Prairie farmer's directory of Tazewell County 1917, Part 1

Author:
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Prairie Farmer Publishing Co
Number of Pages: 414

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Gc 977.301 T21pr 1917 1755190

M. L.

REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01071 1346

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013

http://archive.org/details/prairiefarmersdi00unse 2

Prairie Farmer's Directory

of Tazewell County

Complete Directory of the Farmers of Tazewell County, with valuable information about each farm.

Breeders' Directory, giving full classified list of breeders of purebred livestock and poultry.

Business Directory, giving list of all business houses in Tazewell County.

Valuable statistics and general information.

Compiled and Published by Prairie Farmer Publishing Co. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

1.55190

PRAIRIE FARMER'S RELIABLE DIRECTORY

TT'S up to you to investigate the CAMP LINE if you consider quality. You may buy other make machines, but they will not contain the Special Camp Features.

The CAMP POWER WASHER has made many satisfied custo-

LIB

The special drive makes it more prac- tical and easier han- dled than others.

NEWBERR

€

Y - CHICA

Agents for HEIDER TRACTOR

and TRACTOR PLOWS

THE

The CAME STATIONARY ELEVATOR is equipped with more substantial chains, sprockets, shafting and bearings than any other farm elevator. See the latest and you will be convinced. It is furnished with Hydrau- lic Jack or Log Dump.

Get catolog on Portable or Stationary Elevator with Hydraulic Jack.

CAMP BROS. & CO. Washington, Illinois

FARMERS AND BREEDERS, TAZEWELL COUNTY

Directory of the Legal Profession

JAMES M. RAHN Attorney

Both Phones 130 Residence Phone 564 Court House

PEKIN ILLINOIS

C. L. CONDER

Attorney and Counsellor

Phone Citizens 398 202-206 Arcade Building

PEKIN ILLINOIS

WM. B. COONEY Attorney at Law

Office Phone-Citizens 119 Residence Phone 118

PEKIN ILLINOIS

Prettyman, Velde & Prettyman Attorneys at Law

W. L. Prettyman Franklin L .. Velde Wm. S. Prettyman Zerwekh Building

PEKIN ILLINOIS

WM. J. REARDON Lawyer

Office -- Phone 309, Bell 53-R Residence -- Phone Bell 924-Y Kuhn Block

PEKIN ILLINOIS

Walter R. Von Tobel Lawyer

Office Phone 538 Residence Phone 707 Arcade Building

PEKIN ILLINOIS

E. E. BLACK

Attorney

Office Phone 272 Residence Phone 850

PEKIN ILLINOIS

HENRY P. JONES Attorney at Law

Phones Office-Bell 22, 157 Residence-Bell 19, 193

DELAVAN ILLINOIS

PRAIRIE FARMER'S RELIABLE DIRECTORY

Professional Directory

J. O. JONES

Attorney at Law Abstracts and Loans

Phones Office -- Bell 87, Bell 65 Residence -- Bell 51W, Bell 207 DELAVAN ILLINOIS

DR. R. L. HALSTED Optometrist Doctor of Opthalmogy Hours-9-12 A. M., 1:30-5:30 P. M. Saturday and Monday Evenings-7-9 Office-Phone 988-A Residence-Phone 426-B 357 Court Street PEKIN ILLINOIS

DR. W. A. BALCKE Physician and Surgeon

New Phone 642 Bell 156

Farmers' National Bank Building

PEKIN ILLINOIS

Dr. W. A. Mansfield

Physician and Surgeon Phone 39

WASHINGTON

ILLINOIS

S. T. Glasford, M. D. Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat

Glasses Fitied Telephone 255-A Farmers' National Bank Building

PEKIN ILLINOIS

DR. J. T. NATTRESS Veterinarian

Assistant State Veterinarian Assisted by DR. L. J. TILLOU DR. H. O. ELLIOTT Office and Hospital East Third Street DELAVAN ILLINOIS

W. O. Cattron, M. D. Homoeopathic Physician and Surgeon Telephone 39 Res .-- 423 Washington Street Telephone 602 Office Hours-8-9:30 A. M., 1:30-3 P. M .. 7:30-9 P. M. Sundays-9-10 A. M., 1:30- 2:30 P. M. Calls Answered Day or Night. Office-11-12 Times Building PEKIN ILLINOIS

Emil L. Blumenshine Veterinarian Office-Phone 31-R2 Residence-Phone 299 Holland's Livery

WASHINGTON

ILLINOIS

Introduction

N this directory we have endeavored to give Tazewell county farmers a complete and reliable directory of the farmers, breeders and merchants of the county, with such other information as will make the directory a valu- able reference book.

