The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-26
4CORN GOSPEL" TRAIN
ANOTHER IOWA IDEA THAT PROM
 ISEs TO DOUBLE THE CROP.
Gained 1SyOooy00o in le04-secret of Making Yellow TasseieA Fields Hi- val Gold Mines b Revealed
 by . College Professor.


 by . College Professor. Omaha Special to Philadelphia Record. Never before in the history of agri- culture has such interest and zeal been shown in the planting of crop as is | manifest this spring in the preparation for corn sowing. In the State of Iowa alone there was an increase of 40, 0,000,000 bushels. cornfields for 1904. The increase in this cereaUfor the whole corn belt Is estimated by the United States De- I pertinent of Agriculture to be 100000 | 900 bushels, or $25,000.000. Al showing of this kind of itself would be sum- cient to arouse ths.interest of people directly concerned in the crop, but this | spring there is an even further incen- 1 tive.
 The secret of how to compel the corn ! fields to yield millions of dollars in new profits has been discovered and the | workers of all classes in the corn belt are striving to beat last years record of a $25,000.000, gain. The Depart | ment of Agriculture says they can | do 1t.
 This secret of making the cornfields produce wealth surpassing the gold mines is in the breeding and selec- | ton OL tHe Seeu iOT PidnlihS. <Au Sh- | terprising young scientist who holds a professorship in land culture at the Iowa State College of Agriculture. F. | c. Holden by name, has been teaching l the farmers that If they subject seed | corn to a severe test, throwing away that part of it which does not germi- nate vigorously, they will be able to | compel acres which have yielded but 33 bushels of corn to produce 60.
 Secret of Great Corn Crop. l It is a simple idea, but the experts in | agriculture employed by Uncle Sam credit the greatest corn crop of this l century to this idea of Professor Hold ! ems, and these experts know. And, | furthermore, they say that this simple idea is going to revolutionfze farming as far as the profits are concerned. | They say that In a few years the prin- | ciples of careful breaking and careful seed selection everywhere applied will | bring about an increase of 50 per cent l over present values of crops and herds | In the spring of 1904 was a trip by the first Corn Gospel train. Profess sor Holden lectured the farmers from | the rear platform and in the cars be- | tween stations. His audiences were usually about 100 In number. In the | fall of the same year the Corn Gosper | special trains were resumed. In the meantime. the farmer had commenced to see that the predictions of the sci- entists came true. They crowded to the lectures. This spring the corn growing region has been thoroughly covered by these Corn Gospel trains. and everywhere the farmers turn out in crowds two times as large, to receive the instruction in seed selection. | The last Seed Special finished its trip at Burlington this week. It cov- I 1la eli kAA knxxr ya0 and carried instruction to 100000 farm CTS representing an acreage of about l 100000. These trains have been run | over all the lines of the Burlington and Kansas. They have been over many of the branches of the Rock Island and the Illinois Central The railroads have come to realize that the spread of this kind of instruction means an im- mense traffic, not only in crops, but in the form of live stock fattened on the grain and of manufactured commodities purchased by farmers of the corn belt with profits from the crops.
 How Holden Began Work.
 When I first became interested in the possibilities of agriculture was teaching school up in Michigan" said Professor Holden during a chat aboard the Corn Gospel" train in Southesrn
 Iowa. T believed that 1t is a mistake
 to teach Greek and Latin in the schools and not teach agriculture when farm ing is the biggest business in the coun- try and one on which half the people
 depend for a living. It is an ambition
 of mine to hasten the day when agri-
 culture shall be taught in the schools land colleges"
 "The employment last spring of spe-
 cial corn trains. for the purpose of
 warning the farmers of Iowa against the dangers of poor seed corn, was the
 natural outgrowth of the peculiar con- ditions which existed in that State,
 said Professor Holden, explaining the
 origin of the Corn Gosper trains. ,F
 By April 10. 1904, over 1,20o sam ples of seed corn had been received
 from farmers in different portions of
 the State by the Iowa Agriculture Col Iiege, and tested to determine their value
 for seed purposes. These tests showed
 that an average of IS per cent was low in vitality and unfit to plant, leaving
 only 63 per cent of good seed. It was
 also apparent that, even those kernels
 which gave a fair germination were
 weakened, and, in the event of a cold
 spring, such as actually followed, would
 either refuse to grow or give weak
 plants. Farmers who had given more
 than ordinary attention to their seed
 corn were becoming worried, and many
 letters, telephone messages and tele- grams were received daily asking TOT advice.
 Realizing the situation. Superintend- ent w. H. Given. of the Rock Island road, after consulting with MT. Henry 1 Wallace, editor of Wallace's Farmer; Mir George A. Wells, secretary of the Iowa Grain Dealers Association. and others, determined to run a special
 train for the purpose of giving instruc- tion in the selecting. testing and plant ing of seed corn.
 Met With Remarkable Success. "The remarkable success of the corn trains was due to the large number of people 1t was possible to address in a single day. The agriculture of Iowa is in a developing ,or formative. stage as vet, and practices are not crystal lized. The farmers are largely recent corners from older States. where they had sold their high-priced land and bought the lower priced land of Iowa The points emphasized in the lectures were:
 | 1. The low average of SS bushels per acre over the State. when many