Mystery Farm, Vermilion & Wayne County, Illinois From Fairfield Press(?) [Vermilion County, IL], Date Unknown (approx. 1930-1960)] MYSTERY FARM -- No. 24 Press Aerial Photo Cruising out a ways from Fairfield the mystery farm plane dropped down to about 200 feet to permit the taking of the detailed picture of one of the "most unusual" farms in Wayne county. We'll tell you why next week. Whose farm is it? WM. MCDOWELL FARM, NEAR MT. ERIE, PICTURED HERE LAST WEEK In one of the pictures to be found on this page, little Max and Gary BORAH, grandsons of our mystery farmer last week, dip their hands into some of the delicious popcorn grown on the mystery farm of William MCDOWELL, three miles south of Mt. Erie in Massilon township. Mr. MCDOWELL is quite a popcorn grower, selling as much as three truckloads a year to Evansville and St. Louis processors and of course, selling a great deal more to Wayne county popcorn lovers. Just the extent of his popcorn growing can be imagined when in one recent year some 20 acres in popcorn were reported for entire Wayne county with Mr. MCDOWELL having 18 of the 20 acres. Our mystery farmer likes Wayne county. He was born on his farm, not in the house where he and Mrs. MCDOWELL live now but a house on the southwest forty of the farm. His father, Sam MCDOWELL started farming their land in 1881. Said our mystery farmer, "I guess you could say I kinda like Wayne country and our home here because I've never been away more than six days at a time in my life." An "Unusual" Farm With the picture last week the farm was termed an "Unusual farm." Here is what was meant. The farm of 160 acres is divided into four exact forty acre tracts by the intersection of two county gravel roads. Each of the forty acres is in a different section of Massilon township. And yet it's all one farm. As a matter of fact, two of the 40 acre tracts are bounded on three sides by highways. Diversified farming paints the picture of the MCDOWELL farm operations. His livestock include cattle, hogs and sheep, his grain crops corn, beans and wheat. Also, poultry is a big item on the MCDOWELL farm. Mr. MCDOWELL goes in for fine registered livestock, which he sells for breeding purposes. He's stuck to registered stock for years. In the cattle line, he has 40 head of registered polled Hereford cattle and he told this reporter, "We raise about 120 head of registered Hampshire hogs a year to sell for breeding purposes." Mr. MCDOWELL has had registered Hampshire sheep on his farm for at least 35 years and has about 20 head at present. Had Good Corn Crop In the grain crops, he planted 45 acres of corn, 75 acres of soybeans. He had wheat last year but didn't plant any this fall. Of his corn this year, he said, "We got about 75 bushels to the acre on our hill corn but maybe 55-60 in the bottoms. Beans didn't come out good as we expected, we got about an 18 bushel average." Mr. MCDOWELL is a farm reporter, not for any newspaper but for many years he has been filling out questionnaires every month for the government, telling in detail the progress of the farm season and crops for his farm and giving a general picture of the farming in his vicinity. The MCDOWELLs have more than 500 laying hens and during the peak season will get a case of eggs a day, with 90 per cent of the eggs falling under the Grade A label. "We keep White Leghorns. We have tried others through the years but we've always come back to the leghorns. Don't think you can beat them for good egg production," Mrs. MCDOWELL noted. A Bee Keeper Our mystery farmer keeps from 30 to 50 colonies of bees. He (clipping ends) [Photo 1:] Two of their grandfathers best popcorn customers are Max (left) and Gary BORAH who are seen here enjoying a pan full of freshly popped corn. [Photo 2:] Mr. MCDOWELL is a farm reporter and here you see him at his desk doing some of his work. [Photo 3:] Mrs. MCDOWELL is a lover of flowers and here you see her with her Sanseviera - a cactus plant that she has cultivated for many years, a gift from her mother. ------------------------------------------------------------------ USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organiza- tions or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contri- butor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ----------------------------------------------------------------- File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Whitney R Profitt