102 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Practically the whole corn crop of Mis- 

 souri went to market on the hoof last year. 

 Some counties not only consumed within 

 their borders all of the corn they raised, 

 but corn was brought from other States, 

 notably from Iowa, and turned into meat. 

 There are counties in Missouri where to- 

 day corn is selling for feeding purposes at 

 from 3c to 4c a bushel more than it would 

 bring if it were placed on the cars and 

 shipped to St. Louis or Chicago. 



When the Missouri farmer learned to 

 feed all the corn he raised he added from 

 50 to 100 per cent, to the value of that 

 crop. The 190.000,000 bushels of corn 

 raised last year, if it had been marketed by 

 the farmer, would have yielded him perhaps 

 $30,000 ; 000 after he had taken out what 

 was needed for consumption on the farm. 

 But this corn crop was the main factor 

 which made possible the sale of $71,000,000 

 worth of cattle and hogs by the Missouri 

 farmers. Of course, that magnificent total 

 was not all gain. The hogs were raised 

 on the farms, it is true; but a considerable 

 proportion of the cattle was brought from 

 the ranges of the West and Southwest, and 

 doubled in value by the feeding received 

 0:1 Missouri farms. It is safe to say that 

 the surplus corn crop of Missouri last year 

 was increased in value from $30.000,000 (o 

 $50,000,000 by being turned into cattle and 

 hogs before it left the farm. 



POTATOES AS A MONEY CROP 



Taken one year with another it is 

 "'oubtful if any one single crop grown in 

 thiscDuntry proeucjs more actual money 

 to th 3 grower than potatoes. This is so 



not withstanding the fact that, taken as a 

 whole, the most primitave methods are 

 still employed in the growing and market- 

 ing the crop. As against this general con- 

 dition thero stand out here and there with 



speaial prominence those cases where po- 

 tatoe growing is reduced to an exact 

 science and where the best and most im- 

 proved appliances are used in the labor 

 connected with producing the crop. These 

 people have learned that the way to pro- 

 duce the the greatest profit is to reduce by 

 every means the expense of production. 

 They have learned, or are learning, with 

 the manufacture.!, that the expensive ele- 

 ment of hand labor must be reducsd to the 

 minimum fi the resulting product is to 

 leave a margin of profit. 



To dig or harvest a crop of potatoes 

 cleanly, easily and rapidly, in the nick of 

 time when the weather is at its best, is a 

 very expensive and laborious job when the 

 work has to be done by hand. Happily 

 for the farmer or special potatoe grower 

 ther^ are now machines that will perform 

 this labor in the most perfect and econom- 

 ic manner. 



A machine of this kind possessing 

 special merit, and whicli has be n long and 

 'favorably known to the public, is the 

 Hoover Digger, manufactured by Hoover, 

 Prout & Co., A\ery. Ohio. This machine 

 is built upon honor and sold upon its merits. 

 Write th -se people for catalogue prices, 

 etc. 



