The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1890-01-23
Acknowledging the Corn.

Colonel Butler of the Department o
Agriculture received the following off.
cial announcement of the award of the
american 1griculturist corn prize yes.
terday:
New YORK, Jan. 18th, 1890.
Hon. A. P. Butler, Commissioner of Ag
ricnltule, Columbia, S. 9.
DEAR SIR: We beg to officially inform
you that Cur grand prize of $500 in gold
for the largest yield of corn on one mea-
sured acre will be awarded to Mr.. q. J.
Drake, IF Drake Postoffice, Marlboro
County, s. G. He will, therefore, be
entitled to your prize of $500 also. The
preliminary report ofhis crop will ap.
pear editorially in the american 4 gricul
turist tor February, and the full report in
March, together with the chemical analy.
ses, etc.
Congratulating you on the great sue
cess of your enterprise, yours very truly,
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIsT.
The following extract is made from
an editorial which will appear in the
February number of the american 4lgri-
culturist:.
The grand prize of $500 in gold will
be awarded to Zachariah Jordan Drake,
of Marlborough County, s. G. He will
also receive similar prize from the
South Carolina Department of Agricul.
ture, as this enterprising body offered to
duplicate our prize if it was taken in that
State.
Mr.. Brakes crop of corn on the ear
from the exact contest acre weighed IT.
407 pounds. The average of three tests,
by as many witnesses, was that one hun
dred pounds of this corn contained only
eighteen pounds of cobs, consequently
the gross weight named contained A..
273a pounds of shelled corn. At fifty.
six pounds to the bnshel the crop was
within q fraction of 255 bushels (exactly
254 bushels, 482 pounds of shelled corn
on one acre.
But this vas the green weight, as taken
from the field. According to analyses
made at the South Carolina Experiment
Station by Drs. W. B. Burney aud ]. R,
McBryde, under the supervision of the
director, Prof. J. M. McBryde, this crop
Was remarkably dry, as were all the corn
crops in South Carolina. The shelled,
corn contained only Is per cent. of water.
We find, therefore, that the 255 bushels
of shelled corn contained 217 bushels of
actual dry matter in the kernels without
any water whatever. On the basis of 10
per cent. water for thoroughly crib cured
old corn, or kiln dried corn, the yield
was 239 bushels of shelled corn.
The second largest crop was grown by
Alfred Rose, Yatu County, New York.
His yield was 1888 pounds of corn in
the ear, averaging 26 per cent. cob, or
2l3 bushels of shelled corn green weight,
191 bushels crib cured, and 174 bushels
of actual dry matter.
The third largest crop was grown by
George Gartner, Pawnee County, Ne.
braska, his gross weight of corn on the
ear being 1880 pounds. It averaged
only 16 per cent. cob, or III bushels
crib cured and 1877 bushels dry matter.
These crops break the worlds record.
The largest yield previously recorded
was 200 bushels shelled corn, green
weight, alleged to have been grown by
DR.. j. W. Parker, not far from Colum.
bia, South Carolina, in 1857, and its
accuracy has been questioned. But there
is no doubt as to the complete honesty
of these crops in the american AgricuNur.
ist prize crop competition. Judgment
should be suspended by the unhelieving
until they read in the Agricultarist for
March how these unprecedented crops
we're grown and the precautions taken to
secure absolute honesty and faithful
accuracy.
We may add also that the superb
showing made by South Caralina will
not be dimmad by the complete record
of the contest corn crop. She has shown
what can be accomplished in the agricul-
ture of the new South. South Carolina's
enterprise will not only be rewarded many
thousand fold, but she has encouraged
her farmers to make showing that will
be worth veritable millions to her sister
States.-Colunlbia Register, January 1s.