f 



Editor's Note: This is the seventeenth 

 and final in our series of articles on the 

 lAA board of directors. 



WHEN a farmer points to a neigh- 

 bor and says: "That fellow 

 started from scratch," no doubt 

 you will detect a hint of praise 

 in his voice. 

 "He started from scratch," is one of 

 the finest compliments one farmer can pay 

 another because the phrase means far 

 more than the words say. The words 

 simply mean the neighbor started farm- 

 ing with little or nothing. You could 

 say that about a lot of people. 



Actually the phrase has come to mean 

 that from humble beginnings your neigh- 

 bor has attained some degree of success 

 in the eyes of his friends and neighbors. 

 It means that he has lived a good, con- 

 structive life; that he has rendered his 

 community some worthwhile service; that 

 he has reared a healthy, happy family 

 that is a credit to the community; and 

 above all, that he has been a good farmer, 

 and a successful one. 



Floyd E. Morris of near Buffalo, 14 

 miles east of Springfield, started from 

 scratch. Today, he is vice-president of 

 the lUmois Agricultural Association, the 

 largest State Farm Bureau in the nation. 

 As such, he works in the interest of agri- 

 culture not only at the community level 

 but also at the state level. And last 

 spring he testified for the lAA before a 



Left: Vl<« Prafldant Morrli imlla* as grandsoni stick boadi In 



straam ef rf*. Abova: Ha watches Don groom calf for his 



4-H Club project. 



BUSY VICE PRESIDENT 



lAA Official Devotes Considerable 

 Time and Effort in Furthering 

 Interests of Illinois Agriculture 



• 



Senate committee in Washington on a 

 long-term national farm program. 



Vice-President Morris was born in 

 Lincoln in Logan county, the youngest 

 of nine children. His father was a 

 carpenter who decided to move to an 

 80-acre farm near Hartsburg. Floyd 

 was five then. Later the family rented 

 160 acres near Beason. When Floyd 

 was 11 his father died. His mother 

 carried on for four years before return- 

 ing to Lincoln. 



Morris worked as a hired hand in 

 several places until 1922 when he was 

 married to Amelia Sampen, an Emden 

 school teacher. At that time he took 

 over 320 acres in a livestock share-lease 

 near Delavan in Tazewell county. 



In 1926, the Morrises moved to a 

 100-acre farm adjacent to the one they 

 now occupy. It was one of the Scully 



V i c a President 

 Morris combines a 

 field of rye he ex- 

 perimented with 

 this past summer. 

 Riding behind him 

 is Bob Etharton, the 

 combine operator. 



t#»?»&.i.^r 



^"1^.^ 



farms, well-known throughout central 

 Illinois. Under the English-type Scully 

 lease, the tenant buys everything but 

 the land from the previous tenant. 



In 1937 the Morrises bought and 

 moved to the 120-acre farm they live 

 on today. With the Scully lease, the 

 Morris operations added up to 220 

 acres. 



In 1945 an additional 120 acres were 

 rented but that same year Morris was 

 elected vice-president of the lAA. As 

 his lAA duties increased, he sold his 

 Scully lease. Today, Morris operates 

 240 acres with a hired man. 



Vice-President Morris is a general 

 farmer. Normally he has 30 acres in 

 permanent pasture, 40 in oats, 80 in 

 corn, 70 in beans, and 20 in clover 

 His rotation is corn, corn, beans, oats, 

 clover. 



He was one of the first men in his. 

 neighborhood to start using grassed 

 waterways. The land is fairly level 

 except one field which Morris plans to 

 contour. All the fields have been 

 limed and phosphated. 



Morris hasn't fed cattle since he left 

 the Delavan farm in 1926. He raises 

 an average of 100 to 150 hogs each 

 year. 



Twelve years ago Mrs. Morris bought 



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