Jefferson County Online A part of the IAGenWeb and USGenWeb Projects Harvest Report for 1889

"The Fairfield Tribune"
Thursday, August 29, 1889
Front Page, and Pages 2, 4, 5, and 8

This impression of The Tribune is devoted almost wholly to a description of Jefferson county and a report of its present crop. The object is to give accurate information to those whom it may reach at a distance concerning this county as a farming country. It is not a boom issue or a special edition filled up with pictures of houses and men, the main object of which is to make money for the publisher. It is a regular numer of an ordinary county newspaper giving seasonably the most important news--news of the abundant harvest that has just been gathered. They grow as handsome men, no doubt, farther east, and they build larger and finer houses. But nowhere on earth do they raise better crops; and so we propose talking about the crops and the country instead of picturing men and houses. And we shall talk soberly, not extravagantly. We shall not adopt the boom method of statement, and we do not wish to have our statements discounted by the eastern reader, as he has learned to do at a heavy rate with the sweetly told story of the typical frontier boomer. Iowa is not as windy as Kansas or Nebraska either in its nature or in its art.

Nor do we wish to reach the typical frontier emigrant of either extreme. Iowa long since ceased to be border territory, and has no use for either the shiftless rover whom, with a tired team, hauls his tired family and leads his tired cow ever westward, ahead of the line of substantial settlement, as if frightened by the approach of possible comfort; or for the reckless adventurer who rides on the pilot of the first train on the pioneer railroad, with a hatchet in his hand and his pockets full of stakes to lay out a town, and no idea in his head but to start a boom, make his pile, and skip for a new field of such enterprise. Jefferson county, Iowa, has use for neither of these, and The Tribune will not adopt the style that attracts such. We want to talk to sober-minded, substantial people; people who do not care to endure the privations or take the risk of the newest west; people who have remained in states further east thus long because they appreciate the advantages of a settled and improved country; people who do not care to rove about in search of fortunes, but who want to permanently settle in comfortable homes where they can be sure of a good living with reasonable effort, and stand a chance for acquiring a competency; people to whom certainty and permanence are more attractive than the promise of large immediate gains.

And we want to present to such people the established and undisputed facts which will convince them that they can find what they want in Jefferson county, Iowa. We propose to show them by actual statistics of the present and former crops, not the fabulous fertility of a first season's yield in a new country, but the settled certainty of reliable productiveness in a soil that has supported and enriched an exacting population for fifty years. We wish to remind them that history is better than prophecy, especially when the prophet is a frontier boomer. We want them to know, as we do, that land can be bought in this county for one-half the price, considering actual value, that is paid five hundred or fifteen hundred miles farther west. We would like them to enumerate the advantages of life in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New England, such as: good houses, barns, wells, fences; good roads, bridges, school houses; numerous railroads, near markets, cheap goods; churches, colleges, public libraries; intelligent, educated, moral society,--and then be informed that they can have all of these in Jefferson county, Iowa, mortgaged by not a cent of public debt, on an investment of one-half or one-third the amount in the land. We confidently call their attention to the statement of a contributor who has lived here forty years, (Mr. John A. Ireland, a man whose statement of a fact, or whose opinion on an agricultural subject, is full legal tender throughout the county (that it is cheaper to purchase land at current prices in Iowa to-day than it was to buy it at $1.25 an acre from the government, believing it to be emphatically true. It always costs more to build a house or improve a country than it will sell for. The pioneer in settlement, as in invention or opinion, has the hardship and hard work; while the second settler, the purchaser of the patent, and the copier of the idea reap the profit and enjoy the fruits. We shall show that this applies to Iowa just now with much more than usual force.

