For every ton of commercial fertilizer that Iowa farmers used 6 years ago, they are now using 9 tons—a nine times increase in 6 years. It’s likely that still more fertilizer will be used in the coming years.

Iowa farmers are having fewer fire losses than they had a few years ago. Losses in 1944 were the lowest since reports have been published by the State Fire Marshal. On the other hand, fire losses in the United States have been on the increase since 1937. They’ve been increasing in t h e towns and cities of Iowa since 1941.

Farming around the hills instead of up and down them pays. We are convinced of that after 4 years of comparing yields, measuring soil and water losses and observing the difference in power that contouring takes as compared with up-and-down hill farming.

We can profitably use commercial fertilizer for oats on many Iowa farms. That is the conclusion we have reached from tests made by the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station in the past 2 years. In 1944 and 1945 we had over 30 field experiments with about 1,500 small plots. These were scattered over most of Iowa’s major soil areas.

Flies can be controlled cheaply and effectively by DDT properly used. Farmers in Iowa and other states have given it an experimental trial on livestock, in their barns, in other outbuildings and have okayed it as an efficient fly-fighting weapon.