190?. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
25 
Hope Farm Notes 
A Rich* State. —An eastern man can 
quickly see the richness of the soil in a 
State like Iowa, but he cannot grasp the 
full meaning of it until he thinks it all 
out. You find a feeling of independence 
and calm satisfaction among the people 
that is not met in most eastern sections. 
Farming is the leading business, and 
farmers appear to dominate the situa¬ 
tion. Most public men I should say are 
in some way interested in farming. No 
one spoke of farming with any sort of 
apology as is too often the case with 
us, and the people in town and city 
seemed to realize that their living came 
out of the soil. How long will this last? 
In the East the second or third generation 
away from the farm is likely to forget 
where its ancestors came from, and this 
has made much of our social trouble. Of 
course the Iowa people realize this, and 
they are preparing for it in the best way 
by organizing a strong system of educa¬ 
tion. The new agricultural education has 
come in time to save the West for several 
generations, provided there is no rapid 
growth of very large cities. 
This natural wealth has lifted Iowa 
out of the list of States to which immi¬ 
grants are likely to go. The old time 
immigrant was in his way a land speculator. 
He expected to obtain land at a very low 
figure, and live on it until by his own 
labor or by the growth of population the 
land increased in value. A considerable 
part of Iowa was settled in this way by 
men who paid but a few dollars per acre 
for land. Now this same land is worth 
$100 or more. Some farmers consider it 
a good bargain to sell out at these figures 
and go to newer sections where land is 
cheaper. Some that I talked with gave 
as a reason for doing this the fact that 
they had several boys, all of whom wanted 
to be farmers. They could not expect a 
man to farm less than 160 acres—so by 
selling the old farm they could take the 
money to a new country and buy land 
enough to give each boy 200 acres or 
more! It did not seem to occur to these 
men that a smaller farm conducted in a 
different way might make as good a 
living as the larger one on the old plan! 
At the East a farmer would try to meet 
such a situation in one of two ways 
First of all would come the feeling that 
he must not give up the old home. There 
is evidently more sentiment about such 
things at the East. The eastern man 
would .plan various occupations for his 
boys—doctor, lawyer, teacher or business 
man. I am sorry to say that in some 
cases the family would encourage these 
boys to leave the farm. This is not al¬ 
ways so, for I know of cases where all 
the boys have been educated—those who 
left the farm at medical or law school, 
and those who remained at the agricul¬ 
tural college. If several boys wanted to 
be farmers the wise eastern man would 
work into new crops—fruit, poultry or 
things that require great skill and which 
give large returns from a small area. 
First of all would be the idea that the 
home must not be sold if it is possible 
to hold it. I 11 that feeling I think the 
East has the advantage of the West. The 
East is older, and the ties of inheritance 
are stronger. Parts of the West are 
working into tenant farming. I did not 
have a good chance to examine this sys¬ 
tem carefully, but I should judge that 
most of those who go away from Iowa 
are renters who see no way of owning 
this high-priced land, and therefore go 
to the Northwest or Southwest after cheap 
land. 
Western money has been invested large¬ 
ly in farm land. This has made the sell¬ 
ing price high, and made it possible for 
the Eastern States to compete with the 
West for the most desirable class of 
immigrants. See how this works out. A 
man to make a good living at the farm¬ 
ing commonly followed in Iowa should 
have 160 acres of land. This will cost 
at least $100 per acre, On that strong 
and sticky soil large horses and strong 
and heavy machinery must be used. At 
the Iowa State Board of Agriculture it 
was admitted that a man to start right 
on one of these farms must carry a debt 
or secure capital of at least $ 20 , 000 . More 
than that if he expects to work into stock 
breeding. Now compare this with the 
way a man can start in New England or 
on the Delaware peninsula. He can buy 
land for $35 or a little more per acre. 
In Delaware a light team of mules with a 
disk plow will do a large share of the 
tillage. On that light soil a man can grow 
two and in some cases three forage crops 
each season—the total giving far more 
feed than an equal area of Iowa corn or 
clover. All kinds of stock products, from 
eggs to beef, bring more on the Atlantic 
coast than in Iowa. In New England 
a man with $ 4,000 or even less can buy 
a hill farm, plow and cultivate a few acres, 
use more for pasture and orchards, and 
plant the rougher land in pine for future 
lumber. The Iowa farmer who sees his 
rich soil producing great crops of. corn 
and clover does not stop to realize two 
very important things. He may sell his 
corn at 30 cents a bushel! A farmer on 
a New England hillside may buy that 
same corn of a dealer—paying 60 or 63 
cents for it, and feed it at greater profit 
than the Iowa man makes in growing it. 