Since civilization dawned on the banks of the Nile, it has always followed great water courses, simply because agriculture is the basis of civilization and the fertile farming lands lie along the great rivers. America is no exception to the rule, though, since she has rivers everywhere, the contrast between the valley of her great river and the rest of her land is not so great as in other continents and is sometimes overlooked. Nevertheless it is true even in this rich land that the very valley of riches is the valley of the great river. Get down your agricultural report, and, if your scrap-book-making daughter has not pasted a love story, some verses, or one of Burdett's jokes over the figures, you will learn that the states by the Mississippi are at the head of the list in the production of the great serials. Just as certainly as the ground rises does the soil grow poorer as you leave the river, especially to the westward. The states which touch the Great Father of Waters draw most of his wondrous potency. For years Illinois was his proud favorite and led the thirty-eight sisters in food products and the high financial and social conditions inseparable from a rich soil; but last year Iowa passed her and now stands (sic)

In total production of corn (crop of 1888).
In production of corn per capita.
In yield of corn per acre.
In grain products of all kinds per capita.
In total number of swine.
In total numer of milk cows.
In production of butter at factories.
In clip of wool per sheep.
In total production of potatoes, (crop of 1888).
In production of potatoes per acre.
In production of people able to read.
In smallest percentage of illiteracy.

The eighteen by twenty-four mile rectangular fraction of this great state, of which it is our business to give particular information lies between the Skunk and Des Moines rivers with its center fifty miles from the eastern boundary of the state and thirty from the southern. It is traversed by Cedar and numerous smaller creeks, running in a southeasterly direction. More than one-third of its surface was originally covered by timber, mostly oak with abundance of hickory, ash, walnut and the softer woods. It is still one of the best timbered counties in the state. The timber is evenly distributed throughout the county, convenient to every farm. It would be difficult to imagine a better proportion in which to mix prairie and timber land in an agricultural country.

In surface there is the same happy medium between the broken and the flat. Undulating is the proper general descriptive word, but does not tell the whole truth. There are three degrees of undulation, the very gentle, the medium and the somewhat broken; and they are divided and distributed in fortunate proportion. No land is too flat to drain well, and nearly all this has been thoroughly tile drained. None is too rough for blue grass pasture, and almost every acre of the broken land is so utilized and made to yield an abundance of the richest blue grass pasture. The roughest 160 acres we know of in the county rented last year for $1.25 an acre for pasture, and made a good profit to the renter. It was partially cleared, and had doubtless more than paid for itself in timber and fuel. It could be bought for $7 an acre; and $1.25 is 8 percent of $15.62.

The soil of this county is equal to that of any country. The original prairie land, comprising almost or quite two-thirds of the land in the county, has a deep, black alluvial soil without any underlying stratum of what is know in Western Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska as hard pan. A large per cent. of the original timber or brush land has the same character of soil and this land fully equals if it does not exceed the prairie land in productiveness. This class of land was once covered with a young growth of burr oak, jack oak, hickory, red elm and wild cherry, with hazel, thorn crab apple and wild plum thickets. This land when cleared, as almost all of it has been, is wonderfully productive. As an old settler expressed it, "It is the kindest soil we have." The rest of the timber land is a thinner, lighter soil with the clay subsoil, which underlies the whole county, nearer the surface.

The black prairie and timber soil produces abundant crops of corn, oats, timothy, wheat, clover and all tame grasses, potatoes and all kinds of vegetables. Corn has been and still is the main cereal crop; while it is better some years than others, a failure has never been known. While 75 or 80 bushels is not an uncommon yield, taking the country over one year with another the average is at least 40 bushels. Oats are always a sure crop, and 40 bushels per acre an average yield. Wheat, especially winter wheat, does better on the timber land, and while not as sure a crop as oats or corn it is a profitable crop to raise, and while 20 bushels per acre is an average yield 30 bushels per acre is not an uncommon yield. Spring wheat does not do so well, 15 bushels per acre being an average crop. The wheat crop this year is considerably below the average.

