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CHAPTER XVI

Average Crop Yield of Monroe County for 1895, and Other Statistical Items

    The following figures are taken from the Iowa Agricultural Report for 1895.
    The average yield per acre of agricultural products was:

    For these staple products, the prices on December 1st averaged as follows:

    The average price per head for cows on same date was $28, and that of horses $34.

    In 1895 there were 10 counties in Iowa which gave a higher yield per acre of winter wheat than Monroe County.  The counties of Greene, Tama, and Guthrie averaged 25

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bushels per acre, which was the biggest.  Carroll, Dallas, and Adair gave an average of 24 bushels to the acre, and Palo Alto, Fremont, Van Buren, Henry, Muscatine, and Washington 23 bushels per acre.  Monroe County, with her average yield of 22 bushels, came next. 
    Little or no spring wheat  has been sown in Monroe County within recent years.
    In 1895 the highest yield of corn per acre was made by Fremont County, showing 50 bushels per acre; while that of Monroe County was 40 bushels.  The highest average yield of oats was made by Montgomery County, showing 71 bushels per acre; while that of Monroe was 34.
   For the present year (1896) the average yield for Monroe County of the foregoing staples will be much greater than for 1895, with the exception of the oat crop.  The growth of the latter crop was so exuberant that a large proportion of the acreage within the county blew down before it was headed out, and it did not fill well.  The corn crop is probably the heaviest the county has ever produced, and its average yield per acre will reach nearly that of the corn counties bordering on the Missouri River.
    During the last three or four years the yield per acre of the hay crop has been decreasing, though the average has not been reduced.  This is mainly owing to the gradual usurpation of the fields of timothy by bluegrass.  During the recent seasons of drought the timothy, making a light growth, and in many cases yielding no seed, permitted the bluegrass to take its place.  The bluegrass, maturing the earliest of all grasses, made a rapid growth in the spring, when there was a little moisture in the earth.  Its seed matured, germinated, and choked out the timothy, which had about succumbed to the dry weather.
    The most protracted drought will not kill bluegrass.  It becomes parched and brown, and even its roots become dried out and apparently dead.  In this condition the plant will lie dormant for months; but when the rains come, the roots return to life and the plant soon regains its verdure.  It grows in great profusion on all kinds of soil, and especially on unimproved lands and timber soil, and affords valuable grazing for live stock.
    In 1895 there were 1,215,437 head of horses in the State of Iowa, and of this number Monroe County had 8,961.  There were only 9 counties in the State having a less num-

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ber - viz., the counties of Osceola, Dickinson, Emmett, Winnebago, Worth, Hancock, Palo Alto, Ida, and Pocahontas.  Pottawattamie County had 21,695, and showed the largest number; and Dickinson County, with her 5,211 head, showed the smallest number.
    In 1895 Iowa had 3,273,525 head of cattle, of which number Monroe County had 14,546.  Fayette County showed 37,910 head, being the highest number; and Emmett County had the smallest number - 7,720 head.
    In the same year there were 3,895,316 head of hogs in the State, and Monroe County had 6,763 head.  Cedar County stood first with her 67,593 head; and Dickinson County came last, with but 4,847.
    In 1895 Monroe County had 12 cheese factories, far out numbering any other county in the State; the next highest number being in Humboldt County, in which there are but 5.
    While Monroe County stands without a rival as the banner cheese producing county in the State, she contains but 1 creamery.  Bremer County has 28, Dubuque 27, Jones 20, Fayette 22, and Linn 24.
    Some years ago the farmers of Monroe County tested the relative profits yielded by these two industries.  A creamery was established at Albia under the management of competent and experienced managers.  Milk routes were established throughout the county, traversing almost to the remotest parts.  The milk was brought to the creamery every day by wagons sent out by the creamery.  At the same time the cheese industry had gotten fairly under way; but, after a test of one season, the farmers and dairymen decided that there was more profit in sending their milk to the cheese factories, and in thus supporting the latter, the former industry was abandoned.
    Monroe County contains 271,408 acres of land, whose assessed valuation in 1895 was $2,320,235.  This valuation included town lots.  The assessed valuation of personal property was $680,498.  The assessed valuation of railroad property was $579,342, making a total assessment valuation of $3,580,175.
    The State tax for the same was $9,194.85; and the county, district, and city taxes were $97,846.
    In 1896 Monroe County contained a population of 15,870

