Norwich Bulletin Newspaper, January 1, 1913, Page 18

“Zea Mays." § Indian Corn. ¢ @ Maize, Corn. { Those are its various names. The scientific gentlemen call it “Zea Mays”: the first word.being that which the old Greeks, 3,000 years 2go, used for their horse-feed. We don't know, for sure, just what this herse-feced was, but the word later came to be applied to graihs of all kinds. And “Mays” or “Mahiz” a Havtian word, probably heard by Columbus and so used by him to describe the new grain he found culti- vated there. —Right here, however, in order to forestall the criticism of some bright high school boy, let me interject the admission that it is by no ‘means so sure that this was the first discovery of maize. Western Europe for a long time called it “Turkey corn,” for the excellent reason that her supplies of it came in ships from ‘Purkey way. Some Who have studied the subject assert their belief that it is really a native of Asia. Howevor, all that is of mighty small importance. The important fact is that Indian corn was one of the main crobs cultivated by the North American Indians, when' the whites first visited them: that it was introduced into general world use from this continent: that it is still srown here more widely and of better quality than anywhere else,—America produces 70 per cent of the total crop;—so that we bave a prescriptive right to claim it as our own: —as a sort of vegetable Native American. Tradition tells of how the first New England settlers were !n!tru?l_ad by the friendly Indians to plant corn about the time when the alewives were running up the brooks, so that they might always be able to put a dead fish in each hill when pianting. Manuring in the hill” is still the custom among many farmers, though they may now use hen- manure or guano or store-bought “phosphates™ instead of the fish of early times. —The point | want to make, just at the start-off, is that Indian corn.—or just “corn” for short as we all call it and as I shall call it, hereafter,—is a distinctively American piant. If America had never dome anything more for the world than introduce the Thankegiving turkey and the loaf of hot corn bread, it still couldn’t have been called @ failure. There haven't been any continents discovered since which have done as much as even that for the race! Whereby and wherefore, as patriotic Americans we can afford to o take an especial pride in corn. Kind of sentiment really practical in business matters,—then let me call vour attention to tho fact that corn is by all odds the most im- portant crop, in dollars and cents, that is raised in America. In 1911, the last vear for which full statistics are at hand, the United States planted 105,825,000 acres to corn and harvested therefrom 2,531,488,000 bushels of corn, worth $1.565,258,000 on the farm. That same vear the combined winter and spring wheat crop of the country amounted to only 621,000,000 bushels worth only $543,000,000. The entire cotton crop of the country required only 36,000,000 acres and brought in less than $1,000,000.000. Cotton and wheat, combined. amounted to less than corn, alone. This vear, 1912. the corn crop iz gons fo bo af 5, —almost 640,000,000 bushels more than last vear. =y anywhere mear to it, either in acres cultivated, bushels produced. or money brouzht in. The value of the entire cotton crop, including meal, is set by the goverament statis- about 3,170,000,000 No cther crop “linters,” cotton-seed ticlans at only $986,000.000. CONNECTICUT’S ACREAGE. Two and Three-fourths Millions of Bushels Bring $2,375,000. In 1911, out of the total 105,000,000 acres planted to corn Connecti- cut had 59,000: out of th 31,000,000 bushels produced Connecticut furnished 2,862,000: of the $1,565,000,000 brought in by the ciop Connec- ticut got her fingers on $2,375,000. That $2,375,000 is'a very tidy sum. It would make a handy little “wad” for any ome of us. Divided up as it was, however, into some 40,000 parts and among some 0,000 farmers, it didn't impress any one of us so forcibly as it might. To tell the truth, taking the state as a whole, there seems'to be a wide-spread lack of interest in corn, either as a crop or in any other way. To be sure, there are cxceptions. We all remember how Brewer of Hockanum beat the record and all his competiiors, three years ago, with-a crop of Connecticut-grown corn. And herc’s one more little fact which will enable such of us Wooden Nutmegs as want to, to stick a feather in our caps. Between 1870 and 1880, the average yield of corn per acre in Connecticut was 29.8 bushels to the acre, the lowest in New England, with the exception of Rhode Island. In 1911 the average yleld per acre in Connecticut was 45.5 bushels—the very largest for that vear in