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AGRICULTURE

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URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

L16I— O-1096

FARMING in
CUMBERLAND
COUNTY . . .

In the Claypan Region
of Southern

mots

A study of the effect
of differences in soil
and topography . . .

By R. C. ROSS, V. B. FIELDER,
and G. H. WALTER

Bulletin 506

NIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS • AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
cooperation with BUREAU OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, UNITED
STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

»i

FOREWORD

r"pHE KIND OF FARMING that prevails in a region is, of course,
•^ the result of many complex influences: soil, climate, markets,
people. In areas where farming has deteriorated until it no longer
provides an adequate living, it is especially important that the in-
fluences that have been and are at work be understood if real solu-
tions for the problems that have developed are to be formulated.

The area chosen for this study is one where farming has long
failed to provide a satisfactory income for a large share of the
families attempting to live on the land. The problems have been ac-
centuated by war conditions. It is hoped that the analysis presented
in this bulletin may be of value not only to those interested in the
problems of this particular area, but also to those who may under-
take similar investigations of other areas and who therefore may be
interested in the methods used.

Many members of the staff of the Illinois Agricultural Experi-
ment Station and the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, U. S. De-
partment of Agriculture, participated in this study. The work of the
Illinois Station was done under the direction of an interdepartmental
committee consisting of R. S. SMITH, Agronomy, Chairman; H. C. M.
CASE, Agricultural Economics; W. B. NEVENS, Dairy Cattle Feeding;
and R. R. SNAPP, Beef Cattle Husbandry. Under this committee
R. C. Ross acted as coordinator for all departments of the Station.
Part of the material on woodlands and pastures was selected from
special reports by J. N. SPAETH, Forestry, and R. F. FUELLEMAN,
Crop Production.

Acknowledgment is due also the following people who assisted in
the collection of data: E. A. DUERST, K. E. KINSINGER, G. A. LEE,
E. N. SEARLS, and L. H. SIMERL, all of the Department of Agricul-
tural Economics, University of Illinois; and PAUL T. VEAL, Bureau
of Agricultural Economics, U. S. Department of Agriculture.

CONTENTS

PAGE

CUMBERLAND COUNTY AND THE CLAYPAN REGION ..278
POPULATION AND AGRICULTURAL TRENDS 282

FIVE MAJOR SOIL AREAS 285

Hilly 285

Light-gray prairie 287

Dark-gray prairie 289

River bottom 290

Morainal 290

FARMING IN THE DIFFERENT SOIL AREAS 291

Principal Uses of the Land 291

Cropping Systems Followed 293

Yields of Principal Crops 296

Livestock Numbers and Practices 299

Tenure and Ages of Operators 301

Incomes From Farming 302

LEVEL OF LIVING 305

RECENT SHIFTS IN PRODUCTION 310

Wartime Maximum Production 310

Long-Time Desirable Production 312

RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUMMARY 312

Better farming practices 313

Greater use of limestone 314

Revision of cropping systems 315

Pasture improvement 316

Better woodland management 316

Larger farming units 317

Livestock adjustments 317

Improvement of living conditions 319

Urbana, Illinois November, 1944

Publications in the Bulletin series report the results of investigations made
or sponsored by the Experiment Station

FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY

A Study of the Effect of Differences
in Soil and Topography

By R. C. Ross, V. B. FIELDER, and G. H. WALTER'

THE CLAYPAN REGION of southern Illinois, comprizing
approximately 7.5 million acres, is characterized by small farms,
low farm incomes, and soils of low productivity. These soils,
which are not suited to the methods of farming practiced in more
productive areas, have not been used for purposes for which they
are best adapted ; this has led to a low standard of living for a
large number of farm families and to widespread need for public
assistance. Economic and social problems have been intensified by the
financial burden of school districts, townships, and counties which
are too small and numerous.

Because of the extent of this region and the low level of living
which many of the farms afford, it was considered desirable to try to
ascertain the effect which differences in soils and topography have had
on the farming and living conditions in the region, and to suggest
adjustments which will improve the general welfare of the farm
families living there.

Cumberland county lies in the northern part of this region and is
representative of the region as a whole (Figs. 1 and 2). As early as
1932 an interdepartmental land-use committee of the College of Agri-
culture recommended it for a comprehensive land-use study.

For the present study the county was divided into five areas on the
basis of topography and soil (Fig. 6, page 288). These areas are
described as hilly, light-gray prairie, dark-gray prairie, river bottom,
and morainal. Farm-survey records were obtained from an average of
about 55 rural families selected at random in each area. These records
were supplemented by special field surveys on pastures, soil erosion,
and woodland. County records were used for data on public assistance
and assessed value of land and improvements ; additional data on pub-
lic assistance were obtained from records of the Old Age Assistance

1R. C. Ross, Chief in Farm Management, University of Illinois; V. B. FIELDER,
formerly State Representative in Illinois of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, U. S.
Department of Agriculture; and G. H. WALTER, Assistant Agricultural Economist, Bureau of
Agricultural Economics, U.S.D.A.

277

278 BULLETIN No. 506 [November,

Administration, Works Progress Administration, and the Illinois
Emergency Relief Commission.

The first part of this study is a comparison of Cumberland county
with three areas: the entire type-of-f arming area of which it is a
part (No. 7) ; Type-of- Farming area 4a (which represents the most
productive land in the state) ; and the state as a whole. These compari-
sons provide a setting for the sections that follow, especially for the
applicability of the findings to the claypan region as a whole. Popula-
tion and agricultural trends in Cumberland county are treated next.
Then follows the principal part of the study, a description of the
physical characteristics of the five major soil areas in the county and
an analysis of the farm-survey records for each of these areas. A
concluding section summarizes the more important findings and recom-
mends adjustments, indicating procedures for achieving them.

CUMBERLAND COUNTY AND THE
CLAYPAN REGION

Cumberland county has the various kinds of soil and topography
which are commonly found in the claypan region. These include prairie
and timber soils that are low in productivity and nearly level; rough,
hilly lands adjacent to streams ; and large areas of river-bottom land.
The representative nature of the county is further indicated by the fact
that the seven soil types which constitute 71 percent of its area occupy
79 percent of the claypan region.1 Except in the bottomland, the soils
of the region are old, mature, silt loams, badly leached and strongly
acid. They are usually gray and have developed a claypan within 2
feet or less of the surface on the nearly level areas. This claypan not
only impedes the downward movement of water but also cuts off its
upward movement at times when there is rapid evaporation from the
surface ; this causes the soil to dry out. As a result, near crop failures
frequently occur if rainfall is either excessive or scanty during the
growing season.

The proportion of the various grades of soil in Cumberland county
is almost the same as for the 13 counties of Area 7, only .26 percent
of which is in soil grade No. 3 or better. In the 18 counties of Area 4a,
on the other hand, 57.8 percent of the land grades No. 3 or better
(Table 1).

A relatively high proportion of farms in Cumberland county are

JThe proportions of these soil types vary greatly among counties.

1944]

FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY

279

TABLE 1. — PERCENTAGES OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY AND OTHER ILLINOIS
AREAS IN VARIOUS SOIL GRADES*

Soil grade

Cumberland
county

Area 7:
southern
Illinois

Area 4a:
east-central
Illinois

Entire
state

1 to 3

8

.26

57.8

30.8

4 to 7

23.0

22.2

37.8

37.9

8 to 10

76.2

77.6

4.4

31.3

•From Soil Report 69. Cumberland County Soils, University of Illinois Agricultural Experiment
Station, 1940. The index numbers assigned to a soil type for production of field crops is based on the
ability of the type to produce the major crops grown in the region without soil treatment but with
the soil in a cleared and drained condition. The scale used is 1 to 10, the most productive ^oil in
the state being rated as 1 and the least productive as 10.

small. In 1940, 51 percent in this county and 58 percent in Area 7 had
less than 100 acres, whereas only 26 percent in Area 4a were this
small (Table 2). Nearly 33 percent of the farms in Area 7 were under
50 acres, whereas less than 14 percent in Area 4a had less than
50 acres.

Soils of low productivity of course mean low income per acre;
when low productivity is combined with small size, very low incomes
result. In 1939, 68 percent of all the farms in Cumberland county and
80 percent of those in Area 7 produced gross incomes of less than
$1,000 (Table 3). In Area 4a only 18 percent yielded incomes this

TABLE 2. — PERCENTAGE OF FARMS IN SPECIFIED SIZE-GROUPS"

Size of farm

Cumberland
county

Area 7:
southern
Illinois

Area 4a:
east-central
Illinois

Entire

state

acres
Under SO

. 27.8

32.6

13.8

21.0

50- 99

23.5

25.5

12.2

17.9

100-179

29.5

25.2

34.5

31.7

180-259

12.5

10.0

21.7

16.7

260-499

6.2

6.0

15.9

11.3

500 and over

5

.7

1.9

1.4

•U. S. Census, 1940.

TABLE 3. — PERCENTAGE OF FARMS WITH SPECIFIED GROSS INCOME, 1939*

Income

Cumberland
county

Area 7:

southern

Illinois

Area 4a:

east-central

Illinois

Entire
state

Under J600

$ 600-$ 999...
1 000- 1 499..

1 500- 2 499..

2 500- 3 999..
4 000 and over .

49.4

18.8

13.8

10.7

5.1

2.2

61.9
18.2
9.5
7.0
2.2
1.2

12.4

5.9

7.9

20.1

26.3

27.4

29.0
12.2
11.7
17.7
15.3
14.1

•U. S. Census, 1940.

280

BULLETIN No. 506

{November,

General productivity and adaptation of Illinois soils. Cumberland county,
marked with a cross, lies at the northern edge of the claypan region of southern
Illinois, which is occupied largely by soils of low to moderate productivity.
(These area designations should not be confused with the rating scale for soil
grades referred to in Table 1 and in the footnotes on several pages.) (Fig. 1)

KEY TO SYMBOLS: I — General farming soils of high productivity. II — Moder-
ately productive soils adapted to small grains, soybeans, meadow, and pasture.
Ill — Low to moderately productive soils adapted to cowpeas, soybeans, small
grains, meadow, and pasture. IV — Soils adapted to general farming, livestock
and dairy farming; variable in productivity because of variation in drainage
conditions and erosion. V — Soils adapted to pasture and meadow, orchards,
and timber; therefore to dairying, livestock farming, and orcharding. VI — Sand
regions ; soils adapted to special crops such as melons, sweet potatoes, etc.
VII — Large bottoms, some with an overflow hazard.

