The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-02-17
RESULT OF coRN-BRnEDINo.
The Experience of Government ON
cial in the West-What the
Dairy Special" Will
Accomplish.
U. s. DrPARrMEsr OF AonrguIgUnn:

u. s. DEPARTMENT or AGRICULTURE.
BUREAU or PLANT INDUSTRY.
WASHINGTON, d. O., February 9th. lSO6 J
Mr.. c. BosLEY LITTIG. BALTIMORE. MARY
LAND-Dedr Mr. Littig According to promise
1 give you below data recently secured from
Professor Hopkins, of Illinois. illustrating the
results of the corn-breeding work on the yield
of corn in that State. Illinois began this work
about five years ago. That is, the farmers gener-
ally began to improve their corn and to test their
seed corn at that time. This work has only just
begun in the State of Iowa. and comparison is
made between these two states.
During the five years preceding the beginning
of the improvement work in Illinois the average
yield of corn for Iowa was 1913 bushels, and In
Illinois 1919 bushels, difference in favor of Illi
nois of 6 of bushel. During the next five years,
while the Illinois corn growers were practicing
improved methods and the Iowa farmers were
not doing so, the average yield of corn in Iowa
fell to 319 bushels, drop of IA bushels per acre.
while in Illinois the average yield rose to 1858
bushels, gain of 80 bushels per acre over the
preceding five years. Assuming that the Illinois
yield would have gone down with the Iowa yield
had it not been for the better methods of the
Illinois farmers during the last five years, the
gain in Illinois due to the improved methods is
thus seen to be 4.3 bushels per acre. Now Illi-
nois grows approximately nine million acres OF
corn. The gain to the State, therefore, from i'm
proved methods of corn growing, means about
forty million bushels of corn annually, which,
at % cents bushel, means about $14 1000 a
year.
l have just returned from an extended trip
through the Middle West. going even as far as
Colorado l attended State agricultural meet
ings in Missouri, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Ne
braska, Colorado and Kansas. In all of these
states / heard mention of the good work that
you and Professor Patterson of the Maryland
Experiment Station have been doing in interest
ing the farmers in improved methods of corn
growing. One of the newspaper reporters tout
West" asked me for details concerning the work
in Maryland about which he had heard so much.
The publicity which your Corn Special" has had
is causing farmers in the Middle West to make
inquiries about lands in Maryland and other At
lantic coast states.
l have seen recent mention in the papers that
you propose to run dairy special' through
your State am sure that you can accomplish
greal deal of good in this way. Dairying is one
of the industries that ought to be encouraged in
Maryland, for the State has unexampled facili-
ties for marketing dairy products, particularly
along the leading trunk lines of the State where
it is easy to send milk to Washington, Baltimore,
Philadelphia, or even New York. Dairying
rightly practiced will readily build up the fer
tility of the soil. 1t is also a very profitable
business when intelligently followed, and will
raise the price of land wherever the industry is
well established. wish you abundant success
in the good work you are doing.
Yours very truly,
W. j. SPILLMAN. Agriculturist.