New England and, also, in the whole United States. In 1910 Connecticut's acre yleld was 53.2 bushels—again the largest in the country. Even this vear 1912, the Department of Agricultures sta- tistics show no state in the so-cailed “Corn Belt” approaching these Connecticut figures of 1910 and 1911. Oh, we may not grow so awful much corn, but we can beat all the rest of Uncle Sam’s brood in what we do raise! So far as number of scres is concerned, we're close to the tail-end of the procession, but when it comes to actual yleld per acre, we aren’t taking anybody’s dust. Yet, in spite of these facts and these still more flattering possibil- ities, there are whole communities in the state—farming communities, I mean—where practically no Interest is taken in corn. Eastern Connecticut appears to have its fuil share of this indifference. To some of us, this state of mind seems more than a little unfortu- nate. New England is the birth-place and chosen home of corn-bread and johnny-cakes and hasty-pudding. Now these esculents may not be quite as “tone-y” as pate-de-foic-gras, mushrooms and caviar, but they're a dum sight better fodder for folks who have to work for a living, and who like to have some red blood circulating warmly in their velns. Moreover, modern discovery and jnvention have found about a score of other uses for various parts of the corn plant. There's hardly another raisable crop which has so little dead waste about it,—which can be so nearly cleaned up in useful and profitable ways. It furnishes food for man when ground into meal: ft helps make, combined with oats, the best horse-feed yet discovered: it is absolutely essential for fattening meat animals and for feeding poultry: the fibre makes a ood quality of paper: the pith is in demand for cellulose: it is the one crop relied upon for furnishing cheap and wholesome roughage for milch cows, either as silage or dry stover: and now a “corn extract” is being made from the stalks which shows high value as a stock-food, running up as high as 12 per cent of protein, and being quite as sweet and palatable as the average stock-food molasses. Even the stubble and the scattered stalks left about the fields make fertilizer with a very real value, when the quantity is sufficient. Now, here we have a crop which is confessedly indigenous to the sofl; which can be grown under a wide variety of conditions; which hus an immense and steadily widening use; which leads all other ‘American crops in acreage, production, and volue: and here we have a state which used to raise corn on every hillside, which still can raise Dbigger crops to the acre than any other state In the Union. Doesn't it seem as if, in that combination of circumstances, there ought to be “suthin; more doin’” in the way of corn in Connecticut? Especially when, as is now the case, the culture of corn is at- tracting an unheard of amount of interest In pretty nearly every other state? 1 don’t suppose that all the farm-land in Connecticut is good corn- jand. I dom’t suppose that haif of it is. I wouldn't be a bit .disap- Dointed if a careful sofl survey should show thatnot over a quarter,—one acro in four,—was adapted to successful corn-growing. But the litile state has more than two million acres in its farms, and if even a quarter of this were corn-land it would be enough to provide johnny- cake for quite a donation party. You can grow a whole lot of corn on half a million acres. New London and Windham counties combined have only a little more land than that in farms. A corn-field stretching from Windmill Point to Hatchet Pond and from Old Lyme to East Thompson would be quite a patch for any state. It would produce some corn—and then some. As a matter of fact only a little over fifty thousand acres in the whole state are usually planted in this crop. You will at once say: “Oh, well, good corn land is apt to be good tobacco land, and Connecticut prefers to raise tobacco.” Hold on, there, let's see about that. A look at the figures shows us that in 1911 thers were only 17,000 acres of tobacco in all Connecticut. That takes a mighty small corner off the big corn-iot we've been imagining. Bears about the same relation to it that the cabbage-yard does to the ordinary “Yes, yes,” I hear the impaticn: response; “but we've got to raise potatoes and oats on some of it.” Of course, but those pesky figures show that in 1911 there were only 23,000 acres of potatoes and 11,000 acres of oats in the state. No, brethren, we can't excuse any disioyalty to King Corn by throw- ing the blame on other crops. THE AMERICAN CORN BELT. Connecticut’s High Average Per Acre Beats It. “But the states of the Corn Belt raise all the corn that's needed, and raise it cheaper and easier and