But Jefferson county is especially famous as a grass producing county. In tame grasses her crop of timothy and clover is immense. And in producing grass seed she stands at the head of any territory of equal area in the United States and perhaps in the world, her out put in one single year having reached 100,000 bushels of seed, and her average being at least five bushels annually. An average hay crop is two tons per acre and this year three tons is a common yield and three and a half not uncommon, while some pieces have actually produced four. Where less than two tons per acre are reported it is from pasture meadow or where cut for seed and half the bay lef in big stubble (sic). All this, of course, means splendid pasture of tame grass. But Jefferson county does not depend on her tame grasses for grazing pastures. This county may be fairly termed the GARDEN SPOT IN THE FAMOUS BLUE GRASS LANDS OF IOWA and the West, and fully equals the famous blue grass regions of Kentucky. This is no vain boast, but plain truth and all that is necessary to convince any man that it is so is to visit the county and examine for himself. The roughest and thinnest land in the county, when cleared up or even partly cleared up, soon sets in a thick blue grass sod and makes splendid pasture land and the growth of blue grass on the better soils is simply wonderful. As mentioned elsewhere, the county has now on exhibition at the state capital specimens seven feet tall, and thus far snrpasses (sic) all other localities in the state in both quality and size. We have driven over it where it had fallen down in a mat, and it was like a thick springy cushion under the wheels. Nearly every other paragraph in our crop report is in praise of the blue grass.

The price of land in Jefferson county ranges from $5 an acre to $40 an acre. Not much, however, can be bought at the former price, and not much is now sold at the latter. The common price of improved or partially improved farms is from $15 to $30 an acre. An entire estate, several hundred acres of well improved land of average quality, was recently purchased for $18 an acre, and thousands of acres with fences, houses, barns and orchards can be bought at from $15 to $20 an acre. These wonderfully low prices prevail at present notwithstanding the truth of what has been said of the productiveness of the soil; and also in spite of the fact that taxes are only about ten mills on the dollar of actual value; the county roads well graded and bridged, mostly with iron bridges and stone culverts; not a dollar of county debt and over $30,000 in the treasury; school-houses built and paid for; numerous churches, lodges, and societies at every town and village and in the country; one of the leading colleges of the state at the county seat, an excellent academy in one of the twenty post villages, and others just over the border; a free public library of ten thousand volumes and a museum worth as many dollars in Fairfield; nearly every farm within five miles or less of one of the five railroads; the best wool and poultry market in the state; factories, shops, and stores within an hour's drive over good roads; the closest competition and the cheapest prices for goods,--every comfort, convenience, and refinement of modern rural life. Prices of land were not always so low and will not long remain so. They are just as sure to rise to the Ohio standard, as Iowa is younger and will one day be as old as that state now is. We believe that on an average they will go much higher, because the average productiveness of the soil is very much greater. In explanation of the present low price of Iowa land we give an article by Mr. William Louden of this city, and believe it a correct and resonable explanation of the peculiar and special depression of land values from which this part of Iowa suffers.

I have lived in Jefferson county over forty years and do not remember any special effort ever being made to advertize her natural advantages. Eastern Iowa was mostly settled before the advent of railroads. The people came to secure homes, and not to inaugurate speculative schemes. Having found a garden spot they were content to sit down and enjoy it. It made little difference to them whether or not the rest of the world knew of the wonderful resources of their locality. Their homes were not for sale, and it would not pay to advertise for buncombe merely.

This was the situation until the railroads came and secured great grants of land to secure their western extension. Then began the most extensive land advertising ever known in history. The great railroad corporations having millions of acres to sell spent millions of dollars in making it known. The vocabularies of all the languages were exhausted in describing the "Eldorados" which they were selling on "long time and low rates of interest." Exclusions were started and every imaginable device was resorted to to attract the attention of the people. Not even stopping at the use of legitimate means to advance their interests, the railroad companies inaugurated a system of rate discriminations, which enabled the Kansas and Nebraska farmer to send their products to market for less money than it cost the Iowa farmer.