The western farmers have reason to be 
proud of their fat cattle and other stock, 
and yet a New England farmer will buy 
their grain and make a greater profit 
feeding 25 good hens than an Iowa man 
will make feeding his own corn to a 
1,300 pound steer! This may seem in¬ 
credible to some people, but it can be 
demonstrated. Some day there will come 
a hard pinch either in the failure of that 
western land to respond or in the reduc¬ 
tion of grain prices. Then the western 
farmers will realize the awful tolls they 
are paying to handlers and railroads. 
Once stir them out of their good-natured 
belief that their soil is rich enough to 
provide for their own families and sev¬ 
eral more, and they will settle the rail¬ 
road problem in short order. I doubt if 
it will be settled until necessity forces 
action upon these producers. 
When the fact is pointed out that the 
old lands of the East offer better chances 
to men with small capital the Iowa man 
at once wants to know why this land is 
so cheap. A dozen reasons could be 
given. The land is old—some of it more 
than two centuries under cultivation. 
People left this poor land when the great 
West was opened because they felt it was 
worn out, and at that time the science of 
farming with chemicals had not been 
developed. As a rule the stronger and 
more adventurous went West. The call 
started by the Civil War again raked the 
hills of the young and strong, for this 
section was very loyal. Thousands never 
came back, and others got a taste of life 
in the army that broadened their views 
and took them West. Many of the old 
folks, left at home, have died, and the 
spirit of the section has led to the citv 
rather than to the farm. Thus the land 
has gone back to Nature and its price is 
usually made by those who cannot meas¬ 
ure its possibilities. The land is simply 
resting and gathering strength. With 
chemical fertilizers and proper handling 
it will respond. Thus the East is able to 
complete with the West for the immigrant 
with small capital. Next week I will 
try to trace a bushel of corn, a bale of 
hay and a. dollar from West to East. 
Christmas. —“We will try our axes on 
Stringfcllow after dinner /” The little 
boys made that statement right after 
breakfast. You must not suppose that 
the boys wanted to tomahawk our good 
friend Stringfellow of Texas. They have 
great respect for him, and regard him 
as a great man. The smaller boy thinks 
he must look like Dr. Van Fleet—which 
is a high compliment to Stringfellow. The 
boys referred to a field at the back of 
the farm, where we are to plant a new 
orchard after Stringfellow’s method.'This 
field is now grown up in birch and cedar 
trees, and the boys are to help clear it. 
They each had a new ax for Christmas. 
Santa Claus seems to have an eye to busi¬ 
ness at times. The boys could not go 
earlier, as they were to help Mother in 
the kitchen. There was a big turkey to 
be cooked, and other fixings to be fixed 
up. We were all well treated by Santa 
Claus, from the Hope Farm man down to 
the baby. Nearly everybody seemed to real¬ 
ize my need of handkerchiefs, and as a 
result I have a full supply. I saw that 
everybody on the place had a good dinner 
—the boys doing their share so well that 
there was really need for them to try their 
new axes. After the dishes were done 
we took our axes—and the rifle—and 
made for that field. Before the sun went 
down we made a good start at clearing it, 
and also tried to hit a target. I think 
we can drive those trees off the place but 
if an army advanced upon us we must do 
better shooting or be captured. The 
Christmas festivities ended at the church 
with a children’s party. In place of Santa 
Claus the children voted to have the Hope 
Farm man tell a story. So, with 80 or 
more little folks grouped around, I told 
“Flow Cousin Woodchuck Acted as Santa 
Claus.” I told the grown-ups that the 
story didn’t concern them, because they 
didn’t believe. They could all go out if 
they wanted to, but I noticed they all 
stayed, and were quite excited when it 
looked as if Judge Lynx would surely get 
little Dick. He didn’t, though, and it 
all turned out well, H. w. C. 
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Well pulverized soil 
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DUANE H. NASH, Box 38, MILLINGTON, N* J. 