The task of calling on every farmer in a county and collecting the information for such a directory is a tremen- dous one. We have received splendid co-operation from the farmers and business men of the county, without which the publication of such a directory would be impossible. In a very few cases we have found farmers unwilling to give the information requested, which accounts for a few names that do not appear.

A few mistakes are bound to occur in a directory that involves so large an amount of work, but we have spared no effort or expense to make the information complete and accurate, and we believe that the mistakes are very few.

We want to speak a word of appreciation for the ad- vertisers whose liberal support has helped materially to bear the heavy expense of publishing this directory, and ask that you favor them with your patronage whenever possible.

We hope and believe that the publication of this directory will be a real service to Tazewell county farmers and in line with PRAIRIE FARMER'S policy of service to the farmers of Illinois. We hope that the increased circula- tion of PRAIRIE FARMER in Tazewell county which has re- sulted will help in the movement for better farming, better farm living, and more prosperity for the county, and that our many new friends will become permanent members of the big PRAIRIE FARMER family.

BURRIDGE D. BUTLER,

Publisher, Prairie Farmer.

PARRETTI

TRACTOR

SPEAKS FOR ITSELF

ONE MAN

ALL PURPOSE

T HE Parrett Tractor enjoys a

very good reputation-everywhere you hear the Parrett Tractor spoken of by everybody in unus- ually praiseworthy terms. This fact is clearly and definitely the result of uninterrupted service in the fields of hundreds of Illinois farmers.

This is significant, because, as a result of the successful performance referred to, our sales of Parrett Tractors, each year has averaged over four times the amount of sales for the preceding year, and this fact is true of five consecutive years of Parrett Tractor business.

Your Tractor investment is important. It represents so much ability to accomplish work. In this respect the Parrett offers more per dollars invested than other Tractors

ASK THE MAN WHO FARMS WITH ONE

TAZEWELL COUNTY DEALERS

Roth Bros. & Roth, Morton, Ill. D. L. Bowles, Emden, Ill. Geo. C. Woodmancy, McLean, Ill. Alva Shad, Carlock, Ill.

ETT

The Parrett Tractor

PARRETT MACHINE CO.

ILLINOIS DISTRIBUTORS 213 S. WATER ST. PEORIA, - II.L.

PARRET

TRACTOR

SPEAKS FOR ITSELF"

ONE MAN

ALL PURPOSE

T HE Parrett Tractor enjoys a

Your Tractor investment is important. It represents so much ability to accomplish work. In this respect the Parrett offers more per dollars invested than other Tractors

ASK THE MAN WHO FARMS WITH ONE

TAZEWELL COUNTY DEALERS

Roth Bros. & Roth, Morton, Ill. 3 D. L. Bowles, Emden, Ill. Geo. C. Woodmancy, McLean, Ill. Alva Shad, Carlock, Ill.

The Parrett Tractor

PARRETT MACHINE CO.

ILLINOIS DISTRIBUTORS 213 S. WATER ST. PEORIA, 11.1.

PRAIRIE FARMER'S RELIABLE DIRECTORY

Tazewell County Agriculture

T AZEWELL county is a section of mixed farming. Owing to the various types of soil which it cov- ers, there are several systems of farm- ing which have given good results in the different parts of the county and.ac- cordingly their better features are copied in nearby territory. Its crop production is distinguished from that of nearby counties mainly by the large acreage of wheat. In the section of timber land along the Illinois River and the Macki- naw River and in the bottom lands and the sandy area south of Pekin, the coun- try is naturally adapted to wheat and especially on the sandy land it is the principal crop. Much wheat is also grown on most of the south two-thirds of the county, even on the best corn land. The usual rotation over most of the county is two years of corn, one year of oats and then either wheat or clover the next year .. Most of the small grain is sown to clover and much of it is plowed up the first fall and the ground put back to corn. In the production. of clover for soil building purposes in this way, the farms are well advanced in their methods. Cow peas are grown to some extent on sandy land for soil im- provement. Alfalfa is coming in more and more and small fields of it may be scen scattered all over the county.

The principal variety of corn is Reid's Yellow Dent, and this variety originated in Tazewell county near Delavan. The principal varieties of wheat are the bearded variety Turkey Red and the smooth Red Wave. The variety of oats principally grown is Great American. There is a small area around Morton where considerable Texas Red oats are grown.