It is reasonable to suppose that these things would have an effect. While the great land "booms," which have been marked features of the two last decades, have doubtless done much to rapidly develop the "far west," they have also had considerable to do with the depression of prices in the older settled communities. While government land of yesterday has been raised to twenty dollars per acre, we have seen the forty dollar per acre farms of a few years ago in the older states reduced to twenty-five. Such results are not in the natural order of things. They show the nature movements and commerce of the people have been interferred with (sic) to such an extent that the whole country has been apparently knocked out of gear.

Aside from rate discrimination, which has been the most potent factor, this result has been accomplished largely by the extensive and almost interminable advertising of the railroad companies and western land speculators. The American people rely greatly upon advertising for the supply of their wants. Leading a hurried life they do not care to go to the trouble of investigating everything for themselves. Hence their attention is generally attracted to the house or the country that is the most thoroughly and entertainly advertised, and they will generally overlook far greater merit when it has not been fully presented.

Perhaps no part of the country has suffered more from these great western land booms that eastern Iowa. But little of her land being in the hands of speculators there was no incentive to keep an advertisement before the country. Being recently settled, she did not have time to fully develop, and the natural flush period of immigration which older sections enjoyed was cut short by the onward western movement.

The home seeker was carried through in the night on a half-rate excursion ticket good for western points only, and bought his home without hardly knowing that there was such a place as Iowa.

However, the effect was hardly perceptible as long as the old settlers remained in active life, but when they commenced to drop out the depression began to make itself felt. The new blood which was then needed to maintain the equilibrium was being diverted by artificial means to other points.

Real estate began to decline and people lost confidence because sellers were plenty and buyers scarce. The young man coming of age wanted to "see the world," especially that part which had been carpeted over with advertisements. Older men lost their balance, and were led to invest in western schemes, when it would have been better for themselves as well as their neighbors,had (sic) they invested their money at home, and so it went on to the end of the chapter, the maelstrom of depression that came,not (sic) being occasioned by any natural drawbacks, but in spite of natural advantages of the highest order.

But the end is at hand. The over-boomed regions of the far west, and the unjustly depressed localities of the Mississippi valley are seeking their rightful levels. The inter-state railroad law has contributed its mite (sic) to prevent the unjust discriminations of the past. In the re-adjustment of values being made, the sand hills of the plains can not match the fertile soils of Iowa. The recoil of emigration is already upon us, and the next decade will witness the developement (sic) of the localities that have been overlooked and neglected during the great railroad land boom of the last twenty years. In the re-adjustment of values at hand Jefferson county will come in for her full share of the advance. Her real estate is far below its intrinsic value. Naturally there is no better county in the state, nor in the United States. Sioux City may have her Corn Palace, but Jefferson can have both of these and then add a dozen other farm products equally as valuable.

We frequently read statements of the great fertility of the virgin soil that is for sale by some Railroad Land Company and then wonder, while we forget what has been done right here in our own county.

I have helped to harvest more than one field of wheat that yielded forty bushels to the acre. I have seen one hundred and thirty-six measured bushels of corn taken from one acre of ground on my fathers' farm in Cedar township. Where can such yields be beaten ? It is only a few years since a corn crop was raised in the north-western part of this county that was equal in value to the farm upon which it was raised. Of course these yields are above an average, but not as much so as the statements contained in the handsomely lithographed pamphlets of the various railroad land commissioners, which are scattered broadcast over the country. The natural resources of this county cannot be anywyere beaten, and if it was only located in Kansas, Nebraska or Dakota within the limits of some railroad grant it would be pictured to the world as a perfect Garden of Eden, and the price of its real estate would be immediately advanced fifty per cent. The very fact that land is cheap, far below its intrinsic value, makes this the place for the home-seeker to strike to secure a bargain.