better than we can on our Httle rugged Connecticut farms.” S0? The states of the' “Corn Belt” are generally understood to be Ohio, Indiana, lilnols, Iowa. Missourl, Kansas and_Nebraska, with portions of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. For the past ten years the average production of corn in these distinctively corn states has been only 31 bushels to the acre. Yet the average, per acre, for the same ten years in Connecticut has been about 37 bushels to the acre. It a production of 31 bushels put a state in the * does a production of 37 bushels put one? In trath, that old classification of the “Corn Belt” 1s getting a pretty black eve, lately. A recent dispatch from Grand Forks, North Dakota, which used to be thought too far morth, reports that not far from 300,000 acres were in corn, in that state, in 1912, which is about twice as much as ever before, and the crop s said to bo a bumper. At the other extreme of the map, such states as Texas and even Florida are jumping into the “Corn Belt” with both feet. Why, in 1910 the nine southern states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas were bragging ubout the very biggest corn crop ever produced in their history. They harvested, those nine states, 526,000,000 bushels. Yet this 1912 the same states report a crop of 537,000,000 buskels. They save “seen” their best, and “gone it” several millions better. They, too, have got into that “Corn Belt” They are rapidly out- growing what was for years a characteristic Southern folly, that of dependence upon one single crop. Cotton is no longer kirs, even in the semi-tropical states where its rule was once supreme. The simple truth seems to be that all over the country, in localities wkhere. heretofore, corn has been looked upon askance, as a doubtful or an unprofitabla crop, it is coming into its own, again. © Now Connecticut is a small state. Its farm area of a little over 2,000,000 acres doesn’t make much of a figure beside Illinols’ 35,000,000 acres; or Texas' 167,000,000, But Connecticut’s yield of 48 bushels to the acre in 1911 compares more favorably with Illinols' yield of 33 bushels. Bear in mind, too, that the average value of land per acre in Connecticut is $33.03 while the average value in Illinols is $95.02,— almost three times as much. Once moze I ask, if the abllity to gruw 33-bushel corn on $95 lands puts a state In the “Corn Belt,” where does the ability to raise 48- bushel corn on $33 land put one?—Mind you, these values are not those of just the corn-fields alone, but of all the farm lands in the two states. It seems to me, if Louisiana finds it good farming to grow more corn and less cotton and sugar-cane in proportion, that Connecticut might find it worth while to consider the maize plant. if North Dakota decides that more corn and less wheat is for Its agricultural interest then Connecticut might well ask why a similar movement might not be for the advantage of Nutmeg farmers, One of the most important and moving causes in the change of spirit, especially in the South, of late years, has been the action of the government in what is known as “Co-operative Demonstration Work,” coupled with the activity of the Boys’ Corn Clubs. orn Belt,” where g0t 80 thick-hided as to be impervious to reason. Therefore they paid & good deal of attention to the starting and conduvet of such clubs. It pretty soon began to be clear that, when a man’s twelve-year old boy, acting under the agents’ advice, had managed to raise a higger crop on the old man’s farm than the old man himeelf had ever done, and at & less cost per bushel—that then the old man would “sit up and take notice,” Therefore the agents did all in their power to increase the number and success of these boys' clubs. A There were 10,000 boys enrolled in them in 1909: 46,000 in 1910; almost 60,000 in 1911, They were organized systematically in con- nection with the schools and in every other way. The results were not only. all that were hoped for from the boys, but they spread over entire communities and woke up adults too. Publlc-spirited citizens caught on to the possibilities of the situation. in one year such individuals contributed more than $40,000 in prizes for the boys. Boards of trade, educational associations, state fairs fell into line and offered free trips to Washington for the winners from each state. The states themselves have now begun to join the procession. Governors have been auth- orized to give diplomas to those deserving them, and appropriations Bave been made by legislatures to help the good work along. There is hardly a state in the Union—unless it be Connecticut,— which hasn’t representatives among these boys' corn clubs. They are found almost everywhere, under