(Prepared by Department of Agronomy, University of Illinois)

1944}

FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY

281

Cumberland county is representative of Farming Type Area 7. About half
the claypan region of southern Illinois is included in these 13 counties. Gen-
eral rather than specialized farming is the rule, and the farms are small.
Area 4a, consisting of 18 counties and lying above Area 7, represents the
most productive land in the state. (Fid- 2)

low. For 62 percent of the farms in Area 7 the gross farm income was
less than $600; in Area 4a only 12 percent had this low an income.

Public assistance has been more widespread in southern Illinois
than in other parts of the state. A number of counties in this region
have carried a large chronic relief load. This has been particularly true
of a few counties in which coal mining is an important industry. If

282 BULLETIN No. 506 [November,

TABLE 4. — PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL POPULATION DEPENDENT ON
FIVE TYPES OF PUBLIC ASSISTANCE"

Year and month

Cumberland
county

Area 7:

southern
Illinois

Area 4a:
east-central
Illinois

Entire
state

1939
Julv...

20.9

28.1

14.6

15.4

194O

January 22.4 27.3 14.5 14.9

July 16.7 22.4 11.6 12.1

1941*

January 15.1 24.2 12.6 12.3

July 10.1 18.2 7.6 8.3

"Monthly reports of the Illinois Public Aid Commission. The five types of public assistance
are: general relief. Works Progress Administration, old-age assistance, blind pensions, and mothers'
pensions. bOn basis of the total 1940 population.

these heavy coal-producing areas are excluded, the proportion of peo-
ple receiving public assistance in Area 7 has been similar to that in
Cumberland county. In recent years about twice as large a percentage
of the total population in Area 7 as in Area 4a has been dependent
upon five types of public assistance (Table 4)»<

Many other conditions in Cumberland county, such as state of
public health, availability of farm facilities such as electricity, hard
roads, telephones, etc., low value of land and buildings and amount of
state aid to schools, are also similar to those in the claypan region as
a whole.

Thus Cumberland county is not only representative of the claypan
region in general but it is especially representative of that portion
designated as Type-of- Farming Area 7. That the economic level of
agriculture in the whole of the claypan region is low is shown by
comparison of Cumberland county with Type-of-Farming Area 4a.

POPULATION AND AGRICULTURAL TRENDS

Cumberland county is relatively small both in area and in popula-
tion.1 The population reached a peak of 16,124 in 1900, then steadily
declined to 10,419 in 1930 and increased to 11,698 in 1940.2 The farm
population declined even more rapidly (52 percent) from 1900 to 1930,
and has increased at a somewhat slower rate since 1930. The recent
gain was partly due to the depression, which caused a movement away
from the city and to the country. Since Cumberland county is , close to

'The county contains about 350 square miles and ranks 84th in size among
the 102 counties of Illinois.

'The number of families declined from 3,571 in 1900 to 2,825 in 1930, and
the average size of family declined from 4.5 persons to 3.7 persons.

1944"} FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY 283

several small cities, this movement raised its total population, and the
farm population followed the trend of the total population. In 1940
only 30 percent of the people in the county lived in villages of more
than 100 persons. The population of the four principal towns was
lower in 1930 than it had been for several decades; but by 1940 it
was 17 percent over that of 1930, this increase accounting for 40 per-
cent of the total increase in the county. In 1940, 10.3 percent of the
population were 65 years old or older, whereas only 7.2 percent of the
people of the state as a whole were that old.

Most of Cumberland county lies in an area of mixed farming, altho
the western part of the county is in the wheat, dairy, and poultry area
(Area 6). General rather than specialized farming has been the rule.
About 71 percent of the land in farms is tillable. Approximately 56
percent of this tillable land is used in growing grain and hay crops and
about one-third is in pasture. According to the 1940 Census, 42 per-
cent of the farms drew their major incomes in 1939 from livestock and
livestock products, 23 percent from field crops, and 32 percent from
farm products used by the farm household (subsistence- type farms).

The percentage of farms operated by full owners, part owners, and
tenants has remained relatively constant since 1900. In 1940 full
owners operated 43.8 percent of the farms ; part owners, 25.7 percent ;
and tenants, 30.4 percent. Percentages given in Census reports begin-
ning with 1900 have not ranged more than 3 points from these per-
centages. The proportion of land operated by each tenure group has
also been relatively uniform for the past twenty years.

Because of the limited amount of feed produced per acre, livestock
numbers have been low. The number of cattle has, however, increased
gradually over a long period. Cattle kept mainly for milk are the most
important class of livestock, altho only 124 farms drew their major
source of income from dairy products in 1939. Nearly all dairy cattle
are of grade breeding. Herds frequently contain both dairy and beef
animals or animals of nondescript type. On many farms cattle are
kept only to utilize feed and pasture and to supply the family with
dairy products ; on these farms little attention is given to breed. The
few beef -cattle herds are found only on the larger farms. Few farmers
buy feeder cattle.

While the number of hogs has declined in the last few decades,
some are raised on most farms. In years when feed is plentiful con-
siderable numbers are fed, especially in the better corn-producing areas
and on the larger farms. When feed supplies are short, many farmers
sell feeder pigs. There are few purebred herds in the county.

284 BULLETIN No. 506 [November,

Altho the number of sheep has been fairly constant for the past
forty years, it is much below that of the early years of the county.
Very few flocks are found there now even tho the rough and rolling
land is suited to them. As mechanization has gradually taken place,
the number of horses has declined. The poultry enterprise has been
important, tho available data do not show definite trends (Table 5).
While the condition of poultry houses is generally better than that of
other farm buildings, the flocks kept often exceed the capacity of the
houses. Thruout the county the poultry shows better breeding than
other livestock, no doubt because of the practice of buying chicks from
hatcheries, which in turn buy eggs from flocks of improved breeding.
The general-purpose breeds predominate.

TABLE 5. — PROPORTIONS OF FARM LAND IN SPECIFIED CROPS, AND NUMBER OF
LIVESTOCK PER 100 ACRES OF FARM LAND, CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS*

Percent, of area in —

Number of livestock
per 100 acres of farm landb

Year

Corn

Oats

Wheat

Soy- Tame
beans hay

All

cattle

M,ilk
cows

Sheep

Swine

Horses Poultry

1880...

18

4

4.6

13.4

7.5

4.4
7.5
6.7
5.3
7.4
6.7
6.8

1.7

2.7
2.4
2.4
2.7
2.7
3.4

2.6
2.4
1.6
1.9
1.4
2.3
1.3

12.8
17.0
15.0
9.3
11.5
6.7
7.7

2.5
3.6
4.6
4.5
4.8
2.8
2.0

(')
119.3
79.1
96.4
142.0

1890

. . 22

4

11.9

5.0

16 3

1900

. . 26

g

9.7

1.4

19.5

1910 . . .

. 23

S

6 5

4.4

18 0

1920

. . 19

7

10.0

6.7

17.5

1930
1940

. . 18

. . 22

,2
,6

4.7
4.0

2.1
1.8

4.2 16.2
11.8 12.0

•U. S. Census Reports, 1880-1940. bSome variations, particularly in swine numbers, result from
variations in time of year and in classifications of Census data. "Not available.

Corn has long been the principal crop, with soybeans, hay, oats,
wheat, and broomcorn grown in smaller amounts. The acreage of oats
and wheat has varied considerably and in recent years has been much
smaller than formerly (Table 5). A part of the acreage thus vacated
has been used for soybeans, which now occupy an area considerably
greater than the combined acreage of oats and wheat. Commercial
apple production, rather important in the western part of the county
two decades ago, has almost disappeared.

Because of the relatively large area in pasture, the quality of the
pastures has a marked effect not only upon the kinds and numbers of
livestock kept but also upon the farm income. In the hilly area are
large amounts of untillable land. Many pastures in this area are pastures
in name only, consisting of fields that were cultivated until no longer
productive and then turned into pastures. They are usually badly
eroded and therefore poor.

Livestock furnish a use for a large part of the crops grown, and

1944] FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY 285

on many farms livestock and livestock products provide a major pro-
portion of the farm income. The limited crop sales are largely of soy-
beans and broomcorn, with some corn and wheat in good years. In
most years the county buys somewhat more feed grains than it sells.1
Dairy products are marketed by several methods. Some whole milk
is assembled by trucks for shipment to St. Louis, some is sent to Mat-
toon, and some to a cheese factory at Neoga. One or more cream
stations are maintained in each trading center in the county.

FIVE MAJOR SOIL AREAS

Satisfactory analysis of farming and farm living conditions in an
area as varied in topographic features and soils as is Cumberland
county can be made only by studying the markedly different areas as
separate units. Cumberland county divides naturally into the five major
areas described here and called soil-group areas because each consists
of groups of certain well-defined soil types, which in turn are closely
related to the slope of the land. Of course there are marked differences
within each of these five designated areas, but those differences are not
great enough or extensive enough to mar the essential unity of each
area. Two of these areas — the river-bottom and the morainal areas —
are single continuous units ; each of the other three consists of two or
more widely scattered tracts.

The hilly areas (H), totalling 120 square miles, include those
portions of the county which are dissected by numerous small streams.2
The characteristic topographic features are the short steep slopes bor-
dering the flat bottomland along small creeks and the nearly level
remnants of upland that are interspersed thruout the broken land
(Figs. 4 and 5). In general, these slopes are covered with timber or
young growth like that found on most of the woodland of the county.
Cropland consists largely of the bottomland bordering streams and
small areas of flat poorly drained upland of low productivity.

'In 1938 only two grain elevators were in operation within the county. The
amounts of grain handled are small, the business consisting largely of grinding
feed and handling supplies.