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people.  There were also 5,269 youth enumerated in the county in that year.
    The amount of the permanent fund held by Monroe County in 1895 was $60,912.14, and the amount of interest apportioned was $890.46.
    Today there are doubtless 20,000 or 30,000 acres of wild land in Monroe County, lying idle.  While it presents considerable diversity in quality, the most of it is good soil, and will afford good pleasant homes to those who have the brawn and sinew and enterprise to occupy and develop it.  The greater part of this land consists of timber and brush lands, and at present can be bought at from $5 to $20 per acre, averaging say $12 per acre.  Of course, the locality in many cases is not at present the most enjoyable; but, with the rapid change in conditions which is steadily taking place, the remotest fastnesses of the county are destined in a dozen years hence to emerge into a happier and more advanced state of civilization.  The refining influence of education is reaching out on every hand, wealth and enterprise join hands with education, and with their combined influence the county will improve and each succeeding generation will be an improvement on its predecessor.  School houses and better public roads are breaking up the coarser phases of rural life.  There is no locality within the county so remote from civilization but that the farmer can get his mail in a half hour's drive.  With his good team and carriage, he now drives to the county seat after supper; whereas in former years, it took him about all day to make the trip with his team of "plugs" and heavy lumber wagon.
    Every foot of tillable Monroe County soil ought to be in cultivation.  The poorest farm in the county will at least furnish a home for somebody.  Nobody has ever been known to starve to death on a Monroe County farm.  He can contrive to make a living, at least, and make it honestly.  He has the satisfaction of sitting under the shade of his own apple tree, and the land is his, clear down to the center of the earth.  For $400 or $500 he may be able to purchase a solid section of the earth, a quarter of a mile wide, a quarter of a mile deep and over 3,000 miles in length.  It cannot be taken from him for debt, and his domicile cannot be broken into by force, without legal permission.  He has a right to defend his domicile against the invasion of others, even to the extremity of depriving the intruder of life.

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    To be the owner of land adds dignity to citizenship.  He is a "free holder," and enjoys rights and privileges of franchise not accorded to those who are not owners of realty.  He can borrow money and secure the loan by real estate security, when other could not negotiate the same loan, through they offered the most abundant security in the nature of personal effects.  Security for loan of school or other public funds must be based on real estate.  It is property which thieves cannot break in and steal, nor moth corrupt.

Bee Culture

    Bee culture, as a commercial industry, has within recent years been occupying the attention of a few of the farmers throughout the county.  Ever since the country was first settled, the people have kept a few colonies of bees for home consumption of honey, but, beyond supplying their own tables, the enterprise has been attended with varying results - in most instances with failure.
    The methods pursued by the bee keepers of former years were very primitive.  The common form of a bee hive was a section of a hollow log about four feet long, and any diameter from a foot up to two feet.  About midway in this "gum" two cross sticks were inserted as a support for the honeycomb.  A broad board was nailed over one end of the "gum," as a roof, and the bottom end was left open.  To get at the honey, the bee man took the family ax, and with its edge pried up the cover sufficiently to blow smoke into the hive.  As soon as the smoke reaches a bee it capitulates, but before this stage of the attack, the farmer expected to be stung a half dozen times at least, for the slightest jarring of the hive will bring a horde of intrepid warriors from out the hive.  He did not seriously object to their stinging him if they did it in a satisfactory way, but they would never do that; they would invariably crawl up his pants leg, and, before getting in their work, strike terror into the hear of the farmer by a kind of premonitory humming.  The agony of this suspense was further increased by the sensation produced by the bee climbing slowly up his bare leg.  A man with a strong heart and iron nerve could sometimes stand this, but when a bee got into his whiskers, he grew panicky and his iron nerve ran riot.  His first instinct was to call to his wife for assistance, but invariably she remained at her

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post in the kitchen door, laughing at him until with a wild yell he broke for some neighboring shrubbery, followed by a train of winged pursuers.  Sometimes he never ventured back to replace the cover on the "gum."

Apiary of C. H. Clark.

    Then, if he did not succeed in subduing the bees, he spoiled the honey in digging it out of the hive with a knife and spoon, and usually drowned half the bees in the torrents