The soil varies much and includes a large number of distinct soil types. One- third of the total area is brown silt loam, or the common upland prairie soil. About one-fourth of the land is upland timber soil. A little more than one- third is bottom land, old drained swamp lands and terrace soils of various de- scriptions. The principal soil deficiency in the county is the lack of phosphorus, and most of the soils show increased crops when raw phosphate rock is ap- plied. The upland soils are generally sour and require limestone to grow al-

falfa successfully. The application of limestone also shows an improvement in clover. The great variation in soil types is due partly to the proximity of the Illi- nois River and to the course of the Mackinaw River across the county from cast to west. There is also a difference in glaciation. Most of the county lying east of a line running south from Peoria is covered by the Early Wisconsin glaci- ation, while the southwest part of the county is covered by the Illinois glacia- tion. A terminal moraine marks most of the boundary between these two areas of drift and another moraine extends eastward from Peoria.

Like the crops and the soil, there is also considerable diversity in live stock. The principal exception to this is the horses. Percherons are emphatically the principal breed of horses in the county and the county takes first place in Illi- nois for the number of registered Perch- crons and the number of Percheron breeders in proportion to the area of improved land. There are a few Bel- gians, but practically no other breeds of draft horses. There are two trotting horse breeding establishments, but one of these, the A. G. Danforth Stock Farm at Washington, has practically ceased trotting horse operations. L. E. Brown, of Delavan, continues the trot- ting horse business. Much of the pres- tige of the county as a Percheron center is due to A. L. Robison, of Pekin, whose big Percheron breeding establishment has been the center from which good mares and desirable sires have been dis- tributed to all parts of the county.

The prevailing cattle are of Shorthorn type, and in this respect also A. L. Robi- son has been the leading spirit. There are some smaller breeders of Shorthorns . and most of the small herds of grade cows in the county are led by registered Shorthorn bulls. These cattle are kept to graze on untillable land and also on clover and timothy, which are sown with crop rotations. In winter they consume stalk fields and straw stacks. There are many silos in the county which are used mainly for carrying cattle through the winter. Besides the Shorthorns, there are a few herds of Angus, a still smaller representation of Herefords and some herds of registered dairy cattle, mainly

FARMERS AND BREEDERS, TAZEWELL COUNTY

Holsteins and Jerseys. Several dairy farms do a considerable business in milk production. A few farmers feed several carloads of cattle each year, mainly steers which are bought as feeders from neighboring farms or outside territory.

Hogs are the universal live stock. in Tazewell county, and practically every farm has a few brood sows and raises hogs for the market. There are a num- ber of registered herds of the important corn-belt breeds of hogs and these fur- nish purebred boars for the general use of farmers.

A few little flocks of sheep may be seen scattered over the country, but most of the sheep are concentrated around Armington in the southeast corner of the county. Several flocks of fine wool

sheep are raised there, which number into the thousands. Very little attention is given to feeding western sheep or lambs anywhere in the county.

This great diversity of Tazewell county farming results in a great va- riety of crops and live stock, and the maintenance in general of a high degree of productivity of the land. Tazewell county farmers are disposed to depend more on crop rotation and live stock than on the application of limestone and phosphate rock to maintain crop produc- tion. A large proportion of the farms are operated by tenants, but a great many of these are sons of other rela- tives of the landlords, and accordingly the improvements are well maintained and the tenants are given every incen- tive to handle the land conservatively.

The Tazewell County Farm Bureau

T HE TAZEWELL COUNTY FARM BUREAU was organ- ized in 1913 as a result of a series of meetings and conferences started by H. W. Danforth of Wash- ington. The organization at that time included about 500 farmers with sub- scriptions from $1 to $50 for one year. The organ- ization was con- tinued in 1914 on the same basis. In 1915 it was reor- ganized with a uniform member- ship fee of $10 per year, and -175 members were signed for three years. Since that MR. ROBBINS time forty - two new members have been taken in and seventeen have died or moved away and their memberships canceled, so that the total membership is now 500.

The present officers of the Farm Bureau are: H. W. Danforth, Wash- ington, president; A. L. Robison, Pekin, vice-president; J. M. James, Pekin, second vice-president; R. B. Orndorff, Hopedale, secretary; Joseph Morris, Washington, treasurer, and E. T. Robbins, Washington county

agricultural agent.

The present county agent was hired soon after the organization was com- pleted and began work June 1, 1913. The problems which were at first presented for solution were mainly those connected with soil improve- ments. Original soil surveys and soil maps were made for many farms the first year or two. During the last year the soil report prepared by the Illinois Experiment Station has been completed and sent to all of the mem- bers, so that there is less uncertainty and question now regarding soil problems on the various farms.