'This area contains both upland and bottomland soils. The principal upland
soil types are Hickory gravelly loam, rating 10, with slopes of 15 percent or
greater; Bluford silt loam, rating 8, with slopes ranging from 1.5 to 3 percent;
and Wynoose silt loam, rating 9, with slopes ranging from 0 to 1.5 percent. The
principal bottomland soils are Huntsville loam, Sharon loam, and Bonnie silt
loam, rating 5, 6, and 7. (See footnote, Table 1, for an explanation of these
ratings.)

286

BULLETIN No. 506

[November,

Woodland areas in Cumberland county at time of settlement. Most of the
hilly, morainal, and river-bottom areas at this time, about 1830, were heavily
wooded. (Fig. 3)

Woodland areas in Cumberland county in 1939. These areas are now largely
on the short steep slopes adjacent to bottomland. (Fig. 4)

1944~\ FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY 287

In the hilly areas a large proportion of the upland is too steep to be culti-
vated. It is best to keep land of this kind in pasture and timber. The slopes
erode easily when not protected by trees or grass. (Fig. 5)

Compact subsoil and lack of organic matter hinder absorption of
water; the sloping soils in this area therefore erode easily unless they
are well-protected by trees or grass. Erosion is frequently severe at the
point where soils of different slopes meet. The post-oak flats (Wynoose
silt loam), for example, have a tight subsoil and must be drained by
surface ditches. But if outlets are not well-protected, these ditches
frequently cause gullies at the break in topography. Too intensive
cropping or pasturing at this break may also cause serious erosion,
especially where soils slope steeply.

Bottomland soils of streams rising in or above the glacial moraine
produce good yields as they have been partly formed of sediment
from the highly productive soil of east-central Illinois. Bottomland
soils of streams originating below this moraine are of low productivity
since their watersheds are the adjacent hills and uplands which con-
tain soils of low productive capacity.

The light-gray prairie areas (LP) He in five widely scattered
tracts and total 116 square miles (Fig. 6). The soils include some of the
poorest prairie types of the state.1 Because of the flat topography and
the claypan subsoil, adequate drainage in most of this area is a serious

'Cisne silt loam, rating 9, predominates ; Newberry silt loam, rating 7, and
Hoyleton silt loam, rating 8, are less extensive. The former are nearly level ; the
latter has slopes from 1.2 to 3.5 percent. (See footnote, Table 1, for explanation
of rating scale.)

288

BULLETIN No. 506

[November,

19441

FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY

289

In the prairie areas most of the land is flat and difficult to drain because of
the impermeable claypan subsoil. Small natural drainageways are frequently
wooded. (Fig. 7)

problem. Drainage is generally provided by small surface ditches.
Only 5 percent of the yearly rainfall percolates thru the predominant
soil type, whereas in the best agricultural soils in the state 25 percent
of the water gets thru.1 While the small amount of gently rolling
soil naturally has good surface drainage, the subsoil is permeable only
slowly. Gully erosion is of little importance, but there is considerable
sheet erosion on soils with slopes of as little as 1.2 to 3.5 percent —
soils usually under cultivation.

The dark-gray prairie areas (DP) lie in three localities and total
55 square miles. Tho they include some light-gray soil, they are made
up largely of the better grade of dark-gray prairie soil2 (Fig. 6). The
topography is nearly level, and soil erosion is negligible. Drainage is a
serious problem since the impermeable subsoil blocks both natural and
artificial underdrainage. Before 1900 drainage districts were formed in
the dark-gray prairie area of the northwest part of the county and
many tile were laid. This venture proved unsuccessful and surface
ditches came to be recognized as the only satisfactory method
of drainage.

'Percolation experiments conducted by the Illinois Agricultural Experiment
Station. Figures are average of years 1936, 1937, and 1938. The comparison
given above is between Cisne silt loam and Muscatine silt loam.

2Ebbert silt loam, with a crop productivity rating of 7, is the most extensive
soil type; there are considerable areas also of Putnam silt loam (now correlated
with Cowden), rating 8, and Cisne silt loam, rating 9. The slopes range from
0 to 1.2 percent.

290

BULLETIN No. 506

{November,

The bottomland along the rivers is often covered in the spring by flood
waters, but the floods come too early to do much damage to crops. Farm-
steads, pastures, and wood lots are on higher land. (Fig. 8)

The river-bottom area (R) includes the Embarrass river bottom
and the adjoining hill lands (Fig. 6), 31 square miles in all.1 Altho this
area contains both valley and hill land, it has been considered a single
area because the farm units ordinarily include both bottomland and the
adjoining hill land. Farmsteads, pastures, and wood lots are located
on the hill land, while grain crops are produced on the bottomlands.
The character of this hill land and its erosion problems are similar to
those of the hilly areas.

Altho the bottomlands are subject to overflow, floods seldom cause
much damage to crops since they usually occur before spring planting;
the damage is confined largely to washouts in roads, deposits of sand
on fields, and delays in field work. This bottomland was developed, in
part, from soil material from the dark-colored soil region of east-
central Illinois which is drained by the Embarrass river. It is the only
extensive area in the county that is naturally fertile and produces
good yields.

The morainal area (M), totalling 27 square miles, includes a
terminal moraine and morainal outwash which extends about 3 miles
south of the northern edge of the county (Fig. 6). This area is not

'This bottomland soil is largely Huntsville loam. The adjoining hill land is
Hickory gravelly loam and Bluford silt loam. See footnote 2, page 285.

1944~\ FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY 291

representative of the claypan region. Its soils are more varied than
those of any of the other soil-group areas, ranging from the best to the
poorest of the state.1 These soils are dark and do not have the imper-
vious subsoil which is characteristic of most of the other upland soils
in the county. Rolling topography is characteristic of this area (Fig. 6).
Drainage is not a problem except as it causes soil erosion. This area
contains the county's most serious erosion problem, as a large propor-
tion of the rolling land is under cultivation; extensive soil losses from
sheet and gully erosion have occurred.

FARMING IN THE DIFFERENT SOIL AREAS

Farm-survey records show marked differences among the five soil-
group areas of Cumberland county in size of farms, proportion of
land in crops and pastures, proportions of the various crops grown,
amounts of livestock, and income per acre. Altho about the same
number of records was obtained in each area (Table 6) and this
sample was considered adequate, the differences in the sizes of these
areas need to be kept in mind as the more extensive areas are also the
less productive.2

Principal Uses of the Land

The hilly area, which has the poorest soils and the most broken
topography, also has the smallest farms, averaging 121 acres. In con-
trast, the most productive areas (river-bottom and dark-gray prairie)
have the largest farms, averaging 204 and 210 acres (Table 7). The
hilly area also has the smallest proportion of farm land in crops and
the highest proportion of nontillable pasture and timber not pastured.

The percentage of the farm area in pasture at the time of this

'Westville silt loam, rating 7, with slopes ranging from 7 to 15 percent, is
the major soil type. Others are Drummer clay loam, Osceola silt loam, and Hen-
nepin gravelly loam, rating 1, 6, and 10. The two former types are nearly level,
while the latter is too steep for cultivation and is almost entirely covered
with trees.

2Within these areas 28 records were secured which were classed as nonfarm
because no cropland was involved. Some of these records were obtained from
landowners who rented out all the cropland but kept a few acres of pasture
and some livestock; others had a garden and very limited pasture and kept a
cow, a few pigs, and chickens to supply the family needs ; still others merely
occupied the house and in some cases had a small garden. Most of these records
represented people who were either employed in town or were receiving public
assistance. They were not included in the analysis of farming in the county.

292

BULLETIN No. 506

[November,

TABLE 6. — SIZE OF SOIL-GROUP AREAS AND EXTENT OF SAMPLES INCLUDED IN
THE FARM SURVEY, CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 1939

Area

Size of
area*

Percent
of area
surveyed

Farms surveyed

Number

Average
size

Hilly (H)

acres
76 800

9.1
12.8
31.1
51.5
42.4
20.2

52
56

47
45
52
252

acres
121
152
210
204
127

Light-gray prairie (LP)

74 240

Dark-gray prairie (DP)

35 200

River bottom (R)

19 840

Morainal (M)

17 280

All areas

222 080b

•Estimated. bU. S. Census. 1940.

survey ranged from 26 in the light-gray prairie area to 44 in the
hilly area. In the prairie and morainal areas a large proportion of the
pastureland is tillable, whether it is rotated with cropland or kept in
permanent pasture; but in the hilly and river-bottom areas more than
half the pasture area is untillable, representing, for the most part,
broken and partially timbered land. In each area are small acreages of
timber which were not pastured, the most extensive acreages being in
the hilly and river-bottom areas.

In all areas the proportion of cropland was smallest on the small
farms, increasing rapidly with size of farm until the farms exceeded
100 acres, after which little change occurred until the farms reached
500 acres. The hilly area has more small farms than any other area.

Of the farms included in this survey, 50 percent in the hilly area
and 52 percent in the morainal area were less than 100 acres in size;
whereas only 19 to 24 percent were this small in the other three
areas (Table 8). In the more-productive areas, dark-gray prairie and
river-bottom, 26 and 22 percent respectively of the farms consisted of
260 acres or more; whereas in the hilly area the proportion of farms
this large was only 6 percent and in the morainal area 8 percent. The

TABLE 7. — UTILIZATION OF LAND IN FARMS IN DIFFERENT SOIL-GROUP AREAS OF

CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 1939"
(Acres per farm used for purposes indicated)

Hilly

Light
prairie

Dark
prairie

River
bottom

Morainal

Crop area

... 55

100

134

122

78

Rotation pasture

4

10

15

3

10

Permanent tillable pasture

22

24

43

18

20

Nontillable pasture

28

6

8

42

9

Timber not pastured

7

2

3

8

3

Otherb

. . . . 5

10

7

11

7

All farm land

121

152

210

204

127

•Farm survey. blncludes idle land, fruit, farmsteads, and waste.

