chicago; he did not pay the freight. 



Now, I don't believe you-^can 'ibeat 

 that with any other -erep. ^<^ 



Of course, if everybody was raising 

 sweet clover the market price would 

 go down; it is a hard crop to handle 

 and to thresh. 



Men don't like to han(*le it; they 

 don't like to run that bindSK 



It is a crop that does not become 

 ruined with rain. 



After you get it shocked and piled 

 up, you can leave it there almost in- 

 definitely. This season ruined the hay 

 crop but it didn't ruin the seed, and I 

 don't know of anything that you can 

 produce on the farm that will give you 

 as much money for the number of 

 acres. The crop practically amounted 

 to about half the value of the land. 

 We have tried alfalfa but it is not a 

 paying crop with us; of course it can 

 be used for feed at home or put in 

 the silo or something of that kind, but 

 it is not a profitable crop for us to 

 market; you cannot make money out 

 of it every year by selling it in this 

 country. 



Last year was a good one; we had 

 about 15 acres of alfalfa and the crop 

 was good as far as for hay. 



Question: Should there be some 

 standard as to the amount a hive 

 should be assessed in taxing? 



Mr. Hawkins — I think something 

 might be said, about that. It is a good 

 deal a mattef_,of conscience in figur- 

 ing the amount that these might 

 weigh. It might be a good idea if we 

 had some such law in this country 

 such as, where a man who has bees 

 and puts a certain valuation on them, 



the state maintains the right to buy 

 it from him at any time. . 



Mr. Diebold — I don't believe liees are 

 assessed in my part of the country at 

 all. 



President Baxter — They are down 

 our way, and should be everywhere. 



Doctor Baxter — They are not 

 assessed here. 



Mr. Stone — They assessed me last 

 year because I wanted them assessed. 

 The Assessor said: "Here is a place 

 down here for other products or other 

 things." I said: "Putin bees there." 



Mr. Coppin — The Assessor assessed 

 mine and later he told me he had 

 struck if off of the list because I was 

 the only one in the .township and he 

 said it did not look very well to assess 

 only one who had bees. 



President Baxter — All property 

 should be assessed, no matter what it 

 is, if there is any value to it; bees 

 and everything else should be assessed 

 at its real fair market value. 



Mr. Dadant — I think there is another 

 argument. We are asking the legisla- 

 ture to support us and the legislature 

 does support us by paying an Inspec- 

 tor, and giving an allowance to the 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association, and so 

 long as our business gets help from 

 the state we ought to be allowed to 

 return help to the state. 



I know there is a good deal of neg- 

 lect and failure in making statements. 

 I remember once when the Assessor 

 told me I was the only man in the 

 township who had any jewelry. I 

 found out the entire amount of jewelry 

 in Keokuk was $600. The Assessor 

 said he pitied the four jewelers with 

 onlylSeOO of jewelry in Keokuk. 



Mr.( Hawkin.s — There were only 20 

 watches in the county next to us last 

 year. \^ , / 



Mr. Kildow — I think we. ought to 

 have our bees assessed, and I think 

 then we can demand recognition from 

 the legislature. 



But, you say, poultry is not assessed; 

 they raise hogs and sell them before 

 the Assessor gets around! 



I thimv we should pay taxes on bees. 



Mr. Bowen — I have given in my bees 

 at different times to be assessed and 

 they said, "Oh, let that go, that don't 

 amount to anything." 



I noticed in looking over the assess- 

 ment last year that a man that I know 