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of honey flowing from the lacerated comb.  Honey in this condition was, of course, unfit for market; and he only aimed to produce enough for home consumption.
    Later, when patent hives were introduced, they were all more or less unsatisfactory, and did not conform to the instincts of the bee. 
    Within recent years, however, the bee hive has been highly perfected, and the bee industry, which is still practically in its infancy, in Monroe County, is already achieving gratifying results.
    C. H. Clark, a son of the late Wareham G. Clark, and who resides five or six miles southwest of Albia, has no doubt pursued the industry with the most conspicuous success of any bee keepers in the county.  He has at present from 40 to 60 colonies, but intends to increase the number to at least 100.  He has his apiary on 88 acres of land, and estimates that on a area of 6 square miles 100 colonies of bees could be successfully maintained.  He uses a nine frame hive, and his experience has evolved some very important facts.  He uses a square frame instead of one rectilinear in form.  His reasons for adopting this form of frame are: the queen been invariably builds her cell in the center, and for some reason, bet known to the bee itself, bees build their supply of honey above the queen's apartment, and leave the lower portion for brood cells and bee bread.  When Mr. Clark finds the upper half of the frame filled with honey, he removes the frame and turns it upside down, and by thus shifting the position of the frame until all four sides have been in their turn changed, the bees are forced to build in the boxes above, when they would otherwise have selected the frames.
    From Mr. Clark's experience, he has determined that 100 colonies will produce 6,000 pounds of honey in a season.  He sells his honey at from 10 cents to 20 cents per pound.  If his product averaged 15 cents per pound at wholesale, 100 colonies would yield him a profit of $900 annually.  Forty acres of land would be all the land necessary, and he could follow farming besides.  He could sow say 10 acres of buckwheat to facilitate his bees in their honey gathering, but they would not be altogether dependent on that, as the forest bloom, such as basswood, white clover, fruit blossoms, field clover, and the wilderness of asters, golden rod, and other yellow wild flowers that bloom in the early autumn along fence rows, highways, and stubble fields, usually make abundant

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food for bees.  Of course there would be seasons through which he would have to feed his bees perhaps all winter.
    Mr. Clark has two varieties of bees, the Italian and Carinolia.  He thinks the Italian is the best, because it can reach the honey cavity in a large proportion of the red field clover bloom.  The Carinolia is bee imported from Austria, and he considers this variety next best, having in his apiary about 20 colonies.
    The first to engage in bee culture in this county was Peter Brown.  Oaks and Bachelor next started an apiary, but soon abandoned the enterprise.
    Within recent years R. B. Arnold, of Urbana Township, has been pursuing the industry quite successfully in connection with horticulture and farming.  He has 30 colonies, and intends to keep on increasing the number.
    Henry Burner, Austin Jay, L. Snow, David Kenworthy, Alfred Weilman, and others are successful bee raisers in Monroe County.
    Mr. Clark, whose judgment in all practical matters can be fully relied on, states that from his personal experience, bee culture in Monroe County can be made a highly remunerative industry, and he earnestly recommends its investigation.

Political

    The political cast of Monroe County for many years has been pretty evenly divided, the two dominant parties being the Republican and Democratic parties.
    For many years there has also been a third party within the county, known under various names, such as the Greenback party, Union Labor party, Prohibition party, and Populist party of the present time.
    These various third party organizations, save the Prohibitionists, derive most of their recruits from the Democratic party; hence they have exhibited a more cordial feeling towards the latter party than towards the Republican party, and it is not uncommon for the Democratic party and the third party, whatever it may be, to fuse on a county ticket.  When this course is taken, the Republican party is often in a slight minority; but when all three parties bring out a separate local ticket, then the Republicans are in the ascendency.  The increased mining population has added strength to the Populist party of the present time, since a large majority of the miners favor the Populist doctrine.  The Democratic and Populist parties were of about equal strength in the earlier part of 1896, but later in the season the free silver agitation, then at its height, drew many Democrats into the Populists ranks, and left the Democratic party third in rank.
    The following official tables show the strength of the respective political parties in the county from 1889 to 1895. The vote was on State officers.

1895

1894

289

1893

1892

290

1891

291

1889

292

    In the foregoing tables the first column of figures denote the Republican vote; the second, the Democratic; and the third, the third party vote.  The figures given for 1892 were for presidential electors.
    At the general election of 1895, the Republican vote for Governor, in Monroe County, fell 54 votes short of the number cast for the Lieutenant Governor on the same ticket; Parrott receiving 1421 votes.  During that campaign, there was also a Prohibition vote in the county of 112 votes.  A majority of these were drawn from the Republican party.  There were three county tickets in the field - viz., the Republican, Populist, and Democratic tickets. D. H. Scott, the Republican nominee for Representative, received 1440 votes; McCauley, Populist, 908; and Campbell, Democratic, 720.
    In 1894 the Democrats and Populists of Monroe County united their forces, but the Republicans carried the county against their combined vote.  McCahan, Republican nominee for Clerk of the District Court, received 1727 votes; and Moore, the fusion candidate, 1588 votes.
    In 1893 the People's party took the "middle of the road" and nominated a county ticket of their own.  The vote that year for Representative was: Jay, Republican, 1475; Moss, Democrat, 894; Clarkson, People's party, 773.
    In 1892, also there were three local tickets in the field for a part of the offices to be filled. McCahan, Republican, for Clerk of the District Court, received 1483 votes; Wyatt, Democrat, received 1205; and Bates, People's party, 524.  John R. Clark was elected Auditor by a fusion vote of the People's part and Democrats.  Morrissey was also elected Recorder by Democrats and Populists.
    The Democrats and People's party fused in 1891, but the Republicans elected their ticket in the face of the united opposition. Jay, Republican, received 1601 votes; and Pettit, fusion candidate, 1587.
    In 1890 the Democrats and People's party advocates united their strength against the Republicans, but were defeated by the latter.  The vote on Clerk of the District Court was: Griffin, Republican, 1666; Forster, fusionist, 1224.