1944] FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY 293

TABLE 8. — PERCENTAGE OF FARMS OF DIFFERENT SIZES IN THE DIFFERENT
SOIL-GROUP AREAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 1939a

Size of farm

All
areas

Hilly

Light
prairie

Dark
prairie

River
bottom

Moral nal

acres
Under 30

6

8

4

2

7

12

30- 49

8

17

4

2

13

50- 99

19

25

16

17

11

27

100-179

33

27

44

34

29

27

180-259

20

17

21

21

29

13

260-499

11

6

11

17

18

6

500 and over

3

9

4

2

Total

100

100

100

100

100

100

•Farm survey. Of the 28 families surveyed which were listed as nonfarm because of having
no cropland, 14 would be classed as farms in the Census; of these, 11 would be in the group under 30
acres, 2 in the 30-49-acre group, and 1 in the 100-1 79-acre group.

fact that the poor-soil areas have the greatest proportion of small
farms and the smaller farms have the lowest proportion of cropland
explains why there are such variations in farm incomes among the
various soil-group areas. These income-depressing conditions are most
significant in the hilly area because of its extent.

Other differences between areas are seen in the percentage of un-
tillable land on the farms of each area (Table 9).

In an area of general farming, limited acreages of untillable land,
if reasonably productive for pasture, can of course be utilized to
advantage with livestock. In the hilly and river-bottom areas 43 and
33 percent, respectively, of the survey farms were more than 40 per-
cent untillable. This situation was less serious in the river-bottom area
than in the hilly area because the farm units there were larger and
the cropland more productive.

Cropping Systems Followed

The use made of the crop area appeared to have little relation to
the productive capacity of the land. Corn was the outstanding crop in

TABLE 9. — PERCENTAGE OF UNTILLABLE LAND IN SURVEYED FARMS OF
CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS, BY SOIL-GROUP AREAS, 1939"

Untillable land

Hilly

Light
prairie

Dark
prairie

River
bottom

Morainal

All
areas

perct.
None

50

73

9

40

35

1-20

. 21

39

19

18

40

28

21-40

36

11

6

40

14

21

41-60

27

2

24

6

11

More than 60

16

9

5

Total

100

100

100

100

100

100

•Farm survey.

294

BULLETIN No. 506

[November,

The largest areas of productive soils are in the bottomlands. A large pro-
portion of the corn grown in the county is grown on these fertile areas,
where it can be planted when the spring floods have subsided. (Fig. 9)

each area, occupying from 38 to 54 percent of the cropland (Table 10).
In the hilly area the high proportion of land in corn resulted from the
desire of the farmers to grow the maximum amount of feed on their
limited crop area; in the river-bottom area the land is suited to corn
because of its fertility and because corn can be planted after the spring
floods have subsided. Broomcorn was grown to some extent as a cash-
crop substitute for corn in all areas, but it was planted most extensively

Good stands of sweet clover can be grown on the flat prairie soils after they
have been well limed. On the larger farms much more of the land has been
Ikned than on the smaller farms. (Fig. 10)

1944]

FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY

295

Post oak flats in the hilly areas are low in fertility and poorly adapted to
grain crops. Fields are frequently idle. (Fig. 11)

in the dark-gray prairie area and least extensively in the river-bottom
area, where corn yields are the highest in the county.

Soybean acreage ranked next to corn in all areas except in the
river bottom, where it took third place. In all areas more than half the
soybeans were harvested for hay, and on the smaller farms nearly all
the crop was so used. Soybeans thus supplement the limited acreage of
other legume hays. The acreage in small grains usually did not exceed
one-third that in corn. Many of the farms with a small crop area grew
little or no small grain since the very limited acreages did not justify
the maintenance of harvesting equipment. Legume hays were found
only in limed areas and in areas in the Embarrass river bottom which
do not require liming. Timothy was widely distributed thruout the
county, being used either alone or with redtop on soils of low pro-
ductivity which had received no treatment.

Tho cropping practices too intensive for the soil were found every-

TABLE 10. — PERCENTAGE OF CROPLAND IN DESIGNATED CROPS IN THE DIFFERENT
SOIL-GROUP AREAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 1939"

Crop

Hilly

Light
prairie

Dark
prairie

River
bottom

Morainal

Corn

. 53

41

38

54

47

Broomcorn

6

6

13

3

6

Small grains

11

16

12

18

7

is

17

26

13

16

Legume hay

9

4

1

7

5

Timothy hay

4

6

7

2

11

Other crops

2

10

3

3

8

•Farm survey.

296 BULLETIN No. 506 [November,

where in the county, they were most common on farms with a small
crop area. On farms with less than 40 acres of cropland, 80 to 100
percent of the crop area was frequently given over to corn, broomcorn,
and soybeans for hay. This intensive cropping resulted from efforts of
these farmers to produce maximum amounts of feed and sale crops for
current income even tho such practices deplete the soil and contribute to
erosion. In bottomland subject to overflow, the deposit of silt at flood
time offset, to a large extent, the effects of destructive cropping; but
on the uplands the results were cumulative.

Yields of Principal Crops

Because of variations in rainfall, crop yields in Cumberland county
vary widely from year to year.1 For the thirteen years from 1929 thru
1941 average acre-yields in bushels, as reported by the Illinois Cooper-
ative Crop-Reporting Service, were: corn, 29.2; oats, 20.6; winter
wheat, 14.7; and soybeans, 12.7. For the four years 1933-1936 growing
conditions were unfavorable, and the average yields of these crops

TABLE 11. — CROP YIELDS PER ACRE BY SOIL-GROUP AREAS,
CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 1938a

Crop

Hilly

Light
prairie

Dark
prairie

River
bottom

Morainal

Weighted
average,
all
areas

Corn '....,

bu.
36*>

bu.
35

bu.
40

bu.
53

bu.
44

bu.
39

Oats

19

22

22

27

29

23

Wheat

12

16

21

20

20

17

Soybeans

12

15

22

20

17

17

•Farm survey. bln the hilly area a considerable part of the corn acreage is in the creek bottoms,
which are much more productive than the upland soils.

were about 25 percent less. For the following five years, 1937-1941,
conditions were unusually favorable and yields were similar to those
of 1938. A comparison of the 1938 yields in each of the soil-group
areas shows clearly the differences in production due to the character
of the soil (Table 11).

Since a large part of the raised feed is fed, a series of poor crop
years curtails the numbers of livestock kept, while a series of good
years causes livestock numbers to increase. Thus the favorable crop
yields of 1937 and of 1938 caused an increase not only in the amount

'Altho the average annual rainfall for the period 1919 thru 1939 was 41.06
inches, it varied from 30.4 inches in 1925 to 65.2 inches in 1927 (Cumberland
County Soil Report, University of Illinois, Urbana).

1944~\ FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY

TABLE 12. — AVERAGE ANNUAL CROP YIELDS PER ACRE ON THE TOLEDO
EXPERIMENT FIELD IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 1913-1939a

297

Treatment

Corn
26 crops

Oats
25 crops

Wheat
22 crops

Hay
24 crops

bu.
20

bu.
14

bu.
8

tons
.2

Manure

33

19

13

.5

Manure and lime

45

31

24

1.6

45

31

25

1.6

Residues

22

14

9

.3

28

29

20

1.1

Residues, lime, and rock phosphate

28

30

24

1.3

Residues, lime, rock phosphate, and potash

46

33

30

1.8

•Data supplied by Department of Agronomy, Illinois' Agricultural Experiment Station.

of crops sold and on hand but also in the number of livestock kept and
in the proportion fed out for market.

In the area where production is limited by low soil fertility, the soil
treatment applied to cropland and pastures is important. Of the 252
farms surveyed, 117 had received applications of some limestone, 11
had received some phosphate, and 8 some commercial fertilizers. Most
soil treatment is applied to the cropland and so affects pastures only
when they are rotated with cropland.

The value of liming cropland is illustrated by results at the Toledo
experiment field located in the light-gray prairie area (Table 12). x In
this area, which constitutes about 30 percent of the county, at least 4
tons of limestone an acre are required to correct soil acidity. The appli-
cation of limestone, which makes possible the growing of clovers in
the rotation, has given marked results where used with either manure
or crop residues.

While a fairly large proportion of the farmers on the largest farms
followed good management practices, this proportion diminished rap-
idly as the farms became smaller. On the small farms, where the best
practices are most needed, there was a dearth of good practices. The
reason for this is easily understood: the better practices reflect a
higher degree of managerial ability, and even those who know good
practices are more likely to apply them when the enterprise is large
enough to justify the effort; and money to finance such practices as
the application of limestone is easier to get for larger farms. Differ-
ences in the quality of the farming in the different soil-group areas
can be shown by comparing the prevalence of certain good farming

'The large increases in productivity indicated by the data in Table 12 are
obtained only by several years of soil-building. In fact, the data from the Toledo
experiment field indicate that about ten years are required to build up yields to
the present average on treated soils.

298

BULLETIN No. 506

[November,

TABLE 13. — PERCENTAGE OF FARMERS IN THE DIFFERENT SOIL-GROUP AREAS USING
THE CROP PRACTICES INDICATED, CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 1939*

Hilly

Light
prairie

Dark
prairie

River
bottom

MorainaJ

Cropland in cultivated crops

36

54

57

53

52

Limestone applied to cropland

78

95

88

79

80

Permanent pastures manured

37

68

64

30

13

•Farm survey.

practices (Table 13). More of the better crop practices were followed
in the areas where the farms were larger.

In a sample of 58 pastures representing 32 farms, 18 had been
treated with lime or manure or both; none had received phosphate
fertilizer ; none had been manured within the year previous to the sur-
vey. The dominant species of plants in all pastures, both treated and
untreated, were redtop and timothy.1 Twenty-nine percent of the
treated pastureland and 41 percent of the untreated lacked vegetative
cover. Treated pastures also had only half as much weed cover as
untreated pastures and they had fewer unpalatable and less-nutritive

TABLE 14. — CARRYING CAPACITY OF PASTURES MEASURED IN ANIMAL UNITS
PER ACRE, CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 1939a

Treated pastures

Untreated pastures

Area

Number
of
fields
sampled

Area
sampled

Average
carrying
capacity
per acre

Number
of
fields
sampled

Area
sampled

Average
carrying
capacity
per acre

Hilly

.4

acres
34
80
230
150
494

animal
units
.64
.63
.69
.52
.63

7
9
14
10
40

acres
312
173
291
395
1 171

animal
units
.28
.35
.29
.40
.33

Light prairie

2

Dark prairie

4

Morainal

8

All areas

18

•Reported by R. F. Fueljeman, Department of Agronomy, Illinois Agricultural Experiment Sta-
tion. No fields were sampled in the river-bottom area.

annual grasses. The estimated average carrying capacity of treated
pastures, measured in animal units, was approximately twice that of
untreated pastures2 (Table 14).

