East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-07-27

Accompanied by photograph of
the Umatilla county booth at the
Lewis and Clark fair, showing Athena
corn II feet in height, the Oregon
Daily Journal of yesterday gives the
following review of the corn growing
in this county:
James Rawlins. of Beatrice, Neb,
stood before the 14-foot stalks of corn
in the Umatilla county exhibit in Ag-
ricultural palace today, and said to
Dan c. Bowman, who is in charge:
"Do you mean to tell me that corn
was grown in eastern Oregon"
Mr., Bowman assured the resident of
the great corn state that the stalks
drew their nourishment from the
heavily impregnated nitrogenous soils
of Umatilla county and that rapidly
the crop was becoming an important
element in that countys production of
wealth.
But" protested Mr.. Rawlins, corn
grows only where the nights are
warm, and your section nearly al
ways has cool nights"
Therefrom developed "A discussion
of the possibilities of growing corn in
Oregon, which in all sections boasts
that as soon as the sun goes down, the
atmosphere cools rapidly and makes
the nights delightfully."- refreshing
after the warm summer days.
while I have been at the fair"
said Mr.. Bowman, 81 have been asked
so many questions regarding the char
acter of Umatilla county's agriculture
al products that I have taken the
trouble to inquire into the science of
their cultivation. Regarding corn
this is what I have learned:
Development of Corn Crop.
when agriculture began to devel-
op in eastern Oregon, after the first
stages of settlement when livestock
grazing was the only resource of the
settler, wheat and barley were thought
to be the limit of cereal production.
1t was argued that the nights were
too cool to raise corn and some other
grains which are produced in profus-
ion.
However, Tom Kirk, a veteran
Athena farmer, experimental with
corn. He planted a small field of it
anu at llISl ScCuItu very pun lENuillNs
He retained seed from the corn he
raised and planted it again. The pro-
cess of adaptation was kept up for
several years, probably 10 or IL, un-
til he was raising a very good quality
of cereal and others took 1t up. OF
late years several carloads of corn
are shipped every year from Umatilla
county, although it was against the
protest of his neighbors that Mr.. Kirk
began the cultivation of the crop.
"Now we have cornstalks IA feet
high and o. B. Ballou, of Milton,
Umatilla county, last year raised corn
II feet high, the ears averaging 12
inches long of the best yellow, red
and white dent varieties.
Soil Revived by the Corn.
Now, we cannot claim that our
corn is quite as fine as that which
you raise in Nebraska. But it is good
enough to make it a valuable crop,
both as food and because il revives
the soil after crops have been raised
which exhaust the nitrogen deposited
there.
I'VE have proved that corn Of this
sort is worth cultivation for its own
value as food, and the process of
adaptation is being carried on by
many farmers in eastern Oregon who
are evolving a variety of corn that
will before long attain a growth ap-
proXimating that which has made Ne
| braska famous.
O. r. Ballou, G. w. Huntley, N. p.
Johnson and r. e. Groesching show
samples of Umatilla county corn, and
| in the exhibits of Jackson county and
! other western oregon counties proof
| is to be found that similar results are
! achieved there that have been secur-
| ed in Umatilla county.