The use of phosphate rock and linie- stone has been pushed from the first, and the amounts of these used in the county have been greatly increased. Local farm demonstrations have shown increased crops of about ten bushels per acre of corn, oats or wheat and one-half to one ton of clover hay or alfalfa hay per acre au- mally from an annual expense of $1 per acre for phosphate rock. Lime- stone has shown especial benefit on the. sandy land, timiber land and higher prairie land where alfalfa and sweet clover are to be grown. It has also shown a great benefit for red clover. The best stands of clover se- cured in dry summers have been on fields where limestone was applied.

PRAIRIE FARMER'S RELIABLE DIRECTORY

These demonstrations are so striking that more and more phosphate rock and limestone are used each year.

One of the first projects undertaken was the organization of the Tazewell County Percheron Association. The county has so many Percheron breed- ers that this organization has been strong and successful from the very start. Beginning July 5, 1913, the as- sociation has sold several hundred Percherons co-operatively and has in- duced about twenty young farmers to begin Percheron breeding. Another special organization was the Reid's Yellow Dent Seed Corn Society of Tazewell County, which was organ- ized March 10, 1914, with about twen- ty-five members. This was under- taken because Tazewell county is the natural home of Reid's Yellow Dent corn and a relatively large number of farmers were already interested in breeding it. Membership in these as- sociations is confined to Farm Bureau members.

During the first winter the Farm Bureau held meetings in each town- ship and in some of the school houses of the county. At most of these places meetings were held once in two weeks. By means of lectures, charts and general discussions, the funda- mental principles of agricultural im- provement was thoroughly presented during the winter. The special thing launched at that time was the oats smut campaign and this has been con- tinued ever since with complete suc- cess. There was practically no oats smut in Tazewell county the past year as a result of the three years' cam- paign conducted by the Farm Bureau. In 1913 when oats seeding was done just before the Farm Bureau began operations, the drug stores in this county sold only 271/2 gallons of for- maldehyde, enough to treat 3,500 acres or 6 per cent of the total acreage. In 1914 there were 12916 gallons of for- maldehyde sold, which would treat 16,500 acres or 27 per cent of the total acreage. In 1915, 33912 gallons were sold, or enough to treat 13.400 acres or 70 per cent of the total acreage. In 1916, 500 gallons of formaldehyde were sold, or enough to treat the en- tire 62,000 acres of oats in the county In 1914 threshing returns here showed a gain of seven bushels per acre from treating, but no check on the pain here could be made in 1915 or P/16 as there was not enough untreated holds. For 1915 and 1916 a gain of 5.6 bush-

els was figured as indicated by reports from other counties in this state. This gives a gain in 1916 of 347,200 bushels by treating for smut. Figur- ing the gain in dollars at 35 cents per bushel for oats, the extra crop caused by treating for smut in 1913, before Farm Bureau work was commenced, was $8,575; in 1914, $40,425; in 1915, $85,050, and in 1916, $121.520. The 1916 gain exceeds that of 1913 by $112,945, and this may fairly be con- sidered as a result of the Farm Bu- reau campaign. On this basis the total gain of the three years is $221,270. -

By means of annual reports from the various Farm Bureau members a careful record was made of yields of wheat and oats of different varieties. It has been found that the two best varieties of wheat for Tazewell county are the bearded wheat, Turkey Red, and a smooth wheat, Indiana Red Wave. The Turkey wheat has shown greater resistance to severe winter weather, and the Red Wave has shown greater resistance to Hessian fly, and because of its stiff straw it is popular on bottom land. During the first four years the yields have been practically the same. The best 'vari- ety of oats has been Great American. The only year in which it did not show superiority was 1916. The severe 1916 drouth, beginning on June 20, was unfavorable for medium and late maturing oats, and so better yields were secured from the early varieties, such as Iowa 103 and Texas Red Rust Proof.

Special attention has been given to proper methods for combating Hossian fly in wheat. Actual thresh- ing returns have shown that the best yichls each year have been secured on the average from wheat sown the last week in September. In years when fly was bad, even later sowing than this proved better, while in years when there were comparatively few Hessian flies there were more good vields from wheat sown as early as the third week in September.

Red clover has been consistently pushed as a crop for soil improve- ment. It was already more generally crown in this county than in most parts of central Illinois, and now most of the oats and wheat in the County are sown to clover each spring.

Alfalfa has been increased in amount until a large proportion of Farm Bureau members have alfalfa lichts, ranging from live to thirty acres.

