Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1903-11-12
A LARGE INCREASE in CORN
w. F. Gushing, Assistant in Gathering St.
Louis Display, Finds Phenomenal
Increase in the Acreage of Corn.

ton in favor of this grain had its
birth with the result that farmers in
growing it,
In passing it may not be amiss to
mention a case showing the phenome
nal yield of macaroni wheat when
given good care and cultivation and
using precautions to prevent mixing
with other wheats. F. Billings. a
farmer residing in Lisbon. had 500
acres of this grain in crop this year.
His average yield was 27A bushels
per acre and he is selling the grain
for seed at IS cents bushel, it being
absolutely pure macaroni wheat grown
from seed imported from Russia and
grown by him for several years. He
had 80 acres of this wheat on land
used for corn the year before and
from this piece he threshed 53A
bushels per acre The balance of his
land was made of fall and spring plow
ing. and a large part disced land. He
threshed each piece separately and
found practically no difference in yield
between his two kinds of plowed
land. but the yield on the disced land
was much less, which accounts for the
small general average. Many other
/ farmers in that county report maca-
ron yields running from 30 to 40
bushels per acre on land that had
been grown to this wheat for num-
Der of years. This would seem to
controvert the statement that has
been made by opponents of the wheat
that in course of time the yield would
drop down to the same figure as fife
anu bluestem In Lisbon macaronI
wheat sells for II cents below No. !
northern, so notwithstanding the
handicap in price, there is larger
2 margin of profit in macaroni wheat
) as dry seasons have little appreciablt
! effect upon it, so the growers say
In that section of the state macarOn
flour has largely superseded fife flou
/ and its use is becoming more popular
yearly.
Richland is probably the largest
}, corn grower in the state, the soil be-
ing we'll adapted to it. Here it is
common thing to see 16-foOt corn
stalks and the shocks resemble In
dian tepees All kinds of dents and
flint do well here and some fine ears
measuring IA to IS inches in length
are shown in the real estate offices
and the cribs are overfowing with it,
! Cass county and Trail have large
areas in corn annually, some OF the
fields covering one and two thousand
acres, and nearly every farm having
from ten to fifty acres.
Corn has certainly come to be
leading crop in North Dakota. but as
vet the farmers have scarcely learned
how to properly cultivate it. In many
instances it is planted after the other
spring work has been done and then
only for fodder. Wrong methods OF
cultivation are common and in com
paratively few instances are returns
what they would be- In the Missouri
Slope country the stalks are short and
the difficulty of caring for the crop
deters many from going into it, as it
has to be picked by hand. Careful
selection of seed and cultivation is
resulting in raising the ears on the
stalk and increasing their size so that
undoubtedly in a few years the west
ern counties of the state will lead in
corn production, in fact it is ques-
ton it. all things considered, they do
not lead now.
There is no longer any question OF
the adaptability of the state for corn
raising, and that fact being estab-
lished. it is but a matter of time be
fore North Dakota will take her place
among the great corn states of the
west
w. F. CUSHING.