Below we give such reports of this year's crops in Jefferson county as could be collected in the time and with the facilities at hand. Of course it is not as complete as a state or national census to which paid enumerants devote months; but it is so evenly distributed over the county as to furnish a correct basis for computing averages; and, we believe is the most, accurate and complete report made by a county paper in this state.

Blanks were sent to each of the hundred school districts in the county and reports have been received from more than half of them. These reports are not mere general estimates, but definite statements of the actual or estimated yield of each man's land, the farmer's name appearing in connection with the report.

It was impossible, of course, for the collectors of these reports to secure a statement from every man, or even to go see all; but enough have been reported to show correctly the yield in each district reported. We are very thankful to these volunteer reporters for the efficiency with which they have done the work asked of them. They have done just as well as anybody could do such work, but no doubt some errors have crept in, and, of course, The Tribune had no means of correcting them. If errors are found we shall be glad to publish corrections.

About half of the small grain reported has been threshed, and the actual yield in bushels in these cases is given. The hay is also the actual yield in tons as nearly as can be ascertained by the practical farmer without weighing it, which is pretty near. The yield of corn is, of course, wholly an estimate. The townships are arranged in alphabetical order, and the school districts by number.

Charles Nelson had 15 acres of oats that made 51 bushels to the acre.

I have filled the report for our district the best I could considering the time. The potato crop is good. Apples very good. The berry crop is immense. The timothy is yielding about three bushels per acre. Blue grass pasture and white clover are good. I think one fourth of our district is used for pasture, it is hard for me to estimate. I think one acre of blue grass pasture let grow through the summer is a good for cattle as one acre of hay. Last February, after the snow went off, I turned my cattle on blue grass pasture, and they thrived as well on it, apparently, as they do on green grass in the summer.

Blue grass pasture is the finest for years. Cattle and horses will live for three months in winter on it without any other feed. Fruits and berries are abundant, largest crop for years. Potatoes are better than last year, about 200 bushels per acre.

Blue grass pasture is good for the time of the year. Its value is very great. It makes nice pasture in the winter when the snow is off. There is lots of clover for seed, but the people are complaining about it's being poorly filled. Of fruit and berries there is a very large crop and fine quality; vegetables are plenty. Potatoes are a very large crop, and of good quality. Everything is in a thriving condition.

Timothy Seed in acres--Huss 70, Chidester 10, Gantz 125, Davidson 60, J Bell 3, S Bell 7, Black 40, McClelland 18, Knight 2, Summers 11. Average yield per acre, 2 2/3.

There is considerable blue grass pasture in this sub-district, and it is regarded as excellent for very early and late pasture, though it is of little account just at present. With a large range cattle would winter on it. Stock wintered last winter on timothy stubble. Small fruits were and are excellent, and it is the same with potatoes and all vegetables. There will be about 100 acres cut for clover seed, but it would be too indefinite to estimate the yield per acre yet.

I do not like to estimate other men's crops; have reported a few that have threshed.

Crop fair; oats a good yield; corn as good as last year at this time, will make a good yield; pasture good, find prospect for fall pasture of blue grass. I report only those who have threshed, and they have avearage yields with last year; others say about the same of their yield. Taking our district over it will make a good crop of all kinds. W. Chandler had a yield of oats of 40 to 45 bushels per acre. Potatoes are a very good crop. The blue grass is starting again after the small showers, and we think will make find pasture for fall and winter. I have known cattle to live on blue grass for half the winter. Some say they have known cattle to be wintered on blue grass without any other feed.

Timothy seed will average about 3 bushels to the acre. Fruit of all kinds is abundant; viz , strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, pears, grapes, and apples. The prospect is for an excellent crop of clover seed; second crop is very good.

The prospects for a crop of clover seed is grand, and the acreage large; a very good crop of apples and other fruits; large yield of blackberries. I have a patch about six rods long and one and one-fourth rods wide that will yield fully eight bushels of blackberries. The potato crop will be very large in this part. I think will yield about two hundred bushesls to the acre.
[Note: A rod is a linear measurement, equivalent to 16½ feet.]