all 50rts of auspices. Some are direct- 1y under the guidance of the agents of the Department of Agricultur some under state agents, working for state recognition and prizes: some are organized fn connection with rural schools; a good many by newspapers having an agricultural clientage. As an illustration may be cited The Kansas City Star, which has for scveral years conducted an annual contest among the boys of the eight states In which it chiefly circulates. These contests have become one of the biggest features of the farm year in many localities. I haven't seen any exact statement of the number of boys entered in The Star's 1912 contest, but it is 'way up in the thousands. The conditions are simple and the prizes,—running from $200 down,—are worth a boy’s striving for. But the chief element which enters into them is the wholesome rivairy they stimulate in a desirable cause. The farm boy who engages in such a contest not only locks forward to the chance of getting big pay for his work, but, whether he wins or not, he goes into it as his own work and for himselt.—This is a nighty different thing, in any boy’s mind, from drudging at somebody else’s work.—Moreover, it wakens the sense of local rivairy. Johnny Jones isn't goin’ to let that Tommy Robinson beat him; mo sir-ee! His interest is excited: his ambition stirred; his sense of initiative aroused. He isn’t ashamed to ask questions and take advice. He isn't afraid to do things in different ways, just because they happen to be new ways. The boy is apt to study his acre and his seed and his fertilizer and his cultivation a good deal more diligently and enthusiestically than CORN-GROWING CONTEST FOR 1913 The Bulletin Offers $230.00 In Prizes SEVEN PR!Z:S—$100. to 1st; §50. to 2nd; $25. to 3rd and 4th; and $10. each 1o nex! three in order To Promote Corn Growing in New London and Windhem Counties The Bulletin makes this offer for the bDest acres of corn grown by boy or man. Who May Compete—Any farmer or farmer's boy in New London or Windham Counties may compete. Only one entry can be made from a farm, which can be made by the owner, his son, or lessee. more than one prize. No contestant will be awarded Date of Entry—Notice of intention to compete should be sent to The Bulletin Company on or before April 1, 1913, It will be better to write for blanks now, and familiarize yourselves with the details. Amount of Land—Any amount of land may be planted, provided it is actually one acre or over in extent. The awards will be made upon the yield of one acre only. within and be a part of the plece entered In the contest. This one acre must be one piece, and may be selected by the contestant at harvest or before, hut must come The quality of the corn will be decided by a free laboratory test made by the Storrs College expert from one quart of selected corn. IT WILL REQUIRE FIFTY NAMES TO WARRANT THE COMPETITION. CO-OPERATIVE DEMONSTRATION WORK The Government Comes to the Aid of the Planters. This “Farmers’ Co-operative Demenstration work” had a small be- ginning, but has developed into one of the most important phases of the department’s service, especially to the farmers of the South, where, at the outset, its need seemed to be greatest. It was first organized in Texas in 1904 to give relief, if possible, to localities ravaged by the cotton boll weevil. At that time the farmers there raised just cotton,— nothing but cotton. It was their only cash crop and was almost always grown on credit. That is, the planter gave a sort of mortgage on his coming crop to ralse money wherewith to grow it and furnish him with supplies till it was grown. When the crop was gathered the banker or merchant who had advanced the money took the crop, sold it, paid him- self his advances and turned over the balance,—when there was any,— to the planter. Into this condition of affairs suddenly marched the boll weevil which destroyed the crop, not just one year, but year nfter year. Thereupon bankers naturally declined to make advances and the averaze farmer found himself “without money, without credit and with- out food. The result was a combined agricuitural famine and panic. Right here the demonstration work came in. The department’s bug bureau had already investigated the boll weevil and found out how to control It so that cotton could be produced in spite of it. With this information Dr. Knapp and a few assistants set out to show the discouraged farmers what to do. Wherever one could be found who didn’t already know it all and was willing to take suggestion an agent was sent to show him how to raise a few acres of cotton right in face of the boll weevil. But the very minute this special work was taken in hand, in the field and with flesh and blood