The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-05-17
"coRN SPECIALS" IN IOWA.
Six Special Trains Travelled Over 1885
Miles in That State.

WEBSTER CITY, Iowa, May H.
good stalks of corn to the hill instead
Of one or two, as in the past, they
would increase the yield of their corn
fields $4,000, 900 bushels and add ap-
proximately s25,OOO,OOO annually to the
wealth of the state, or more than SO
for every man, woman and child. This
is an interesting ''if," not merely be-
cause of it's tremendous possibilities
but also because it is entirely within
it.
The data of Iowa's seed corn specials
have just been compiled by Joe S.
Trigg, and are nothing short of amaz-
ing. In 1904, when Professor P. G.
Holden of the state agricultural col
lege, originated the idea, only three
railroads interested themselves in the
project, and only small section of the
state was covered. But in 1905 plans
tically every railroad of Importance
in the state, and there was hardly a
township that was not directly or in
directly reached.
A grand total of 1885 miles was
travelled by the six special trains sent
out by the great railway lines. They
made $40 stops, the lecturers accom-
panying the trains delivered a total of
1,0S5 lectures on how to select good
seed corn and plant it for the best re-
suits, and 110,163 heard these talks;
90 of Iowa's 80 counties were travers-
ed, 312 different daily and weekly
newspapers were interested and gave
publicity to the lectures and to the
trains, and upwards of $4,000 agricul-
tural college bulletins on the selection
and testing of seed corn were distrib-
uted.
This is an amazing record. 1t means
that approximately one person out Of
20 out of Iowa's 2,250,00O men, women
and children heard the doctrine of
good seed corn and careful planting.
1t means further that if the progress
sive farmers who heard the lectures
spread the news as they do all other
news, there is not a farmer in the state
today who did not plant his corn crop
with more and better information as
to now to do it thoroughly. When these
things are considered the possibility of
increasing Iowa's yield 100000
bushels or more, and it's wealth $685.,
100000 annually, comes close at hand,
and seems within the grasp.
The credit for this extraordinary
spreading of the good seed corn Cos
pei belongs to the state agricultural
college and to Professor P. G. Holden
of the department of agronomy. How
ever, if Iowa's agricultural wealth is
the farmers of Iowa must also thank
the railroads, who so often are held
to be their traditional enemies. Only
through the activity Of the railroads
was the plan possible; they furnished
the trains and the money to carry the
gospel to all sections.
But the seed corn special means
more to the state than increased
wealth-it means the coming of a new
era in farming-the scientific era. The
specials, the lectures and the endless
talk that has gone with them every,
where, has aroused a new interest in
| intelligent agriculture that must rev.
olutionize the industry in Iowa and
elsewhere. Men are beginning to I'M
derstand that farming is more than a
| mere stirring of the soil and haphaz-
ard planting of crops-they under
stand that it requires intelligence to
get results, and that intelligence will
reap as abundant rewards on the farm
as elsewhere