The blue grass pastures in this district are in splendid condition. I have never known cattle to winter on it alone, but have no doubt there are pastures here that cattle would live and do well on all winter. From the outlook at present there will be a splendid crop of clover seed this fall. All kinds of fruit are to be found in abundance; also, all kinds of vegetables, potatoes especially, from all indications, will be an immense crop.

I have been threshing for the neighbors and what oats we have threshed have averaged from 40 to 50 bushels per acre; wheat, from 4 to 16; timothy seed 2 to 6 bushels per acre. In regard to blue grass pasture, would say that my stock lives on it from 8 to 10 months of the year and would winter in good shape where the ground is bare and there is a growth of grass left for winter pasture. Potatoes are a fine yield, will go from 100 to 300 bushels per acre. Raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and grapes are abundant; apples are plenty, in fact, I think Jefferson Co. is hard to beat for general farming, as an industrious man can have all luxuries of life and keep himself and family comfortable at as little expense as any place in the United States.

The totals for the district are: oats, 630 acres averaging 35 bushels to the acre; hay, 840 acres averaging 1½ tons; corn, 720 acres averaging 35 bushels. Blue grass pasture is in fair condition; prospect of the clover seed crop good; apples medium; berries and vegetables good; potatoes good.

Timothy Seed--Ira Bennett, 11 acres; yield per acre, 2½ bushels. M D Peebler, 7 acres; yield per acre, 3¼ bushels. W S Countryman, 44 acres; yield, 3½ bushels.
Rye--M D Peeble (sic), 3 acres; yield per acre, 26 bushels. Samuel Fell, 10 acres; yield, 13½ bushels.

Scarcely any wheat in the district; plenty of blue grass pasture; timothy seed not very plenty; any quantity of potatoes.

Z. T. Moore has three acres of potatoes, estimated yield 200 bushels per acre; M. D. Peebler, one acre, estimated yield 150 bushels; Ira Bennett, two acres, yield 150 bushels per acre. M. D. Peebler picked from 30 hills of blackberries 40 gallons of as fine berries as you ever saw, the variety being Stone's Hardy. Mr. P. has a fine crop of apples as also has W. S. Countryman. Stock of all kinds is in splendid condition. Pasture is in good condition.

Blue grass pasture is splendid. The prospect for clover seed is good. All kinds of fruits, berries and vegetables are plentiful. Potatoes will yield a good crop.

Rye is a good yield and quality. Timothy is good and yields well. Clover was never better. I think there will be more clover cut for seed than there ever was in this township. Potatoes are good in yield and quality. All kinds of vegetables are good. Small fruit was never better. The blue grass pasture is fine.

Other crops besides those mentioned in the report look well. C. M. Brown has in three acres tomatoes; had 470 quarts strawberries; 1770 blackberries, 200 cherries. G. F. Stever had 7 bushels mulberries; 5 blackberries; 5 raspberries. Clover is extra good.

The yield of corn per acre in part of the above is averaged, as it is impossible for me to give accurate figures, The report was made by two persons. (sic)

The blue grass of this township is extra good. Stock is doing well and is fat; can live on this grass and keep fat year round; will need no other feed unless there is snow. I wintered 30 head last winter and let them run on blue grass; did not feed them anything else only when there was snow on the ground. I fed about 5 tons of hay to the 30 head while there was snow. This is a good country for sheep. Clover is good and there will be a large yield of seed. Fruits are good and berries extra good. Vegetables are good and plenty. Potatoes are a good crop, more than will be used. C. W. Whitham threshed 72¾ bushels of timothy off of 10 acres.