farmers, it was seen that something else was imperatively necessary. The farmers must be got out of their one-crop madness and induced to put their eggs in more than one basket. They needed food as well as cotton and money. So the demonstrators set to teaching the one-time cotton-planters to diversify their crops. Each was induced to start a home garden, wherein could be grown something to eat, if nothing else came in. At the same time, they were Instructed in the raising of corn,—at that time a rare crop in Texas. “The result was jmmediate and reassuring. The demonsirators ralsed cotton in spite of the weevil; at the same iime they raised much more corn under the instruction of the agents than they had ever been able to ralse before.” Every thing pointed to the reasonable likelihood that the boll weevil would gradually spread to ail the cotton-growing states of the South. This confirmed the belief of the department's agents that the more rapidly the southern farmer could be got to diversify his crops the better it would be for all concerned. From that starting-point and along that line, the activity of the work has steadily develoved. Beginning with a few agents in one state, the service now inciudes over 600 agents in thirteen states. They have really done more for corn than for cotton, on the whole. Briefly summarized the method is something like this:—There is a general agent In charge at Washington. Then there are state agents in each state; men selected for their strength and capacity and quali- fied by the possession of two rare traits,—executive ability and the tact necessary to handle men. “District agents” are appointed from practi- cal farmers who not only have a knowledge of scientific agriculture, but have had experience in demonstration work. “County agents” are usually local farmers, chosen on the advice of the other farmers and business men acquainted with the territory to be covered. “Co- operators” are individual farmers who agree to work all cr a part of their crops In accordance with instructions given. A “demonstration farm” is that portion of any actual farm farm which is thus worked according to instructions from the agents, who visit them es often as once a month to sce that the directions are carried out and to give further advice, if necessary. ; G In 1971, no less than 89,764 farmers were thus instructel or advised —26,227 of them turning their ranches into “demonstration farms” under the monthly supervision of the department’s agents. Dr. Knapp tersely described the plan in these words: “The demon- stration work may be regarded as a system of adult education given to the farmer upon his farm by means of object lessons in the soil, prepared under his observation and generally by his own hand.” Or, in different words, on another occasion: “The Farmers' Co-operative Demonstration Work may be regarded as a method of increasing farm crops, and as logically the firét step towards a true uplift, or it may be considered a system of rural education for boys and adults by which a readjustment of country life can be effected and placed upon = higher plane of comfort, culture, influence and power. BOYS’ CORN CLUBS. . The Enroliment in 1911 Was 60,000. It wasn't long after this had got fairly under way. before tho agents discovered the possibility of getting mighty valuable help from another and hardly expected source. Some one had started a few “Boys' Corn Clubs.” The agents found that the only way to reach some hard-crusted old farmers was through thelr boys, who hadn’t yet ‘corn in Texas was almost 33 bushels. he ever studied anything before. He “takes to i” much more lovingly than he takes to grammar or ‘rithmetic, Nor is he worried about the work., Work? Why, it becomes play when he has an object which he sees clearly ahead of him and about which he is interested to the last fibre of his little frame. In one southwestern town the local base- ball club “fizzled” out, because all the best players were in the boys’ corn-club and couldn’t “waste the time” to practice ball: they enjoyed better putting it in on their corn plats. And then, there’s always the chance of “beating father.” If that can be done, under difficult conditions and in the face of many obsta- cles, the average boy’s heart jumps into a gallop and the average boy’s head bumps the moon. TWO AMBITIOUS BOYS. They Both Beat Father Under Different Conditions. Out in Arkaneas, one year, a certain boy got interested in the corn- club and begged for an acre to plant, so he could join the competition. The father, a hard-shelled, stiff-necked, rather conservative old fellow, at first laughed at the lad. But he relented,—a little—later, and finally told the boy he might have a certain acre on a