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41 V 



By JIM THOMSON 

 Ass't. Editor, lAA Record 



registered mounts on the farm. 



Of the cropped land, an average of 

 100 acres are in wheat, 60 in corn, 

 and 40 in soybeans. For winter feed- 

 ing he puts up corn silage and alfalfa 

 and clover hay. 



When the Webbs took over an 80- 

 acre field about 15 years ago it was 

 badly eroded. Today it is an excellent 

 pasture with some of the first terraces 

 ever built in the community. The 

 eroded gully which ran through the 

 heart of the field was once deep enough 

 to swallow 100 automobiles. Now it is 

 partially filled in and grassed. Water 

 runoflF is slowed down by the terraces 

 and four concrete spillways. 



All of the fields have been limed 

 two or three times. All but 60 acres 

 have had applications of 1,000 pounds 

 of rock phosphate to the acre, and all 

 have had some potash and nitrogen. 

 The Webbs now spread concentrated 

 fertilizers shortly before planting. 



Webb's grandfather was the first 

 farmer in the community to use lime- 

 stone and phosphate about 40 years 

 ago when the University of Illinois set 

 up an experiment field at Ewing. 

 Director Webb follows the precedent 

 set by his grandfather and goes a step 

 further with a balanced program of 

 plant feeding. 



A number of labor saving devices 

 are used on the Webb farm. For 

 instance, silage is unloaded by pulling 

 a false endgate frpm the front to the 

 back of the wagon or truck, thus 

 eliminating hand work. He uses a 

 field cutter and blower besides. Baled 

 hay is raised to the ceiling of the barn 

 where it is dropped on a conveyor 

 and moved to any place in the barn 

 without any rehandling necessary. Di- 

 rector Webb designed and built the 

 conveyor. 



His father was a charter member of 

 the Franklin County Farm Bureau. 

 About that time Albert had a joint 

 membership with him. Director Webb 

 was elected to the Franklin County 

 Farm Bureau board about 1930. He 

 was appointed secretary and served 

 four years. About 1937 he became pres- 

 ident of his Farm Bureau and served 

 four years. He is chairman of his 

 district soil conservation committee and 

 chairman of the agricultural committee 

 of the Benton Chamber of Commerce. 



Webb is also on the state committee 

 of the Farm and Home Administration. 

 He is a member of the Benton Lions 

 Qub and is a 32nd degree Mason. 

 He is also affiliated with the East St. 

 Louis Shrine. He is a steward in the 

 First Methodist Church at Benton. 



Director Webb keeps the quality of his 

 polled Herefords high with top quality 

 sires. Here is his number one prize bull. 



He was president of his local school 

 board when consolidation was being 

 considered and voted to buy, with 

 other school districts, the facilities of 

 Ewing College (it closed in 1925). 

 When the trial consolidation at Ewing 

 College worked, Webb voted with the 

 majority for district consolidation the 

 following year. 



Mrs. Webb is the former Ruby 

 Stokes of West Frankfort. He has 

 three children: Frances Jean, 17; 

 Carolyn Anne, 7; and Sue Elaine, 5. 



"Our family has been wrapped up 

 in Farm Bureau since its beginning,'' 

 Webb said. "We try to support it 



Showed area eufflnes the 2Sth district 

 which is represented on the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association board of directors by 

 Albert Webb of Ewing, Franklin county. 



100 per cent. I feel sure we always 

 will. It seems the only sensible thing 

 for us farmers to do — that is, back 

 your Farm Bureau. By doing that you 

 help your neighbors and yourself." 



GISH NAMED lAA 

 SOILS DIRECTOR 



ROGER E. GISH, 34, of Paducah, Ky., 

 has been employed as the new direc- 

 tor of soil conservation activities for the 

 Illinois Agricultural 

 Association. 



Gish fills the posi- 

 tion vacated by John 

 R. Spencer who left 

 the lAA in 1946 to 

 work with a Lee 

 county limestone 

 company. 



Gish, who re- 

 ceived his master of 

 science degree this 

 spring from Iowa 

 State College, has 

 had more than 10 years of technical and 

 practical experience in soil conservation 

 work. 



After two years at Paducah Junior 

 College he worked for the U.S. Soil Con- 

 servation Service from 1935 to 1943 and 

 was in the army from 1943 to 1945. 

 From January, 1945, to March, 1946, he 

 worked for the Geological Survey in 

 Washington. He is married and has a 

 six-months' -old daughter. 



NAME CAMP MANAGER 



Eugene H. Schroth, Paxton high school 

 teacher, has been named manager of the 

 4-H Memorial Camp near Monticello. 

 He was appointed for the 1948 season 

 starting July 1. 



The second annual Illinois conference 

 of soil conser\'ation district directors will 

 be held at the U. of I. July 27-30. 



Roger Gish 



Onions may be a vale of tears to Mrs. 

 Housewife, but to Harold Gotxke, 35-yoar- 

 old McHonry County farmer, they're $70/- 

 OOO worth of |oy. Gotzke Is shewn whh 

 a sack from the 31,000 bushel crop of 

 Yellow Globes yielded from his M ocras 

 hut yecw. 



JULY. 1948 



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