the previous year to hit the lowest spot 

 since 1909-1910. Although some impor- 

 tant products showed a substantial in- 

 crease, the volume index of exports of 

 44 leading farm products for the year 

 stands at 83 as compared with 85 in 

 1932-1933 and 100 for the 1909-1914 av- 

 erage. The year 1934 may have taught 

 us, therefore, that future years will not 

 be as bad as this one has been if we will 

 do some of the things that might be 

 done to get our volume of exports back 

 to where it was in the days of better 

 times, .^---^---v .i^:-- •.•.■:: ^.^•.■.^;.■ •=•••.•■•., r-/v.-r.-,^ri-- 



"Brains" are being ridiculed in some 

 quarters just now, but 1934 has put 

 across another of its lessons there. It 

 takes brains to do good farming, and 

 there ought to be more trust in brains, 

 not less, as a result of the way good 

 farming has come through in 1934. : ^:>: 



Farmers following the teachings of the 

 College of Agriculture, University of 

 Illinois have been practicing good farm- 

 ing for a long time, but no year in his- 

 tory has taught the merit of such farm- 

 ing more forcibly than has 1934 with its 

 drouth, heat and other adverse conditions. 



During the past decade and a half, for 

 instance, more than 7,000,000 tons of 

 limestone have been applied by Illinois 

 farmers who have followed the recom- 

 mendations of the College of Agricul- 

 ture, University of Illinois with regard 

 to the testing of soils, the growing of 

 more legumes and the balancing of crop- 

 ping systems. . v- ;- - : -v 



Thousands of acres of legumes which 

 have been made possible and successful 

 as a result of this lime-legume program 

 have stood farmers in good stead in a 

 drouth year like 1934. More than 850,- 

 000 acres of sweet clover alone have been 

 grown in Illinois this year largely as a 

 result of the soil testing and liming pro- 

 gram and the other good farming prac- 

 tices which farmers have adopted upon 

 the recommendation of their county farm 

 advisers and the extension service of the 

 agricultural college. This sweet clover 

 has been little short of a "life saver*' on 

 many farms this year where non-legume 

 pastures have been burned out by the 

 drouth and heat. Furthermore, some 300,- 

 000 acres of limed land grew alfalfa in 

 Illinois this year. From this farmers got 

 a good crop of hay when other meadows 

 were practically worthless. One farmer, 

 H. K. Johnston, of Buckley, Iroquois 

 county, who has followed the college's 

 recommendations ever since he started 

 farming ten years ago, reported a yield 

 of 32 tons of alfalfa in the first cut- 

 ting from 14 acres which was limed six 

 years ago. 



The year 1934 has taught us at least 

 one other lesson and that is that mass 

 action, the expenditure of millions of dol- 

 lars of public funds and other expediences 

 can never be a substitute for the think- 





A. F. B. F. Convention 



TIME: December 10-11-12. ' 



PLACE: Nashville, Tennessee. 



HEADQUARTERS: Andrew Jack- 

 son Hotel, Hermitage Hotel. 



ROOM RATES: $2.50 single— $4.00 

 double and less at other hotels. 



RESERVATIONS: Make with A. 

 F. B. F., 58 E. Washington St., 

 Chicago, or direct. 



R. R. RATES: Fare and one-third 

 for round trip — must present re- 

 duced fare certificates when you 

 buy ticket. Get certificates at A. 

 F. B. F. headquarters. 



SPEAKERS: Secretary Cordell 

 Hull, Secretary Wallace, Ches- 

 ter C. Davis, Dr. Geo. F. War- 

 ren, Governor John G. Winant of 

 New Hampshire, Dr. W. I. Myers, 

 ; H. R. Tolley, M. L. Wilson, and 



'■-■.-others. ■•■■•^•-■■^^ • ■■■■-:'■■'-'■:::.::::• 



Make your reservations at oiice. 

 Nashville is not far from down- 

 state Illinois points by train or 

 auto, and members will be well re- 

 paid for time and money spent at- 

 tending the meeting. : \iv V^ 



ing and planning of individual farmers. 

