Lee County, Illinois - Chapter 4, 1920

which would need l;c done .luruiii Ihc war pcrio.l. Followina t hcii' sutiscst ion a Lee County Conimittce was appointed consistinsi of the follow ini^ men: A. P. Aiiuiiigtoii, L. W. Miller, Mrs. Jos. A. Lonii, S. 1,. Shaw, F. N. Vaughn, Andrew Aschenlirenner, George B. Shaw. Upon furthei- consultation with some of this connnittee and upon conferi-ing with the Executive Coninultee of the ],ee County Soil iinprovenient Association it was atiTced that crop produclion an.' conservation work could he carrie.l on more easily and elhcienlly by the Executive Commitice of the Lee County Soil Im|)rovem(ail Association than to

Improvement Association hail 1 ein at work since the sprinu of l'.)l(i and their work was very largely along tlie same lines which were finally outlined liy the Stale ( 'ouncil of Defense Food Production and Conseivation Di'partmeni. This committee ivpivseiited very largely the same interests as were represented in the I" 1 Production ( 'onservation Committee just named and the Execuli\i' ( 'i mmitlee consisted of the folhiwing men: S. L. Shaw. J. W. Thier, F. D. Gehant, W. 11. Ku.iil.'r, \. D. ( .V. H. liosworth, W. A. Green. Active work alon- food production and conservation lines with the primary ol.jecl of

Winter Wheat Duriiii: ll:e fall of 1917 manv farmers were persuaded to s<iw winter wheat and suggestions for the growing of this (aop were prepared and ruil.lished, a copy mailed toal.out 800 farmers who are on the mailing list of the Lee County Soil Improvement ,\ssociation as well as all the county papers who made general use of such material. It was not felt advisalile to recommend in a general way the growing of winter wheat, since much ol the soil of I.ce County is not suitaMe for wintei- wheat growing and during the spring of I<»I7 ahoiit 4-.") of the winter wheat in the county was winter kilh'd, l.iit efforts were made to iiidui'e all who underslood the situalion to put in an acreage of winter wheat.

It was impossible to .secure for Lee County enough spring wheat seed to greatly increase the acreage, since threshing reports show a total of about 7,500 acres of wheat ha\inti lieen threshed in the county in 1918 as comj^ared with 3,142 the last census report, in 1!)10. ]\Iarciiiis spring wheat was univei-sally recommended for spring wheat seeding.

111 tlu' fall of 1017 it was very evident that the corn croji was not safe from frost and all faiiucrs were virgcd to select thiur seed corn and give it proper care with the result that those who followed this ad\-ice tlid have suitable seed corn.

To help make use of the soft corn the chairman of the Food Connnittee aided in sectu-- ing about 8 or 10 cars of feeder hogs and over the whole county a very large nunil)er of feeder hogs were bought and fed.

While the use of salt in keeping soft corn was entirely in the experimental state we secured the best information available, and sent word to ahout SOO farmers of the experience that had been had in the use of salt.

The Association office co-operated with tin- State Council of Defen.se in furnishing farmers of the county with the best available seed corn. We have record of 1,673 bushels of seed corn having been ordered thru the Association office and a total of 2,000 Ijushels were handled at Amboy for the State Council of Defense. About 1,000 bushels of this were used for seed purposes, the rest having been a surplus held in reserve for emergency replanting. This took the time of the advisor and the office force for practically two months, and meant day and night work for most of this time. WTiile the State Covmcil of Defense could not guarantee seed corn that would mature a crop in this locality they dill priinise the liest seed available under the circumstances. Three-hundred and fifty bushels of the first car consisted of early corn and proved to be early maturing. Of course, some of the later varieties did not mature on some soil types altho where planted on comparatively rich ground even the later varieties matured.

The usual camjiaign to get the fanners to treat tlK'ir grain to prevent smut was waged with still greater effort and very careful estimates show that treating was done on aljout 2,000 farms out of 2,774 in the county. This means that with an average of 40 acres of spring grain per farm yielding 50 bushels per acre, there was a total yield of 4,000,000 bushels of grain and with a saving of 6% which resulted from treating there has been brot about a saving of 240,000 bushels of grain in the county in 1918 which at 70c per bushel means a saving of $168,000. While we appreciate the fact that such figures must be largely estimates we base our estimates on careful inquiry; on counts of smut actually made in the field and from census reports of the number of farms and crop acres in the county.

In inis aliout .5,000 acres of a combination crop of corn and soy beans were jilanted. This ero)) to be used for feeding off in tlie fall for hogs or sheep or for silate jjurposes. This combination crop is an advantage over corn alone from the fact tliat soy beans are a leguminous crop and furnish a feed higher in protein than non leguminous crops such as corn, barley, oats and other grains. The soy bean crop is as rich, or richer, than clovers or alfalfa hay and when used as a live stock feed is found to take the place of much high priced feed stulT. It was also considered that the combination crop of corn and soy beans does not reduce the >-iel(l of corn to any extent whatsoever and that the soy bean crop is a direct addition to the anioiuit of feed produced per acre. In fact some growers claim that soy leans actually help the corn crop, from the fact that the soy bean is a nitrogen gatherer

It was foniid (hu-inc- harvest time that army worms were eausing considerahle tronhle in (hfferent [larts o{ the cdmity. namely, in the virinities of Paw Paw, Lee, Scarimro, and Walnut. The farmers who re|)oi-ted troiihle were consviUed with and Mr. Sehali'k, Assistant State Entomologist was called in consultation. In somi^ cases it was found that the oat crop was completely destroyed. In cases whei-e the oats were destroyed and there was not much danger of the aini>- woinis traveling to a neai- liy coin held it was recommended no action be taken. In some cases, however, the farmers were advised to plow a furrow along the corn fiehl and sink post holes in the lioitom of tlie furrow at intervals of about a rod. In most cases where this was done and followed up the army worms were halted. It was found that from one-half to two-thirds of the arm>- worms were effected with parasites which is a natural means of control and one which keeps the worms in check in an average season. This year damage was foiuid to oc<-ur in very heavy fields of oats that had lodged and on comparatively low ground.