We have potatoes, all we want; timothy seed 3 to 6 bushels per acre; clover, fine as ever grew;--if it tills well will make a fine crop of seed; fruit of all kinds is plenty--even peaches where there are trees; plums and berries of all kinds plenty. We have the finest soil for grass almost in the world. Blue grass and white clover is the best pasture for cattle. It will come earlier in spring, and if you don't get it until it snows under it is ready when the snow goes off. Cattle, horses, and sheep do better on a good blue grass pasture than on the best hay you can give them. Horses and sheep will paw off snow a foot deep and winter on it if it is there to get. I have 125 to 130 acres in blue grass pasture. It was not pastured down very close last fall, and our own cattle and horses fed on it all winter. I rented it to Mr. Ball for the summer, and he pastured 150 head on it till he got the old grass off, then left 80 head on and took the rest off. So you can see that blue grass left over is not lost. His cattle are doing fine.

The blue grass pastures are in good condition. Last year stock lived on pasture nine months with no other feed. The prospect for clover seed is good; apples are a fair crop; potatoes, fair crop; small fruit, abundant; N. S. DuBois picked 25 bushels of blackberries from one-quarter acre.

Mr. S. W. Coffin is the most extensive grower of blackberries, and seems to have the best ground for them, just south of the city. He marketed this season 5,548 boxes off less than three acres of ground. He says the Snyder is the blackberry for Iowa. Its cultivation is very easy. It does well on the rough land that has once been timber. The Gregg raspberry produces well here, grows very large and does not winter-kill. Mr. Coffin is neat and thorough in the care of his fruits. He has land to sell as good for the purposes as that he uses. He is also one of the most successful carp raisers in the state, and his article, copied from the State Register, in another part of this paper will be read with interest.

Mr. John McElderry is also a successful berry raiser, and confirms the above.

[Note: Mr. Coffin's article about raising carp is below, the last article on the page.]

Mr. Philip Lang, the most successful grape raiser in these parts favors us with the following:

Editors Tribune: With pleasure will hand you a statement and description on grapes, which are a good success here and, by long experience, very much easier propogated than in eastern states. Our soil is rich, strong, loamy, light, and needs no fertilizing, so a great deal of labor is saved by planting about 12 inches deep. Our winters are mild, so protection is not necessary. Vines are very stong and prolitic (sic), in second year planting will show their fruit, and after the third year will being a medium crop, The California ripen on or about Aug. 16, the 4th year bearing 50 pounds per plant of fine grapes. Marion ripens Aug. 22, same 30 pounds. Moore's Early, Aug. 24, 30 pounds, being the earliest, demanding a very good price. Also the Early Victor, Ives, Salem, Delaware, Worden, Wilder, Telegraph, Talman, Concord, Empire State, Goethe, Jefferson, Lady Washington, Niagara, Prentice, and Pocklington are the leading varieties.

Respectfully,
PHILIP LANG.

The Fairfield Tribune
Thursday, August 29, 1888
Page 3, Column 2

To the Editor of the Tribune:

Taking the time above mentioned, there has not been an entire failure of crops and but three that may be called partial: two on account of too much wet and one drought.

In that time the general result to the farmer that has attended to his business has been one of continued prosperity.

In that time farmers have commenced with a mare, a cow, and a sow, and, by taking care of them, have become, if not rich, what may be called good livers.

In that time men have come here renters; bought a farm, and paid for it; improved it by building good houses and barns; children have been born and grown; and from the home-nest each child has received a farm and outfit; and they in turn are following in the foot-steps of the parents.--and this by persons not particularly gifted in any way, except pluck and industry.

In that time land has become some what worn; but crops of clover fed out on the land will make it too rich for anything except corn, and in these seasons there may be realized from $5 to $10 per acre for seed. In stating general results, I may say that success invariable attends a steady adherence to business (none other ought to succeed.)

It is easier to-day to acquire land in Jefferson county than when land was to be bought of the government at $1.25 per acre, taking into account the advantages for making money, now and then.

One who has lived it,

JOHN A. IRELAND.