TWENTY ROWS OF CORN WERE DESTROYED BY CHINCH BUGS ON THE RALPH YOUNG FARM IN PORTLAND TWP., WHITESIDE 

 County, before the Oil Barrier was made. Farm adviser Frank Shuman, center, and Mr. Young, right, Demonstrate How Effective the Trench Was 

 in Stopping the Horde of Writhing, Sucking Insects. Note the Wheat Field at the Extreme Left From Which the Bugs Entered the Com. 



A Hot Day and A 



Hot Subject in Madison 



'Round and 'round went the argu- 

 ment on direct packer buying at the 

 Institute of Co-operation in Univer- 

 sity of Wisconsin's sweltering Agri- 

 cultural Building on July 11. For 

 the packers spoke bald-headed Oscar 

 Mayer, owner of a so-called country 

 plant at Madison, Wis. who moved out 

 of Chicago "to get closer to the sup- 

 ply of hogs." Another packer man 

 was beefy, jovial Ed Wentworth of 

 Armour & Co., Ames graduate and 

 head of the Armour research bureau. 

 Silent sat F. M. "Fanny" Simpson of 

 Swift & Co. during the heated argu- 

 ment on this hot subject. . 



"Hard roads, trucks, radio and the 

 high cost of selling through the ter- 

 minal markets are responsible for the 

 growth of direct buying," said Pack- 

 er Mayer. "We believe this system 

 pays the farmer more for his hogs. 

 We have organized a committee 

 (Mayer chairman, Knute Espe, secre- 

 tary) to 'educate' farmers about di- 

 rect buying, to defend it against un- 

 warranted attack." 



"Do you think the livestock ship- 

 pers interests would be protected if 

 commission agencies were abolished 

 and all farmers shipped direct to the 

 packers?" countered hefty and talka- 

 tive Dave Swanson, manager of the 

 big Chicago Producers Commission 

 Ass'n. and opponent of any and all 

 forms of marketing other than 

 through the terminals. 



Avoiding a direct reply, Mayer con- 

 ceded that prices paid by packers are 

 based on the Chicago market but as- 

 serted (with Wentworth's support) 



that in the end they are fixed by the 

 housewife who shuns meat when it 

 gets too high. Of the 50 cent per 

 cwt. spread between Madison and 

 Chicago hog prices (freight, shrink, 

 yardage, insurance, commissions, 

 feed), said Mayer, we pay the farmer 

 20 to 25c per cwt. more than he would 

 get by going to Chicago. ' ' 



"That's only on the days you want 

 hogs, is it not," questioned Swanson. 

 "And if you were compelled to get 

 your hogs at Chicago, wouldn't your 

 competition raise the general price 

 level?" ::.. V . .,.;,;. -.•■^•,- -...v.- :•;.-• :•..•. 



There the controversy rested with 

 livestock growers speaking both for 

 and against direct shipping, each side 

 convinced that the other is wrong. 



"Let's have a meeting in Chicago 

 of producers, packers, commission 

 men, stock yards and government 

 officials, and straighten this thing 

 out," suggested Wisconsin sheep 

 breeder and feeder Renck. This 

 sentiment was generally concurred in 

 with the understanding that the meet- 

 ing be called after the government 

 has made its report now being pre- 

 pared on the mooted question. 



To prove that farmers are capable of selling 

 their own livestock direct to packers, Ed 

 Wentworth cited a field day at Ames where 

 farmers, livestock professors, and packer buy- 

 ers were grouped to guess on weights and 

 di<esslng percentages. "The farmers guessed 

 the closest and the packer buyers were the 

 farthest away,*' he said. 



Slab vs. Grave! 



Paved roads in Minnesota in 1931 

 were maintained at an average cost 

 of $97.61 per mile. Gravel roads 

 with one-third per cent as much 

 traffic cost $339 per mile for all items 

 except re-graveling. 



inois Grain Acreage 



Down, Rains Helping 



Illinois com acreage is the smallest 

 in 61 years, oats the lowest since 

 1892, estimates the Illinois and U. S. 

 Departments of Argiculture. Soybean 

 and alfalfa acreage is the largest on 

 record. Winter wheat production is 

 12 per cent below average, spring 

 wheat and barley very light, early 

 hay poor, apples and peaches ex- 

 tremely light, pastures the worst on 

 record, spring wheat, oats and barley 

 sharply reduced in acreage, soybean 

 acreage 70 per cent above last year. 



Corn condition estimated about av- 

 erage, future prospects brightening 

 but uncertain due to threatened dam- 

 age from second brood chinch bugs. 



Heavy rains reported throughout 

 most of the state the first two weeks 

 in July. Soybean prospects good, 

 second crop alfalfa much better. 

 Pastures green again. More beans 

 than ever will be cut for hay. 



Farm Bureau Day 



At the State Fair 



(Continued from page 4) 

 Jones, McHenry; Marjorie Lambert, 

 McLean; Margaret E. Hahn, Mar- 

 shall-Putnam; Virginia Kohl, Me- 

 nard; Martha McClelland, Mercer; 

 Margaret Hauser, Montgomery; Ruth 

 E. Stevenson, Morgan; Olga P. Fel- 

 ler, Moultrie; Myrtle Elliott, Ogle; 

 Bernice Pollock, Piatt; Gertrude 

 Brelje, Randolph; Catherine Hurley, 

 Saline; Ora E. Hamilton, Washing- 

 ton; Lillian McDowell, Wayne; Irene 

 Backman, Williamson; and Mary 

 Hartman, Woodford. 



AUGUST, 1934 



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