FARMERS AND BREEDERS, TAZEWELL COUNTY

Special attention has been given to the selection of land, the use of lime- stone, inoculation, suitable nurse crops and best methods of sowing alfalfa to gain success with it on all classes of land, including the poor- est blow sand. The alfalfa fields are making more money than the same acreage in any other farm crop, espe- cially where they are used for hog pasture and to furnish hay for cattle.

Sweet clover has been pushed con- sistently and many demonstration fields over the county show that it is a hardy, useful crop, easily grown if plenty of limestone is used, and that it will yield from two to four times as much pasture as the ordinary pas- ture crops.

Members have been assisted in se- lecting pure bred hogs, cattle and horses and have been encouraged to begin breeding registered animals. They have been assisted in making sales of surplus stock and some of these animals have gone to distant states. One of the latest sales was a Percheron stallion to Texas and a little earlier this season some regis-

tered Holsteins were shipped to Louisiana.

Live stock feeding problems have been given constant attention and ra- tions have been figured for many of the members so as to feed their stock most cheaply and profitably during the winter. Some special demonstra- tions have been made in feeding cattle on silage and alfalfa hay, and in feed- ing hogs on corn and tankage and in using self-feeders for hogs. During the last year six.of the members kept detailed hog cost accounts which showed returns from the corn fed varying from 73 cents to $2.08 per bushel. These records prove conclu- sively the value of suitable forage crops for hogs.

Farm management records have been taken for the years 1914, 1915 and 1916, and a large number of members are keeping complete finan- cial records of their business for 1917. Following the completion of the first year's records, a special farm account book was designed and printed for the use of Farm Bureau members. One of the books has been furnished

S. L. Akerman's Hog House, Tremont, 111.

This bog house contains two rows of pens, the alley is four feet wide. It is equipped with ventilator, swinging windows, concrete floor insule, and concrete tool mg floor on the south side. This is the most popular style of bog house in Talewell County.

PRAIRIE FARMER'S RELIABLE DIRECTORY

Joseph Morris, Washington, Ill., and His Sweet Clover.

This field of yellow-gray silt loam with gravelly spots was sown to sweet clover in 1915. It made little growth owing to sour soil. On the gravelly spots, where there was plenty of limestone, the sweet clover made a great showing.

every member during each of the subsequent years. These records have usually shown variations of about $3,000 in labor incomes, or fig- ured in interest, the better farms have secured twice as high a per- centage as others. The points empha- sized by these records have been: good diversity of crop and live stock, the breeding of good horses, cattle and hogs, a large acreage handled by each man and each horse, and the maintenance of soil fertility and crop production by improved methods.

Canada thistles were found on a few scattered farms and railway right-of- ways in the county and a committee of Farm Bureau members met with the Board of Supervisors in April, 1917, and secured the appointment of township Canada thistle commission- ers to attend to the eradication of. these weeds.

Three household science short courses have been held, two at Wash- ington and one at Delavan, and a can- ning demonstration was given at the Farm Bureau picnic in 1915. These household science short courses were well attended and created much inter- est. At the last short course in Washington one lady drove in cach day from her home, nine miles away. although the March weather was stormy and disagreeable.

The County Farm at Tremont has been placed under the general super- vision of the county agent from the first and he has planned the farm operations. The result has been a

systematic improvement in crop yields and live stock. The financial showing is also improved materially. Demon- strations in phosphate rock, lime- stone, alfalfa, sweet clover, cattle feeding, hog feeding and horse breed- ing have proved very instructive at cach of the annual Farm Bureau pic- nics which have been held in August at the County Farm.

Each year a number of field meet- ings and demonstration trips have been held in the county to get the various members familiar with the actual methods and results on farms where improved practices have been found. Two excursion parties have been taken to visit the experiment station at Urbana. From two to six colt shows have been held each fall to stir up interest in better horses.

At the suggestion of the Tazewell County Farm Bureau, the Illinois Agricultural Association was organ- ized at Ottawa on March 15, 1916, with a membership composed of County Farm Bureaus having county agents employed. It is expected that this organization will eventually tie together in one body all the organ- ized counties in Illinois. The work so far has resulted in pushing the de- sirable legislation for farmers, oppos- ing increases in freight rates and se- curing contracts for the purchase of seed and supphes for farm im- provement. Each year the Tazewell County Farm Bureau has purchased aliala, clover and other seeds and carloads of feeds, phosphate rock and

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Prairie farmer's directory of Tazewell County 1917, Part 1

Author: Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Prairie Farmer Publishing Co Number of Pages: 414

Author:
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Prairie Farmer Publishing Co
Number of Pages: 414