'Some Kentucky bluegrass, Canada bluegrass, white clover, red clover, les-
pedeza, and sweet clover were found. Untreated fields seldom contained Ken-
tucky bluegrass or legumes, but considerable areas of Canada bluegrass were
frequently encountered.

2A few woodland pastures were included in the untreated fields, but this
would not change the ratio appreciably since all untreated pastures were poor.
Woodland pastures were invariably poor and their carrying capacity small.

19441

FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY

Livestock Numbers and Practices

299

The number of hogs per farm was greatest in the river-bottom,
dark-gray prairie, and morainal areas, where corn production is largest
(Table IS). On some of the larger farms both hogs and cattle were fed.

In the hilly area the number of hogs appeared large in relation to
grain production ; pigs were either sold as feeders or fed out, depend-
ing on the available feed supply. The prairie areas raised more dairy

TABLE 15. — AVERAGE NUMBERS OF LIVESTOCK PER FARM IN DIFFERENT SOIL-
GROUP AREAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 1939"

Hilly

Light
prairie

Dark
prairie

River
bottom

Morainal

Horses and mules

. 3.2

3.9

5.5

3.6

2.9

Milk cows

4.6

6.0

6.0

4.7

3.9

Other cattle

5.6

6.2

14.7

8.4

4.6

Brood sows

2.0

2.8

4.4

4.7

2.9

Other hogs

11.8

12.7

28.3

33.6

19.5

Sheep and lambs

4.1

2.2

4.1

.8

3.2

Hens

94 6

147 6

117.0

151 7

113.3

Other poultry raised

211.1

314.4

276.2

302.3

272.0

•Farm survey.

cows than any other region because of available markets for whole
milk and the large amounts of forage. Beef and dual-purpose cattle
in limited numbers were widely distributed thruout the county since
they are kept to utilize pasture on both tillable and untillable land.

A few sheep were found in each area, but numbers were limited by
poor drainage in pastures, lack of fences, and danger from dogs.
Poultry was relatively important in all five areas. The light-gray
prairie and river-bottom areas had the largest flocks of laying hens.

TABLE 16. — PERCENTAGE OF FARMERS IN EACH SOIL-GROUP AREA USING
PRACTICES INDICATED, CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 1939a

Hilly

Light
prairie

Dark
prairie

River
bottom

Morainal

Dairy cattle
Herds purebred or grade

. 41

54

70

52

50

Purebred bulls used

26

47

50

37

28

Protein supplements fed

15

27

29

28

28

Grain for feeding ground

37

44

49

33

28

Silo used

2

11

17

5

2

Swine
Purebred boar used

27

18

34

38

15

Spring pigs full-fed

41

62

78

76

66

Sanitation practices applied

35

38

68

44

27

Poultry
Mash fed

. 54

55

79

67

60

Mash fed all year ,

15

38

36

44

31

•Farm survey.

300

BULLETIN No. 506

[November,

Livestock of good quality is found on many farms in Cumberland county;
but on many others income could be increased if a better quality of animals
were kept and they were better managed. (Fig. 12)

1944} FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY 301

Livestock numbers were proportional to the amount of feed pro-
duced since little feed was shipped either into or out of the county.
The poor quality of the animals in the hilly area reflected the small
amount of grain raised.

Livestock practices followed the same pattern as crop practices:
the better methods were used most extensively on the larger farms and
least on the small farms. There were marked differences, also, between
the soil-group areas: farmers in the hilly areas, where farms are
small and poor, made the least use of improved livestock practices
(Table 16). >

Tenure and Ages of Operators

Of the farms included in the survey, 42 percent were operated by
full owners, 32 percent by part owners, and 26 percent by tenants.
Altho the proportions varied in different parts of the county, in each
of the five areas full owners were most numerous, part owners second,
and tenants fewest except in the Embarrass river bottom, where part
owners and tenants were equal in number. The proportion of owners
was largest on the small farms ; and part owners and tenants were most
numerous on the larger farms.

The land operated by owners and part of that operated by tenants
represented entire farm units; part owners and tenants often rented
individual fields for a year at a time. Where such fields are rented
there is little inclination to follow a regular cropping system, and the
crops are usually of the sort which are entirely removed from the
land; hence soil depletion is more likely to occur on these fields than
on owner-operated farms.

Types of leases had no apparent relation to the soil-group areas.
For the county as a whole, leases based on a division of the crop pre-
dominated ; in 62 percent of all the leases a part of the crop represented
the entire payment, and in 18 percent a cash payment was made for
hay or pasture land in addition to a part of the crops for tilled land.
The usual crop rental is two-thirds to the tenant and one-third to the
landowner. Cash leases made up 17 percent of all leases and livestock
share leases 3 percent. An operator sometimes rented land under more
than one type of lease. Seventy-nine percent of the leases were oral;
this high proportion doubtless rises from long tenure1 and the fact that
one-third of those renting land were related to the owner.

'Full owners averaged 22.7 years on the present farm ; part owners, 19.1
years; and tenants, 7.3 years.

302 BULLETIN No. 506 {.November,

TABLE 17. — PERCENTAGE OF FARM OPERATORS IN SPECIFIED AGE-GROUPS IN THE
DIFFERENT SOIL-GROUP AREAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 1939"

Age of operator

Hilly

Light
prairie

Dark
prairie

River
bottom

Morainal

years
20-39

20 . 4

19.7

45.8

32.5

16.3

40-59

55.1

50.0

39.6

48.9

53.0

60 and over

24.5

30.3

14.6

18.6

30.7

Total

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

•Farm survey.

The ages of the operators varied significantly in the different soil-
group areas (Table 17). In the dark-gray prairie and river-bottom
areas there were higher proportions of operators under 40 and lower
proportions 60 or over than in the other areas. The morainal area had
the smallest proportion of operators under 40 and the largest propor-
tion 60 or over; the light-gray prairie area ranked next in each
instance. Obviously younger men have taken up farming in areas where
opportunities are greatest. ( \

Incomes From Farming

Farming opportunities on such small farms as those in the hilly
area are of course extremely limited. In fact nearly all farms with a
small crop acreage in the county are seriously handicapped. (The river-
bottom farms are an exception ; they are fertile enough to provide good
incomes even when crop areas are not large.) Much of the land not in
harvested crops contributes little to the farm income. Hence, in group-
ing the farms by size, the number of acres in crops rather than the
total area has been used. Thus differences in income which are directly
due to differences in soil are clearly shown.

The farm incomes (from sale of farm products plus government
payments) in the various areas reflect natural conditions, size of crop
area, and quality of farming, which in turn is directly related to size
of crop area (Table 18).1

In the light-gray prairie and hilly areas, which together make up
two-thirds of the county, the average gross incomes from farms with
120 acres or more in crops were approximately $2,000 and $2,500
respectively; the incomes from farms with 80 to 119 acres in crops

'Inasmuch as no data were secured on operating expenses, no net-income
figures are available. More detailed data classified by sources of income are given
in Table 19, page 304.

1944~\

FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY

303

were $1,250 and $1,600; from farms with 40 to 79 acres, $600 and
$900; and from farms with less than 40 acres the incomes were ap-
proximately $460 and $525 respectively. The light-gray prairie area
had the advantage over the hilly area in that two-thirds of its farms
had 80 acres or more in crops, whereas four-fifths of the farms in the
hilly area had less than 80 acres in crops.

In the dark-gray prairie and morainal areas gross incomes were
similar to those in the light-gray prairie and hilly areas except that on

TABLE 18, — GROSS INCOME PER FARM IN THE DIFFERENT SOIL-GROUP AREAS AND
SIZE OF CROP AREA, CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 1938"

Crop acres

Hilly

Light-gray
prairie

Dark-gray
prairie

River
bottom

Morainal

in farm

Nbr *•«»«

Nbuer "—

N-- income

NbT *«»» e

N™- Income

120 and over
80-119

4 $2 475
5 1 253

18 $2 014
17 1 568

18 $3 479
16 1 419

20 $3 742
7 2 371

10 $4 393
6 1 464

40-79

16 869

12 621

9 706

10 1 581

12 805

Under 40

23 521

7 463

3 405

7 298

19 609

•Farm survey. Figures are sales and government payments from June, 1938, to June, 1939, less
purchase price of livestock bought and direct cash outlay incurred in harvesting and marketing broom-
corn. Operators of 13 farms had moved to them in the spring of 1939; since they had not had a full
year on the farm, income figures were not used. More detailed figures on income are shown in Table 19,
page 304.

the largest farms incomes were materially higher. Because of their
more productive soil, all the river-bottom farms except the smallest
had relatively favorable gross incomes. More than four-fifths of these
farms brought their operators incomes of more than $1,200, whereas
only one-fifth of the farms in the hilly area produced incomes that
high. The few farms with the smallest acreage in crops had the lowest
average income of any in the county; they were located on the bluffs
adjacent to the river bottom.

In appraising these income data, attention needs to be given to the
different proportions of various-sized farms in the five areas and to
the conditions at the time of the survey.1 The very favorable crop
yields both in 1937 and 1938 resulted in bigger feed supplies than
usual and in expanded sales of both crops and livestock.

In all these areas the relation between number of acres in crops and
gross income per farm is clearly shown ; yet size of crop area is not the
only factor affecting these incomes. Altho it is true that the larger
farms afford greater opportunities; it is also true that they attract a

'See page 279. •

304

BULLETIN No. 506

[November,

higher quality of farming. As the crop area becomes smaller, the
quality of farming becomes progressively poorer, and the income suf-
fers from both these factors. The problem works in a circle, for the
very limited incomes on the small farms are responsible, in part at
least, for the deterioration in equipment on these farms, failure of the
operators to adopt better farming practices, and the generally lower
standard of living. A large proportion of the farms in Cumberland
county can be made to yield better incomes if a way can be found to
induce and to make it practicable for their operators to adopt more
efficient and economical methods of production.