 This lesson has come out of the farm ac- 

 counting project of the College of Agri- 

 culture, University of Illinois. > ^^ 



Over the state as a whole there are 

 approximately 1,400 farmers who are 

 keeping accurate records in connection 

 with this project. Among these 1,400 

 farmers there is a group of 150 account 

 keepers in the territory of Grundy, La- 

 Salle, Marshall and Putnam counties who 

 are enrolled in what is known as the 

 farm bureau-farm management service 

 projectv-/^;f • .-../.:•'■.•■■/.■•: .".■■:•:•■'..■■ -^.-.'■^•■-•: ,:.v-'.---- 

 A'"VC;- }; ^;-" ■;:., $1432 A Fsirm'r\0A.:'^-^'^'i.\ 



This year their records were sum- 

 marized for the three-year period 1931- 

 1933 and the results featured in a round- 

 up meeting which was held at Ottawa in 

 September. The 30 farms with the larg- 

 est net income had an average annual in- 

 come of $1,432 a farm as the interest on 

 their investment and to pay them for 

 their risk and management. The 30 

 farms with the greatest losses had an 

 average annual deficit of $445, which 

 was $1,877 below the net income on the 

 more profitable farms. :j 



This difference was largely the result 

 of differences in efficiency of organiza- 

 tion and management of the farms and 

 was attributable to such things as live- 

 stock efficiency, crop yields, size of busi- 

 ness and expenses. 



There have been other lessons that have 

 stood out in 1934, but space does not 

 permit a detailed review of them. Cer- 



Foreign Trade 



(Continued from page 4) 



goods. It is true that these direct trans-' 

 actions frequently lead us into multi- 

 lateral negotiations, as in this case, but 

 that is no reason for decrying direct 

 transactions wherever they are desirable, 

 and they may be desirable in many cases. 

 One other criticism is to the effect that 

 before considering new trade transac- 

 tions, we should collect what is now due 

 us by other nations. Having had long ex- 

 perience in credits and collections, I 

 understand Ithat point perfectly. The 

 founder of the business with which I was 

 long associated, three-quarters of a cen* 

 tury ago printed across the face of his 

 invoices something like this — "All bills 

 must be paid within 10 days from the 

 date they fall due or arrangements made 

 in advance for an extension, otherwise r 

 no further shipments will be made." He 

 meant that he would insist upon his cus- 

 tomers respecting their agreements to 

 pay when due or arranging for an exten- 

 sion of time if necessary. Otherwise he 

 would make no more shipments; he would 

 not continue to throw good money after 

 bad. That is myAriew.' -^^^^^ • ;; 



We have two types of debtors always, 

 one the kind that can but won't pay, the 

 other the kind that desires to pay but for 

 the time being is unable to do so. So it is 

 with governments. I am more optimistic 

 than many people about ultimate pay* 

 ments due us from foreigners. No civi-' 

 lized nation will assume the responsibil- 

 ity of urging repudiation of contracts be- 

 tween nations. In some cases it may be 

 necessary to make adjustments or to ex- 

 tend the time of payment. But in the in- 

 terim are we to sit still and await pay- 

 ntent and make no attempt to trade? 

 Should the answer be yes, it means con- 

 tinuation of unemployment, idle factories 



. and farms and all that goes with such 

 phenomena. We have had those condi* 

 tions in our midst long enough. 



): In my judgment, it would be far better 

 to negotiate country by country to see 

 what we can trade and at the same time 

 determine what arrangements can be 

 started at least looking toward payment 

 of past due indebtedness. Without trade, 

 means for payment become nonexistent, 

 and obligations of payment become so 

 much waste paper. 



^ Thig is the first of a series of two articles on 

 "Forei^ Trade" by Mr. Peek. The author became 

 well known to Illinois farmers through his leader- 

 ship beginning- in 1921, in the flg-ht for farm sur- 

 plus control legislation and parity prices for f aim 

 products. Mr. Peek's home is at Moline in Rock 

 Island county where he was in the farm implement 

 manufacturing business. He is a charter member 

 of the Illinois Agricultural Asa'n. — ^Editor. 



tainly the fact that we had the worst 

 chinch bug infestation in 1934 that we 

 have ever had has taught us that we can 

 never relax our vigilance against insect 

 and disease pests. The shortage of feed 

 (Continued on page 7) : 



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I. A. A. RECORD 