certain hillside to see what he could do. It was about the poorest acre on the farm; stony, stumpy, thin-soiled. You see, the old man really played a low-down trick on his own son. But the boy was so over-joyed at having any sort of a chance, that he made no kick about this. He was only twelve vears and he had never seen any corn raised except the scattering, slim-stzlked patch of “nubbins” which was the best his father had ever achieved. But he promptly hunted up the local agent and got all the steering that expert could give him. He hadn't any tools and his only horse was a tame goat. His father finally softened up enough to plow the stone-heap for him. Then the boy made a harness for his goat out of old boots and a wagon from a soap-box. He drew off the loose surface stones with his goat and s0ap-box team, and drew on such manure as he was permitted to use with the same conveyance. He made a marker out of old boards and “shone up” a dull discarded hoe. The agent “trusted” him for some tested seed. Except the ome item of plowing, this twelve years-old boy aid all the work of planting, cultivating and harvesting his acre. All through the growing season it was the best looking acre on the farm,— the cleanest, the thriftiest, the most attractive. The agent got Inter- ested and kept close watch of him, giving all the advice and suggestions he could. But the kid dig the work. The agent never even lifted a hoe. This boy didn’t get any prize,—didn’t come up to half the yield of the first winner,—his Jand was too poor. But he did something better and more to the purpose: he produced on his stony, waste acre & bigger crop of better corn than his father had ever raised on better land,—and he converted that father. The old chap was so impressed with the lad’s industry and zeal and success, that he formally took him in as full partner, next year, and put him in charge ot the whole corn-raising portion of the farm, with an even share of the profit. Two years ago the biggest corn crop ever raised in any southern state was produced by another boy in South Carolina in one of these corn clubs. He took 152 1-2 bushels off a measured acre, w. the, average for the state was only 16 bushels. In one Missiseippl county. the boys in thelr corn contests averaged a production of 74 bushels to the acre, while the olders farmers averaged less than 20 bushels in that same county. The results of these contests have been notable in many directions. In the first place, they have served to increase the altractiveness of the farm to many thousand bovs: they have shown the youresters the ossibilities of farming as a life-work. Again, in connection with the Farmers' Co-operative Demonstration Work” they have brought new ideas and tmproved methods to the back farms as Lo institutes or farm papers or government bulletins could have done. They have helped to break down the wide-spread prejudice of working farmers against what they sneeringly call “book farmers.” They have helped in a business way by showing struggling farmers on their own farms how to raise bigger crops at a lesser cost, thereby earning more money. Already, in the very few years they have been in vogue, they have brought about a gradual but general increase in everage acre producy tion of corn In practically all the states where they are common. For illustration take the cases of certain southern states, where the work has been carried on most widely: In 1910 the average yield per acr In Texas was- 20 1-2 bushels, but the average yleld of “demonstrators’ In Virginia the average yleld In North was 251-2 bushels: the “demonstrators’” yleld was 46 1-2. Carolina the average yleld was 18 1-2 bushels, the “demonstrators yield was 43 1-2. In eleven states the average yfeld per acre, under the old methods of management was just a trifle over 19 bushels: the average vield of the acres conducted along improved lines was 36 1-2, Still another and quite unplanned-for result has come from this new devetlon to corn, Through the interest aroused in the young people and that stimulated in their elders has been developed & new and alluring pessibilily in rural education,—the “agricuitural high #chool.” Already.