During the harvest season the counmttee cooperated with the State Comicil of Defense of P"arm Labor .Vdnnnistration and with llie help of a rc|)rescntat ive from the adiriinistration each town in the county organized to the extent that practically all business men agreed to spend a part of a day or even all day in the harvest fields. Our records show that at least 370 different men were supjalied to assist in harvesting the crops and that many of these men went out a mnnber of different times altho no reconl was ki'iit of the number of different places went. Some i-ities and villages turned out almost to a man during the afternoon or early evening. Included in the 37U different luen are aliout 70 men from Chicago and other cities wdio came out principally for their vacation period to work on the farm. Naturally some of the.se men did not make good since thej' were inexperienced or not used to heavy work but as a rule tliey helped considerably in the harvest fields. The chairman of the Lood Production and Conservation Committee until July 1918 acted as county food administrator at which time it was felt that the work could not be properly handled along with the other necessary woik to be done and for that reason the work of County Food Administratorshi]") was turned o\'er to A. H. Bosworth, Dixon. During the spring and summer of HMS the food administration asked that each county conduct a grain saving campaign, and to carry this otit a meeting of the threshermen was called for July 6, 1918 at whii'h time suggested rules wei'e presented to the threshermen who veiy genei'ally agreed to carry out all rul(>s as outlined which were as follows:

11. Care in not mixing varieties of grain that may and should be suitable for seed. Especially is this true of wheat, rye, barley and early oats.

A county Ihivshing committee was also appointed to which any violations were to l)e reijoiicd. This committee to interpret the rulings and decide on cases as they deemed proper. It may be said that many controversies were reported, very few of which came under the jurisdiction of tlic tincshing committee, altho many cases were decided to the best of their ability. It seemed that many local neighborhood difficulties were brot to the attention of the coimmttee only to be referred back for settlement by the parties coneeiiied, since lime and efToi't necessary to decide them could not be sacrificed where real giain saving was not in\dl\ed.

A\liile it is very difficult to deteiinine the amount of grain saved the general opinion seems to be that most runs impidxcd yrvy uicatly upon wf)i'k in previous years.

interest in tlie product ion of more and better pork and would make of the i.ioys and girls that lool< part, interi'sted |)roducers of live stock. A total of 56 boys and girls took up this work and thru \\\i' co-op(>ration of the breeders of the coimty pure bi-ed pigs were furnished to each boy and girl at a cost of about .§15 to each.

Mr. H. P. Hilhish was sr.uiv.l as clul, leader and in additu.n \u \Ur pi- clul. project lie was al>le to ilo a .liivaf deal of demonstrating and orpinizal ion woik in the canning of fruits and ve-etal.hs. Durilifi the hdl the boys and jiuls piiis were exhiliite.l and sold at puMie auelion at an averaiie inice of Sll.') each, which, of course, made a veiy neat profit to each hoy and uiil. Later indications have shown tliat not only .lid this work stimulate a very ke.ai interest on the part of the hoys and -ills, l.iil h.'Iped to bring about that same interest in the lathers and mother- and as a result one mother and her 1 oys have gone into the hog 1 iisiness in addition to the work which is b.aiig well done iiy the father.

The Palmyra Cow Testing Association is on its second year of work and has aided the members very materially in better feeding, management, and general production methods. Efi'orts were madi' to organize a second cow testing association with the result that perhaps eiairgh meml ers can 1 e secured during the winter of 191S-1919 to complete the organization. It is possible tl;al by means of the cow testing association, ami perhaps in no other way as a general rule at h'ast, the non-productive cow may lie weeded out and finally bring about the selection of the high pn.ihicing and herd.

Assistance was given in the organization of lln' Lee County Farm Loan Association and two meetings were held at which Carl Iv IL-iikins. Vice President of the Fe.leral Farm Loan I?ank of St. Louis, dis,aissed the benefits of the l"arni Loan Associations.

At the Lee County Fair an exhibit was made by the association. .\ miniatm-e farm of 160 acres was i)latted showing the growing .a-ops in rotation with buildings and fences all com|)lete. This exhibit attracted marked attention and was conimented on very favorably by the thousands of people who visited the exhibit. A plal of the farm and a des.aiption of tla^ farming system was mailed to each membia' shortly after the Fair which will give those interesteil an opportunity to stu.ly cnit an imiiroveil system on their were as follows: Wheat rust, with a plea to kill all common barberry which serves to spread wheat rust; corn ready for seed gathering, and a summary of the number of farmers ordering seed corn thru the Association, numbering 316 with a total of 1,673 bushels of seed corn or.havd; and an exhibit showing the result of 6 years soil treatment at the Dixon Experiment Field. A maii of the county showing the location of the members; charts showing the need of keeping farm accounts and some samiile account books; an exhibit showing army worms and parasites which help keep this jiest in chei'k. also damage done by the army worm in Lee County. Soy beans showing ino(ailated an<l uniiKKailated plants and the material needed for treating grain to prevent smut were all on display. The whole exhibit was iiut on in a 30x40 tent with stenograiiher's desk and appropriate signs.