FARM-MANAGEMENT SUEVEY OF EEPEESENTATIVE AEEAS. 5 



Counties. Among others it included the townships of Virginia, 

 Ashland, and Tallula. *By railroad the area is about 200 miles from 

 Chicago and 100 miles from St. Louis. All of the produce sold is 

 shipped- out of the district. 



The land, except along the streams, is prairie soil. It is a sticky 

 black loam, common to large areas in the central part of the State. 

 Figure 2 shows the general character of the country. It lies very 

 level in places and is likely to be wet unless tile-drained. Nearly all 

 farms have excellent systems of tile drainage, which have rendered 

 the soil one of the most productive in America. The continuous 

 cropping of corn for over 50 years, although having its effect, is 

 almost unnoticeable. With any reasonable regard to the conservation 

 of fertility, this soil would seem almost inexhaustible. Corn, oats, 



%*&&.•*, «.^ r * 



Fig. 2. — -A typical harvest scene in central Illinois. 



and wheat are the important crops. Very little hay is grown, and this 

 is largely clover. The second crop of clover is cut for seed. 



The average size of the 196 farms studied was 240 acres. Of this 

 95 per cent is tillable, 3 per cent is in woods, and 2 per cent in waste 

 land. 



The area in corn per farm was 97 acres, the proportion on the 

 tenant farms being about 10 per cent greater than on the farms 

 operated by owners. Oats occupied 34 acres and wheat the same. 

 The area in hay was small, being only 13 acres on the owners' farms 

 and 7 acres on those rented. The area in permanent pasture was 

 greater than that in wheat, except on the tenant farms, where it con- 

 stituted one-half as much. 