Manufacturing

    Monroe County contains one manufacturing concern of considerable magnitude - viz., the Western Manufacturing

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Company.  This plant is located at Albia, and was established in January, 1895.  It incorporated under the State laws, with an authorized capital stock of about $50,000.  The amount paid in, however, falls below that sum.  It organized with the following officers: Fred Townsend, president; W. S. Scott, vice president; J. R. Clark, secretary and treasurer; W. S. Scott, H. I. Clark, O. F. Smith, Chas. Israel, and E. C. Hulbert.

Works of the Western Manufacturing Company, Albia, Iowa

    The plant was located at Osceola, Iowa, prior to it organization in Monroe County, but as this county offered better transportation and fuel facilities, a local organization was formed of Monroe County gentlemen, the machinery was brought here and increased facilities added to the new organization.  The company builds a very popular pattern of hay ricker and rake; they also manufacture iron pumps of a high grade, and other mechanical sundries.
    The company has not been in operation long enough here to solve the problem of whether a manufacturing plant will succeed in Albia or not.  The greatest obstacle which inland manufacturing enterprises have to encounter is the

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large establishments of the manufacturing centers, whose unlimited capacity enables them to reduce all expenses to a minimum.  Having this advantage, they are enabled to place their products before consumers at a price which will drive the smaller competitor into bankruptcy.  The superior merits of the product of the Western Manufacturing Company, however, may achieve for the company a fair degree of prosperity.  The concern usually employs from fifteen to twenty men.  Its management is in the hands of staunch and reliable business men.

Albia Canning Factory, Albia, Iowa

    The Albia canning factory was organized in 1894 as a joint stock company, incorporated under the laws of the State.  Its authorized capital stock was $21,000, of which amount $10,500 was paid up.  The company was under the management of eleven directors: E. W. Byers, Ed. A. Canning, John R. Duncan, Max Loeb, J. S. Moon, A. A. Mason, John Forster, C. C. Acheson, C. W. Smallwood, J. C. Robeson, and Tom D. Lockman.  E. W. Byers was president. Chas. W. Smallwood secretary, and J. S. Moon treasurer.

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Owing to the crop failure of 1894, the management concluded to not operate the factory that summer.  On accepting the plant from contractors, the directors started the machinery to see that everything was in good working order.  Everything appeared satisfactory, and the company received the plant.  On starting up in 1895, for the first time, it was found that the machinery, and especially the engine, was not set properly, and some expense was incurred in readjusting it.  A well was also lacking, also piping and other fixtures, to supply all of which cost the company nearly a thousand dollars.
    The machinery for working corn did not work satisfactorily the first season, and a large quantity of the canned product spoiled.  Then the company paid the farmers more for the corn than they ought to have done in order to realize any profit on it.  The result was that at the end of the first season's operations the company found itself $2,000 poorer than in the beginning.  This, with the additional outlay incurred by supplying the well and meeting other deficiencies, discouraged the stockholders, and at a meeting it was ordered that the factory be sold to pay off the indebtedness.  It was bought for $3,000 by Messrs. John Ralston, Max Loeb, J. S. Moon, G. H. Hobson, Tom D. Lockman, and R. O. Cramer, who are the present directors and proprietors.
    The concern continues its charter as an incorporated body, and its capital stock is fixed at $3,000, all of which is fully paid up.  It is establishing itself on a prosperous basis at present, and is under the management of R. O. Cramer.
    Albia also contains a drain tile factory, but it is not in operation at the present time.  It is under the management of J. W. Harvey.  It is not in a flourishing condition, owing to inability on the part of the proprietor to find a steady market for the product of the factory.