TABLE 19. — CASH SALES AND GROSS INCOME PER FARM FROM DIFFERENT SIZES

OF FARMS IN THE DIFFERENT SOIL-GROUP AREAS, CUMBERLAND

COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 1938s

Crop acres in farm

120 and
over

80-119

40-79

Under
40

120 and
over

80-119

40-79

Under
40

Dark-gray prairie

Light-gray prairie

Number of records ....

All livestock

Livestock products ....

Crops

Government payments.

Total cash sales

Purchases'"

Gross income

18

16

9

3

$2 565

$ 854

$ 378

£353

540

300

277

40

1 112

555

277

126

124

71

42

4

34 341

$1 780

$ 974

$523

862

361

268

118

$3 479

$1 419

$ 706

3405

' 18

17

12

7

$ 939

$ 629

3261

$213

502

610

185

226

604

450

292

38

96

22

21

27

32 141

$1 711

£759

3504

127

143

138

41

$2 014

$1 568

3621

3463

Hilly

Morainal

Number of records ....

All livestock

Livestock products ....

Crops

Government payments.

Total cash sales

Purchases'"

Gross income

4

5

16

23

$ 477

$ 622

$ 559

3345

722

217

236

148

1 490

604

189

66

98

49

35

34

$2 787

$1 492

$1 019

3593

312

239

150

72

$2 475

$1 253

$ 869

3521

10

6

12

19

$4 953

$ 572

3380

3414

275

92

186

115

1 144

885

343

91

228

35

1

10

$6 600

31 584

3910

3630

2 207

120

105

21

34 393

31 464

3805

3609

River-bottom

Number of records

20

7

10

7

All livestock

31 969

31 811

3 832

3 89

Livestock products

456

280

643

59

Crops

1 673

649

315

204 .

Government payments. .

86

3

42

Total cash sales

34 184

32 743

31 832

3352

Purchases'"

442

372

251

54

Gross income

33 742

32 371

31 581

3298

•Farm survey. Sales and government payments are from June, 1938, to June, 1939. The num-
bers of records differ slightly from those given earlier because the records of farms which had been under
the present operator for less than a full year are omitted.

•"Purchases include livestock bought and direct cash outlays in harvesting and marketing broom-
corn. The latter outlays were calculated at 350 a ton of broom fiber sold; this figure was based on
rates paid in 1938 and on the quantities of labor indicated in an unpublished master's thesis ("An
Economic Study of Broomcorn Production in Illinois," by C. D. Palmer, University of Illinois, 1928)
as having been used in the production of this crop.

1944]

FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY

LEVEL OF LIVING

305

The small incomes obtained from many farms in the hilly area, and
indeed on farms of limited crop area thruout the county, naturally
depress the living conditions of the families on these farms. More of
the houses and other buildings and fences are in poor condition than in
the county as a whole. Machinery on the smaller farms is often inade-
quate. On many of the farms with less than 80 acres in crops, condi-
tions do not justify the use of mechanized equipment. The trend
toward mechanization is indicated by the fact that 86 percent of the
farms with 120 acres or more in crops had tractors.

At the time of this survey electricity was available to only 9 percent
of the farms, but lines under construction were expected to bring it
within reach of about 20 percent. Such home improvements as running
water were most common on the farms with the larger crop acreages.
Families on the larger farms reported the preservation of more food,
the possession of a wider variety of reading materials, and the purchase
of larger amounts of life insurance than those on the smaller farms.

The differences in the productivity of the five soil-group areas in
Cumberland county doubtless account for the differences in the pro-
portion of young people 16 to 24 years old who have left these areas.
In the hilly area 43 percent of this group had left home when this sur-
vey was made, while in the dark-gray prairie area and in the river-
bottom area only 21 and 23 percent respectively had gone. In all three

In the more fertile areas of Cumberland county are many productive farms
with good buildings. This farmstead has another fairly new barn which is
obscured by the one in the foreground. (Pig- 13)

306

BULLETIN No. 506

{November,

Farmsteads in the light-gray prairie areas are usually well kept. Farm in-
come is substantially increased by liming the soil and using the better farm
practices. (Fig. 14)

areas a considerable number of those still at home were employed away
from the farm. It is of course to be expected that those areas which
offer the least economic opportunity will lose the largest share of their
young people. When a large proportion of the young people migrate
from such areas and the older people remain on the land, deterioration
of community life and activities inevitably follows.

Lack of opportunity to acquire an adequate income from farming
or from other occupations is shown in the number and location of
public-assistance cases in Cumberland county. In 1938 there were 977

Farmsteads in the hilly areas generally reflect the unproductive character
of the soil. The buildings are usually located on the flat upland which is in-
terspersed thruout these areas. (Fig. 15)

1944}

FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY

307

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308

BULLETIN No. 506

\_Novetnber,

such cases (involving 2,354 persons, 20.1 percent of the 1940 popula-
tion) in which some type of public assistance was received (Table
20). It is estimated that seven agencies paid out nearly $300,000 for
their clients. In addition, the commodities distributed by the Surplus
Commodity Corporation in 1938 would have cost $5,875. From 1936
thru 1938 more than $57,000 had been loaned by the Farm Security
Administration and its predecessor agencies in an attempt to help 85
needy farmers become self-supporting.

TABLE 20. — TYPE AND EXTENT OF PUBLIC ASSISTANCE IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY,
ILLINOIS, IN DECEMBER, 1938, AND MONTHLY IN 1940

1938

1940

Agency

Number
of cases

Number
of persons

Amount of
assistance

of persons
per month

WPA

327

1 414

$13 S73»

926

438

438

7 145

445

Direct relief

92

296

956

523

Mothers' pensions

45

131

326

76

29

29

882

24

ccc

, 36

36

1 080

NYA

10

10

180

Not available

Total

977

2 354

$24 142

•Wages only.

In the rural areas public-assistance cases show a decided concen-
tration in or near rough, hilly land not well-suited for farming (Fig.
16). 1 The hilly, morainal, and river-bottom areas, which contain nearly
all the hilly land of the county, averaged 2.4 such cases per square mile,
whereas the dark-gray prairie and light-gray prairie areas averaged
only one case per square mile.1

Altho 42.1 percent of the farm land in Cumberland county was sub-
ject to one or more mortgages in December, 1935, there was no notice-
able concentration of mortgage debt in any of the different soil-group
areas. Foreclosures on farm real-estate mortgages have been few in
recent years even tho mortgage debt is high in all soil-group areas
compared with the current sale price of the land (Table 21). During
the nineteen years 1917-1935, mortgages were foreclosed on only 158
tracts. The proportion of foreclosures was larger in the hilly areas
than elsewhere.

In 1939 neither the county nor the municipalities had any outstand-
ing obligations in bank loans, bonds, or tax-anticipation warrants.

JA11 towns and villages excluded and considering direct relief, WPA, old-
age assistance, CCC, NYA, and FSA cases which constituted over 93 percent
of all cases. The total number of occupied houses per square mile is greater in
the hilly and morainal areas than in the other areas.

1944] FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY 309

TABLE 21. — SALE PRICE AND ESTIMATED MORTGAGE DEBT AGAINST

MORTGAGED TRACTS IN THE DIFFERENT SOIL-GROUP AREAS OF

CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS

Hilly

Light
prairie

Dark
prairie

River
bottom

Morainal

Estimated average mortgage debt per acre

$19

$23

$34

$26

$34

Average sale price per acre, 1932-1937". . .
Percent mortgage debt was of average sale
price

29
66

28
82

42
81

31
84

48
71

•Illinois Tax Commission, WPA project records, Urbana, Illinois.
<

Township road bonds appeared to be the only debt of government
units that was likely to become a burden. Tax delinquency has not been
a serious problem in recent years and showed practically no tendency
toward concentration in any of the soil-group areas. In the eleven-
year period 1925-1935 an average of only 9,200 acres, less than 5 per-
cent of the land in farms, came up for the annual tax sales. Practically
all this land was bought by tax buyers, very little being forfeited
to the state.

The school system, on the other hand, is a heavy burden on the
people of the county. Even tho total school enrollment is about half
what it was thirty years ago, practically no change has been made in
number and size of school districts. Consequently many school districts
are able to claim a considerable amount of state aid. For the five-year
period 1933-1937 the average state aid claimed by elementary-school
districts varied from 10.5 percent to 110.9 percent of the total expendi-
tures. In 62 of the 92 elementary-school districts the state aid claimed
averaged 50 percent or more of the total expenses of operating the
schools. State aid claimed was a greater proportion of the total ex-
penditures in the hilly areas than in any of the other areas. This resulted
from larger enrollment in the schools and lower assessed valuation
of taxable property.

Besides state assistance for schools, Cumberland county has re-
ceived a considerable amount of financial aid from both state and fed-
eral governments for other purposes. The estimated expenditure of
$300,000 by public-assistance agencies in 1938 exceeded the total county
taxes assessed for that year by more than $75,000. If the county had
had to depend on its own resources for local government and public
services, existing facilities could not have been maintained without
raising the tax rates or incurring greater indebtedness. Cumberland
county, in other words, falls far short of being self-supporting. The
public at large has a direct interest in the problems of a county which
leans so heavily on state and federal aid.

310 BULLETIN No. 506 [November,

RECENT SHIFTS IN PRODUCTION

Conditions have changed greatly in Cumberland county since 1939,
when this survey was made, because of the nation's defense program
and our entry into the war. Farming in Cumberland county and in the
whole claypan region has been affected. The directions of these
changes and the trends to be expected in the future have a definite
bearing on the problems with which this study is concerned.

Except for a greater oats acreage and a much larger proportion of
soybeans harvested for beans, the 1939-1941 average crop acreages
showed little change over 1939. Marked increases occurred in numbers
of hogs, smaller increases in numbers of cattle and sheep (Table 22).

During the war years 1942 and 1943 further shifts in production
have taken place as farmers have responded to wartime production
goals, relatively high prices for most agricultural products, and the
patriotic incentive of making maximum contributions to the war effort.

