Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-09-24
|..333ii33s.s-s.s-i..i'
!: LOOKER-ON in IOWA !
Observation-Disclosures.

Renwick, Sept. 24.-king Corn added
another interesting act to his contn-
uous performance in Iowa since May
last The writer was in Carroll county
at the time of the frosts last week.
On the lowlands near the river bottoms
the corn was killed, while half n mile
from such II field, on a side hill. the
stalks remained as green as in Juna.
This is the condition of the corn crop
all the way along from Manning on
the Chicago, st. Paul and Milwaukee
railroad. to Pickering on the same road.
on Monday last the writer Travelled
over the G. & NJ w. r. r. from Mar
shaltown to Ames, and thence to the
northern tier of counties, and here is
the strange part Of the scene from the
car windows. At that time there was
not a field Of corn between Ames and
Altoona that was even touched by frost.
And a travelling man that came down
from Albert Lea on the G. r. /. d T.
r. r. to Waterloo says there was no
signs OF frost till he reached Waterloo.
SO that 1T Is safe TO say the frost or
last week only killed the corn along
and below the center of the state. one
man says this Is the work of provi-
dence. That the northern half of the
state needs a week or two longer sea-
son to mature the corn crop. so the
Lord stopped Jack Frost on his trip
and only allowed him to work on the
corn crop that could be little damaged.
Close investigation in this part of the
state is to the effect that every day
now makes more sound corn, but a
haf Oct 1
make soft corn Of over ten to fifteen
per cent of the entire crop. Much
of the corn in this immediate vicinity
has bedha out of the way of the frost
for the past ten days.
The year 1904 in Iowa in Iowa, vii!
long be remembered as developing
many unusual features in corn raising.
Firstly, although extraordinary care
was taken in the selection of seed there
was a poor stand. Many fields only
had two or three stalks to the hill. This
Is explained by the many cold days and
nights at planting time. The SEED
lacked the necessary vitality to re-
sist the cold ground and colder wealth
err But If the stand was poor, nature
balanced things by putting more ears
on a stalk, and making the ears very
large and heavy. So that Iowa has
raised more pounds Of corn in 1904 than
for any time during the past fifteen
years. Here is another popularity no.
ticed by many this year. New ears
were formed two weeks after the first
on the stalk. and these ears were in
the milk while the first were hard and
denied. Sometimes this happened on
stalks at first having no ears thereon,
and sometimes new ear was started
ten DAYS after the first was developed,
this on the same stalk.
While the usual crowd Of farmers are
telling of soft corn" it is noticeable
that my corn Is all right, but Jones
will have lot of soft corn" Many OPP
timistic farmers claim that
the frost of last week did
not injure in any way ten
per cent of the crop, where 1t killed
the stalks. The writer heard this many
times in Carroll county. And from
present observation, and there's but
few days now when any of 1T can be
done there will be less corn cut UP this
year than during any year since 1896.
The writer has yet to see this year