-such scheols are in actual operation ip Maryland, Minnesota, Wiscensin, Virginia and elsewhere, They are not, like too many of the past, eity high scheols set down in the country, They are as really “vecatlenal scheols” for the farmer and his children as the technical sehools of many cities are for the weuld-be mechanics and — trade-workers of the town. Not only that, but In the very few years they have been in operation, they have developed into real community schools for the adults of both sexes as well as the children. As an illustration, take the Agricultural High School of Baltimore county, Maryland. During its very first year it held a “corn congress,” Nothing of the sort had ever been heard of before in the state. Wise doubters shook their heads when it was suggested. “Wouldn't nobody come to it,” they said. But it was held and people did come. There were addresses on corn-growing for the men and on cooking for women A hundred and eighty farmers sent in ten ears or more of corn apicce, for Judging, and a thousand people attended the seseions. At the prize corn was sold at auction, and thus a start was made campaign for improved seed. Bach boy in the school has been made an experimentalist on his own farm. The territory from which the echool draws its pupils measures 25 miles long by 5 miles wide, and this whole arca is dotted with these school experiment stations. They are watched by the neighbors as closely as a cat watches a mouse, and are alrealy bearing fruit in a markedly higher system of farming. THE CORN CONTESTS. Why Should Not Connecticut Join the Procession. It's a coincldence,~—perhaps merely curious, but I own up I help thinking it really significant—that the most intercst thus fa shown in this farm demonstration work and in these corn should be in the west and southwest, where, also, the greatest pros perity is manifest among farmers. It looks to me as If there might be some connection between them. I can’t help wondering if some glint of a like prosperity might not shine upon Connecticut farmers, if they. would only join the procession. It is undoubtedly the fact that corn-growing in the ordinary way with ordinary results and at ordinary prices, is not, money-wise, very profitable. The remedy for which is simply to grow cern out of the ordinary That it can be done by taking advantage of fhe knowledge now at every farmer’s service, the statistice I have given show clearly enc If it was just one case in one state the result might not mean much of anything to us common folks. But when the results of Improved methods- are virtually invariable in every state and evers thousands and thousands of individual cases, then doubt or not mere caution,—it is pig-headed stubborness. There 'are just a few universal rules for successful corn which apply everywhere. One fs that, if you want to be sure of a good crop you must use g00d seed. If you want a better crop you musi use better seed. It you want the best crop you muet have the b seed. You always get the best possible crop with even the best seed may not to get the fairly sure not to get such a croo withotit it. And the wa best seed is just the same as the best milch cow,— breeding and selection. The old idea that any sort of corn was good enough to plant at you could take out of the crib anything which happened to be left at planting-time for eeed,—that idea doesn’t stand the test of experience any more than that of common-sense. It is the tendency of scrub ears to reproduce ub ears and the tendency of high-yielding ears to transmit that character i just as matural and probable with corn as with Jersey cows tha Thi traits of the parents shall be reproduced in the offspring only looks reasonable, it is demonstrated fn constant pract in one recent acre test involving 44 rows of corn planted alternate one row with seed taken from high-yielding hills and the next wit equally good-looking ears from the general fleld of the same kind, all but six rows of the higher bred corn yielded better than their com panions. The rate from the better selected eeed was (18 bushels to the acre greater than that from the common seed. That shows what just this one detail of seed selection will 'do for the corn-grower. Every farmer knows that he can vary his particular strain of corn by breeding along a certain line. My old father liked an early, twelve- rowed fiint corn, with small butts. He got his first seed from a few chance ears of that description growing in a fleld of the old, elgh rowed “King Philip” corn. At the end of his corn-growing work, fort vears later, an elght-rowed ear was about as rare in his crop as on sixteen-rowed. And he'd bred the hutts so fine that it sometimes was difficult to save husks enough on ome to “trace ap” with. In husking they almost invariably broke from the stalk as easy as if they clay-pipe stems. Tens of thousands of farmers have been through similar ences, along varying lines. Most of these old rules of selection do with the ehape and size of the ears, however. The new corn culture seeks to increase the ylelds by exactly the same methods we've a always used to perfect the shape. If it's worth while to take in selecting seed for the sake of looks, it surely is worth while to as much trouble for the eake of bigger vields. THE ART OF HYBRIDIZATION. experi- take G It Increases the Crop Sixteen Per Cent. Right along this line, a little trick in hybridization is worth men tioning.