As a result, farmers have reduced their acreages of hay and plow-
able pasture and have increased their intertilled crops. This increase
has been largely in soybeans which, because of relatively high prices,
have become a major cash crop, two-thirds of the acreage being har-
vested for beans. A considerable shift from wheat to oats has taken
place because of adverse weather conditions at the time for seed-
ing wheat.

Still further increases have occurred in numbers of cattle, hogs,
and sheep. Numbers of milk cows and production of milk have in-
creased but little in Area 7 as a whole but have increased materially in
Cumberland county.

Wartime Maximum Production

To ascertain the extent to which agricultural production could be
adjusted to wartime demands, a committee representing the Illinois
Agricultural Experiment Station and the U. S. Department of Agricul-
ture, in 1942 and again in 1943, set up goals for each county and type-
of-farming area.1 The setting up of these goals required that an
inventory be made of the maximum productive capacity of each
county and type-of-farming area if the soils were to be used intensively
during the emergency. Such use would be exploitative but not ir-
reparably so.

'Set forth in mimeographed reports: "Wartime Farm Production Adjust-
ments in Illinois, 1942" ; and "An Appraisal of Maximum Wartime Production
Capacity in Illinois, 1943."

1944}

FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY

311

TABLE 22. — SHIFTS IN PRODUCTION OF MAJOR CROPS AND LIVESTOCK IN AREA 7

AND IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS, SINCE 1939a

(Expressed in percentages of 1939)

Prewar period
1939-1941.

War period

1942

1943

Wartime Long-time
maximum desirable
production production

Area 7

Crops

Corn (»>) -1 +7 +11 -44

Soybeans for beans +35 +214 +225 +527

All soybeans +4 +35 +45 +99 -19

Total cropland in intertilled crops +4 +15 +17 +30 -36

Wheat - -6 -33 -30 -1 -5

Oats +10 +40 +40 -1 +67

Plowable pasture +8 -17 -13 -26 +11

Total hay and plowable pasture. . +5 +1 +3 —15 +25

Livestock and livestock products

All cattle (January 1) +6 +15 +20 +12 («)

Milk cows (January 1) -1 -1 +1 +4

Hogs (January 1) +20 +48 +74 +53

Sows to farrow 0>) +15 +34 +23

Sheep +10 +37 +28 +10

Milk (b) +1 +2 +5

Eggs -1 +14 +29 +38

Cumberland county

Crops

Corn +1 +7 0>) («) -44

Soybeans for beans +41 +290 +265

All soybeans +8 +43 +34 -19

Total cropland in intertilled crops +3 +20 +13 —36

Wheat -7 -50 -1 -5

Oats +4 +39 +1 +66

Plowable pasture -14 -27 -13 +12

Total hay and plowable pasture... +4 —15 —4 +41

Livestock and livestock products

All cattle (January 1) +9 +19 +19

Milk cows (January 1) +6 +12 +12

Hogs (January 1) +30 +81 +86

Sows to farrow +9 +43 (c)

Sheep +20 +31 +33

Milk (b) +18 +18

Eggs -1 +14 +20

•Area 7 figures were compiled from data in a mimeographed publication, "Wartime Farm Pro-
duction Adjustments in Illinois," 1942, and "An Appraisal of Maximum Wartime Production Capacity
in Illinois," 1943, compiled cooperatively by the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station and the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Cumberland county data are from unpublished materials from
same sources as the above reports. bLess than .5 percent change. "Data not available.

On the basis of the calculations made by this committee a still
further shift in Cumberland county from hay and plowable pasture
to intertilled crops would be desirable under emergency war conditions.
This shift would be similar to that already made but would include
further expansion in acreage of soybeans, especially where the crop is
to be harvested as beans, and some increase in corn. Under such a plan
wheat and oats would approximate the 1939 acreages.

Even for wartime maximum production, the numbers of meat
animals have already been too greatly expanded, and decreases are
therefore indicated for all cattle, hogs, and sheep. A moderate in-

312 BULLETIN No. 506 [November,

crease in milk cows and milk production, as well as a further increase
in chickens and eggs, is desirable. These recommendations are based
on the fact that Cumberland county is short in feed production and
cannot support so much livestock unless farmers ship in feed.

Long-Time Desirable Production

Goals representing an ideal long-time use of land resources were
also set up by the above committee. In these goals are included the
development of operating units large enough to be profitable and the
adoption of systems of farming suited to the character of the land.

The shifts that have taken place under the emergency conditions
of the war have been largely in the opposite direction to those designed
to give the best long-time use of the land. The long-time adjustments
that are now needed are therefore much more drastic than were needed
in 1939, when the field work of this study was completed. The extreme
reductions indicated for corn and soybeans and the increases recom-
mended in small grains, hay, and plowable pasture (Table 22) show
the extent to which the land resources of this county have long been
misused and how misuse has increased under war conditions. The need
for adopting recommended changes is more urgent than ever.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUMMARY

The foregoing analysis of Cumberland county farms shows what
wide differences there are in the natural conditions under which farm-
ers in this county try to make a living for their families and in the
soil, crop, and livestock practices followed by individual farmers. All
these differences find ultimate expression in the incomes derived from
these farms and in the level of living enjoyed by those who are
dependent on these incomes.

On the basis of their productive capacity, the farms of the county
may be divided into three groups:

1. Those that now provide an adequate income but whose pro-
duction could be increased by better management. About half the farms
are in this class.

2. Those which, because of their small size or low productivity,
now fail to support a family but could be made to do so if the soil
were better managed and better methods of crop and livestock produc-
tion used. About one-fourth of the farms are in this class.

3. Those that are so small or so unproductive that they never

1944] FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY 313

could be made to yield a satisfactory living for a family. About one-
fourth of the farms are in this class.

For the problems associated with this last group of farms there
are two possible solutions: (1) their absorption into larger adjacent
farms or the consolidation of two or more of them; (2) acquirement
by their operators of outside employment, the income from which
would supplement that derived from the farm. Present opportunities
for outside employment, however, are so limited that they could not be
made to care for any large proportion of these cases.

Better farming practices. That there is little opportunity for
operators of the poorer farms to shift to better locations in the county
is shown by the fact that 75 percent of the farm land lies in the three
poorest soil-group areas of the county and 85 percent has a productive
rating of 7 or lower.

Thruout the county, therefore, there is urgent need for farmers to
improve their soil and adopt better farming practices, and many must
find a way to acquire larger farms if they are to earn enough to sup-
port their families without public aid. It is clear that improvement of
the soil should have first attention. This means providing good drain-
age, controlling erosion, building up soil fertility, developing cropping
systems suited to soil conditions, and adopting more widely the best
soil-management practices. Recommendations for good soil manage-
ment will be found, type by type, in the Cumberland County Soil
Report,1 and only general recommendations will therefore be given here.

Shifting extensive acreages of land of low productivity from inter-
tilled crops to small grains, hay, and pasture, to which they are better
suited, would greatly improve the economy of the area. It will of course
take time to make some of these shifts, to apply soil treatment, to
develop suitable types of livestock, and to initiate desirable manage-
ment practices ; and while the results of some improved practices will
be quickly apparent, full benefits from many others, such as the use of
limestone, will not be realized for several years. Moreover some cash
outlay is necessary for the initiation of most improved practices.
Increases in the net income may therefore be small during the first
years of an improvement program, but over a period of years they
should increase cumulatively and make possible further improvements
both in farm practices and in living conditions for the family.

It would seem that farmers in Cumberland county can make their
best contribution to the war effort by using this period to start general

'University of Illinois, Agricultural Experiment Station, 1940.

314 BULLETIN No. 506 [November,

adjustments that have long been needed. Any surplus income during
the war period should be used to pay debts, to lime the land, to pur-
chase more land where necessary, and to work toward a more general
livestock-and-small-grain type of farming.

Greater use of limestone. With the exception of the bottomland
soils, most of which are subject to overflow, and a few scattered tracts
of clay loam in the upland, all the soils in the county are acid and
need limestone to prepare the way for a soil-improvement program.
Some are in greater need of this material than others. In the hilly
areas the soils are strongly acid except for the numerous small tracts
of bottomland and the rough, broken land. The light-gray prairie area
is, in general, the most strongly acid of all areas. The major soils in
both the dark-gray prairie and the morainal areas are medium acid.
In the river-bottom area the major soil type (Huntsville loam) is
neutral to slightly acid. The broken part of the area is similar in
acidity to the hilly area.

Since limestone is basic to a program of soil improvement and con-
servation, its availability, cost, and method of financing are important
considerations. While liming of soils is increasing at a rapid rate in
Cumberland county, applications have not been large enough or exten-
sive enough to replace the amounts of calcium being lost thru plant
use and leaching. More effective methods need to be devised to induce
farmers to use it and use more of it.

The main problem restricting the use of limestone has been its cost.
Before the war, when trucking facilities were adequate, limestone was
being delivered to the farms for about $2 a ton,1 a very reasonable rate.
Nevertheless a large number of owners and operators could neither
pay cash for it nor get long enough credit to enable them to pay for it
out of the crop increases that would result from its use. Crop yields
ordinarily do not increase until the third year after the limestone is
applied. Some arrangement is therefore needed whereby purchasers
will be permitted to defer payment for the limestone until the in-
creased income is realized.

The grant-of-aid plan of the AAA has been a partial solution to the
limestone problem. It has permitted as much as 70 percent of the total
AAA payment to be assigned for limestone. This is a slow method of
getting limestone used in a region of so many small farms since AAA
payments per farm are very small. Many farmers have expressed

"Limestone delivered at this cost was from quarries in adjoining counties.
There are no quarries operating in Cumberland county.

1944] FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY 315

approval of a plan whereby they could receive all their AAA payment
in limestone or other soil-improving materials rather than in cash.
However, the grant-of-aid plan has, up to this time, fitted into the
usual practice in the claypan region of liming only small acreages
at a time.1

Loans for as long as three years can be obtained from production
credit associations. Parts of these loans are often used for liming,
altho the association does not usually make small loans just for liming.
Since the security required consists of chattels valued at twice the
amount of the loan, and since the returns' from liming cannot always
be realized within three years, these loans are not well-suited to the
needs of the area.

