The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-11-25
HOW ONE MAN INCREASED THE
NATIONS CORN CROP.
From the Worlds Work.


Throughout the corn belt, Prof. p.
more than any one else. has improy-
ed seed corn so that our greatest crop
has been increased by millions of BUSH
els. The work began twenty years ago,
when Prof. Holden, then a college
student, was teaching school in the
summer. His pupils were all children
of farmers. He heard the parents talk
ing about poor corn crops and about
crop failures. He wondered what he
could do to improve the yield.
One day he asked his class, How
many hairs are there on a rats tail?'
One child said ten" Another said
fifty" third said "a hundred"
No one knew.
How can you find out?" asked the
teacher.
Look in the dictionary" said one.
Finally a boy held up his hand and
said, Teacher. I'll catch a rat and
see"
That's the only way" said Prof.
That night there was a general rat
hunt in the Michigan village, and the
next day every child shame-facedly
reported that there were no hairs on
d rat ldl.
This experience taught the pupils to
investigate and to observe. Next, Prof.
Holden asked every child to select AN
ear of corn from his fathers crib and
bring it to school. The pupils brought
the corn. The teacher graded it. The
child whose corn was the poorest went
home and told his father The parent,
after remarking What does the teach
er know about corn? He is paid to
teach arithmetic" came to see the
teacher. When he saw the ears of
corn that were fuller and richer than
his own, he realized that the teacher
was right.
Prof. Holden then asked all his pu-
pills to plant three seeds of the best
corn in box, and water it. The boy
whose father had the finest ear was
among the most enthusiastic. The chill
dren nursed the corn carefully. The
result was a crop packed with large
kernals. Then the pupils fathers be-
came Interested, and planted special
seed corn. There were no more fail
ures of corn crops.
Prof. Holden became Professor of
Agriculture at the Illinois State Argi-
cultural College, at Champaign. He
remembered the lesson of the Michigan
farmers. In year. through his eff
forts, the Illinois farmers were care
Aui dpOuI SOWlHS the pest SEED corn,
and soon the farmers in Iowa and in
Missouri, and, in fact, throughout the
great corn belt, were becoming experts
in seed corn.
Near Bloomington, ILL.,, is the 25. 000-
acre farm of the Funk Brothers, the
largest in the United States. Twenty
thousand acres are devoted to corn.
one day Prof. Holden was visiting the
farm. What is your average yield %
he asked. Forty to fifty bushels he
was told. But it should be more" he
said. He showed the Funk Brothers
how to select the best seed corn and
to plant it Carefully.
On a 20,O00acre farm, an increase of
i've bushels an acre year meant a
small fortune. Prof. Holden became
director of the farm. From some acres
he raised seventy bushels an acre. The
increase in yield the first year was TO-
900 bushels!
This year Prof. Holden preached the
gospel of corn to the Iowa farmers from
a special train. AS result, millions of
| bushels of corn have been added ia
the state yield. The work which be-
gan with class of farmers children
in Michigan country school is now
erecting an improvement in the meth
DDS Of agriculture throughout the Unit
ed States