—Don’t shy at that big word, “hybridization.” It means noth ing more than just what nature is doing in every corn-field, only directed a little by human judgment.—Everybody knows that corn kernels come from fertilizing the “silks” with pollen from the “tassels” What a good many people don't know is that, if the silks on a corn plant ar fertilized by pollen from the taseels of that same plant, the resulting seed will produce only feeble and unproductive growths. To good lively seed, the silks of one plant must be fertilized by pollen f another. We all know that this is the way in which corn “mixes And some of us have noticed, casually, that “mixed” corn is often mighty productive. This, too, when the mixing is purely accidental and the result Incongruous, as in the combination of yellow with white and even black kernels. Now it is about the easiest thing in all nature to manage this mixing, or hybridization, so as to increase the good qual ties of the resultant crop. Suppose you take two kinds of corn; one of fine- not so productive as you could wish, and one of coarser ears but a bigger ylelder. You plant corn from both these kinds in alternate rows across your field, three feet apart. When the tassels begin to appear you carefully remove them from all the plants of every-other- That row, then, must be fertilized from the row on which you leave the tassels. In other words you will get a hybrid corn on that de-tassel-led row. Some ears will have all the bad characters of both parents. Those you can feed the pigs. Some will have all the good qual haped ear: of both parents. Those you can keep for seed. And it will be are year on the farm when the best of such hybrid ears won't be manifestly better and more productive than the best that could be raised in the usual way. But “does it pay?” Well, you can figure for yourself about how much time it would take, at current wages, to de-tassel alternate rows in an acre, If the next vear’s crop was increased by 18 per cent,—whicn seems to be a fair average in such cases, you can algo figure whether that | crease would pay the de-tasselling wages. Th all there is to ‘Whether by this means or some other, however, the securing of good, strong evenly-sprouting seed is a sine qua non to good corn raising.—By the way, I should add the cautionary suggestion that two varieties of corn intended for bybridizing this way should both tassel at about the same time. If there is any slight difference in the tassels should be left on the later variety. Those who have it say the cost of producing hybrid seed is “insignificant in comparison with the increased yields.” Moreover, such uged is apt to be igger, brighter, handsomer-looking. There is always a sale for any surplus from farm seeds, usually at a fancy price. Perhaps some may think there is “too much work” about it 10 make corn-growing attractive. Well, there’s wcrk in anything, even ir graft and burglary. But the amount of work can be greatly reduce by the use of modern tools and devices. Some years ago, the | Bureau of Labor made an exhaustive, country-wide study of the labo cost of corn-raising, among other things. It found that, between and 1894, the amount of human labor required to produce a bus corn had actually declined from four hours and thirty-four m to forty-one minutes,—almost three-quarters Mind you, this i time by which it might be reduced, but the time by which has been reduced, in actual work of flesh-and-blood men on rea Nbr did this imply the universal use of expensive tractors an gang-plows, either, It meant simply that, by the wider appll horse-power and the general adoption of improved tools, the ma had been cut by about three-quarters. It strikes me as stmple nonsense to say that what the all the rest of the country have actually done in reducing the cost of corn-production, the farmers of Connegticut can't do, 100. Then comes the question of crop-treatment,—meaning thereby the ‘whole management of soll and seed and plants. b tried farmers of labor- One thing seems to be gettled, and that is that the old corn-oata-timothy rotatlon won't dc It is evident that oats used to be put in when they were in themselves & really paving erop, and when it was thought they were needed as a “nurse” for the coming timothy, Nowadays, however. oats are sel profitable in themselves, Furthermore, they do not help the land any are, indeed, an added draft on its resources, The one thing which the experience of fifty years has shown ‘ths necessity of getting up a rotation which shall include some lezume, (Continued on Page Twenty) —_— e —_—_