The agency best fitted to solve this problem is probably the Farm
Security Administration since it can make loans for periods as long
as five years to farm owners who do not have enough security to get
credit from other acceptable sources. Loans can be made to tenants
who have long-term leases if these leases provide compensation for
unexhausted improvements or if the landlord is willing to reduce
rental payments for a period of years, the difference in rent to apply
to the cost of liming.

A highly desirable arrangement would be for farm-mortgage agen-
cies to encourage their clients to apply limestone and, if necessary,
lend them enough money to pay the costs. The additional security pro-
vided by the greater productivity of the land would justify this prac-
tice, which the Farm Security Administration follows on its tenant-
purchase farms in the county.

Revision of cropping systems. The cropping systems used on the
harvested crop acreage in Cumberland county are generally too deplet-
ing. In all areas corn and broomcorn occupy too much cropland. The
combination of corn, broomcorn, and soybeans, used on 59 to 100 per-
cent of the crop area of individual farms in an effort to produce the
greatest volume of cash and feed crops creates serious problems of
soil depletion and erosion.

The fairly large acreage* in nonlegume hays indicates how little of
the cropland has been limed. The more general use of limestone would
permit cropping systems that would keep more fertility in the soils and
reduce erosion. In the county as a whole this would lead to the more

'The AAA grant-of-aid plan has been considered highly successful in stimu-
lating the use of limestone. The plan was put into operation in 1940. In 1940
and 1941 the farmers of Cumberland county requested a total of 26,924 tons of
limestone under this method of financing.

316 BULLETIN No. 506 [November,

extensive planting of legumes and small grains and some reduction in
timothy and redtop hay, soybeans, and corn. Of course such a program
would take several years to accomplish, and it would mean a smaller
income from grain than is realized under the present system (except
as higher grain yields might offset reduction in acreage) ; but it would
increase the amount of feed crops, help maintain fertility, and
reduce erosion.

Some of the cropland that is now least productive or most subject
to erosion could be used more advantageously for pasture than for
harvested crops ; but even for this purpose such lands should come
under an improvement program.

Pasture improvement. Pasturing of some of the timbered areas
in Cumberland county should be discontinued. An improvement pro-
gram for pastures that are to be continued should include soil treat-
ment and the control of grazing and weeds. Tho it is commonly thought
that land worn out from grain growing will be all right for pasture,
pasture grasses, like ordinary crops, are affected by the fertility of
the soil. Improvement of pastures will increase their livestock-carrying
capacity and provide a better quality of feed.

When included as part of the regular rotation, pastures should be
given the same treatment as the rest of the crop area. For permanent
pastures on tillable land, the first requirement is limestone to correct
acidity. Pasture-improvement tests in the claypan region1 show that a
mixture of sweet clover, lespedeza, timothy, and redtop gives best
results. The application of manure or other fertilizers is also beneficial.

Control of grazing is important because it reduces the number of
weeds. On rolling land it also helps prevent erosion, since a good cover
of pasture grasses means less surface runoff. Clipping of weeds is
another practice which increases the carrying capacity of pastures.

Better woodland management. The outstanding need of farm
woodlands is protection from grazing and fire. In the hilly area and in
broken parts or the river-bottom area, there are large acreages of
brush and timberland that are pastured. In fact two-thirds of the
woodland in the entire county was reported in the 1935 U. S. Census
as pastured. Heavily shaded pastures produce a scant growth of
grasses and the grasses are of poor quality. Moreover, pasturing of
woodland destroys young trees, reduces their rate of growth and the

JA "test-farm demonstration project," on the use of phosphate on pastures
is underway in Shelby county. Some farmers claim that the carrying capacity
of their pastures is five times what it was. The results of this project are easily
observed by Cumberland county farmers.

1944~\ FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY 317

proportion of desirable species, and increases erosion. Such land would
be more profitable if used exclusively for timber production. The
woodland of the county is confined almost entirely to the hilly and
river-bottom areas. Since there are no blocks large enough to justify
public operation, these wooded tracts should be included in farms and
managed as a part of the farm business.

In all the broken areas more care and attention to woodlands would
add to their value as income-producing enterprises, altho a period of
time is necessary before returns would be secured. Where erosion and
gullying are taking place, trees should be' planted or allowed to seed
naturally. Where stands are already established, most of the timber is
thrifty and growing rapidly in size and value ; it should not be cut until
the maximum return can be obtained in timber for farm needs and
for market.

Larger farming units. Possibly three-fourths of the farms in
Cumberland county could, thru the adoption of the practices recom-
mended here, be made to provide a reasonable living for the farm
family. Many farms, however, have too small a productive area to
maintain a family adequately no matter what improvements their
operators might make in farming practices.

The most drastic adjustments in size are needed on the smallest
farms. Since a large proportion of the operators on the smaller farms
are 60 years old or older (in 1939 39 percent were over 60, 22 percent
were over 70), changes in operators may take place rather rapidly
over the next ten years, leading to a combining of many farms. The
poor condition of more than one-third of the houses on the small farms
is another factor that may lead to a combining of some of these farms.
That such a trend toward larger farms has long been underway is indi-
cated by the decrease in the number of farms in the county from
2,484 in 1900 to 1,779 in 1940, a drop of 28 percent, whereas the total
area in farms has not changed.

The final remedy for the existence of farms too small or too un-
productive to be made economic must lie in a reduction of the rural
population and the relocation in industrial areas or in other agricul-
tural areas of the families now living on these farms.

Livestock adjustments. The amount of livestock which the farm-
ers in this county can profitably keep depends, of course, for one thing
on the amount of feed they can grow or buy. Many of them need to
adjust their types of livestock to their equipment, labor supply, market,
and the feeds they grow, or should grow, on their own farms. This

318 BULLETIN No. 506 [November,

would mean more dairy and beef cattle and fewer hogs in the morainal
area; more beef-breeding herds and sheep in the rough areas; more
hogs in the river area, where there is a large surplus of corn for feed;
and more dairy cattle in the eastern part of the county, where legume
pastures can be grown on the prairie lands. More poultry would be
profitable on farms where suitable housing can be provided and where
feed and labor are available. By intensifying his livestock production
in this way, a farmer could increase the volume of his farm business
without having to acquire a larger acreage.

Possibly even more important than the adjustment of the kinds and
number of livestock is the improvement of its quality. On many farms
larger production and a better income could be realized from the same
number of animals and the same amount of feed if better breeding
were practiced, balanced rations were fed, and better care were given.

On many farms the breeds of livestock might profitably be changed,
as where beef breeds are now used for dairy purposes. Returns would
be materially increased if dairy breeds were kept on farms where milk
is the principal source of income and beef breeds on those where sale
of calves or fat cattle is the primary aim. On farms where some dairy
products are sold and the calves are raised for feeding, dual-purpose
cattle may be best. For any type of cattle the use of high-quality bulls,
preferably of the same breed as the cows, is desirable. Only the best
animals should be kept for breeding purposes.

With improvement of crop and pasture lands, more beef-breeding
herds would be justified on the larger farms in the hilly area. Such
herds should be built up gradually, the foundation stock being secured
when cattle prices are low.

More efficient dairy production can be developed by feeding rations
that are properly balanced with protein supplements, by grinding the
grains, by testing to keep the herds free from disease, and by keeping
records of the milk and butter fat production of individual cows in
order to identify and cull out the low producers.

Swine production can be made more profitable by the more wide-
spread use of sanitary measures for the control of parasites and
diseases and by vaccinating against hog cholera. Feeding practices can
be improved by using legumes for forage, purchasing protein supple-
ments to balance grain feeds, and feeding hogs rapidly to market
weights when feeds are available. In some parts of the county farmers
sell feeder pigs when their feed supplies are short and feed out pigs
when supplies are plentiful.

Larger numbers of sheep could well be kept to utilize roughage,

1944] FARMING IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY 319

particularly in the hilly and morainal areas, where drainage is not a
serious problem. Dogs may possibly be the limiting factor in sheep
production.

On the smaller farms it seems advisable to continue to use horses
rather than tractors, as the amount of work to be done does not justify
a large investment in power equipment and the small income does not
permit heavy expenditures for fuel, upkeep, and replacement. On the
larger farms the choice of power and equipment may be guided by
individual preference after due consideration has been given to the
kinds and acreages of crops grown ; but care needs to be taken to limit
the total power supply to the needs of the farm. Too often tractors
are added without reducing the number of horses.

Poultry can be made to contribute more income to these Cumber-
land county farms than it is now contributing. While the quality of the
poultry stock and the character of the housing are generally good, on
many farms the housing is entirely inadequate for the number of hens
kept ; this results in low production and high losses. Feeding practices
could be improved by the more general use of balanced rations, both
in mash form and in regular feeds. Use of more green legumes and
the rotation of feeding lots is needed. After improvements are made in
housing and feeding, the laying flock could be increased on many farms
to make use of available labor.

Improvement of living conditions. Even where little or no cash
is available, numerous improvements in a farm family's scale of living
can often be made thru better planning and effort by the family itself.
Indeed the home production of a varied and adequate food supply is
likely to mean not only a more healthful diet but less expense as well.1
An ample garden and dairy and poultry products and at least a part
of the meat supply can be produced at home with little cash outlay.

Much can be done in Cumberland county and the claypan region
to improve family living in this way. An increase in income from the
products raised and sold is, however, an essential step in raising the
living here to a reasonable level. This holds true not only for the
present farm operators, but also for the younger people who will
gradually replace the present operators. While the war period, because
of the higher prices it has brought for farm products, might be ex-

'The gardens in the light-gray prairie and hilly areas of Cumberland county
are considerably better than those in other areas of the county. In all areas the
quantities of vegetables canned at the time this study was made was definitely
related to the size of the farm, the larger quantities being canned on the
larger farms.

320 BULLETIN No. 506

pected to provide a start toward the establishment of those basic im-
provements that would permanently raise the income level, in reality
it has retarded them, for under the incentive of wartime prices farmers
have expanded the use of practices that are largely opposed to those
that are desirable from a long-time point of view. To the period fol-
lowing the war, therefore, must be left the more fundamental adjust-
ments that are needed to put farming in this area on a basis where it
will provide a reasonable standard of living for those who choose this
way of life.

6050—11-44—28450

SERS.TYOFILLINUIS-URBANA