This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 Excerpt: ...rendered almost unfit for profitable crop production. It is believed that these drawings quite fairly represent the actual conditions on thousands of farms in the State. Diagram I shows the arrangement of fields, and the size, location and relation to one another of the low, wet places, on a 24O-acre farm in Union County. The fields marked D and F are each 4O-acre corn fields. In D there are three sloughs, ranging in size from one-half acre to one acre, and so located with reference to one another that this field cannot be cultivated without serious loss of time and much additional expense. The conditions in F are very similar to those in D and are open to the same criticism. Here are eighty acres which last season yielded twenty-five bushels of corn per acre and the cost of production must have been greatly increased by reason of the broken-up fields. There are only one hundred rods of three and four inch tile on this 24O-acre farm. There is an outlet adequate for tiling all of the fields. Therefore, without doubt a well planned system of tile drainage would carry the water from these numerous sloughs, render the land far more productive than it is at the present time, and greatly reduce the cost of production of the hay and cereal crops. Landowners in this State will find this question of cost of production one worthy of careful consideration. The crop of corn referred to above, where the yield was twenty-five bushels per acre, did not pay if the cost of production was equal to the average cost in the State. Government statistical reports, for a period of ten years show that the cost of raising corn including all items of expense, is approximately ten dollars per acre. The average farm price of corn for the same period has been 33 1-3 cents per bushel. Th...