The new enterprise. (Madison, Fla.) 1901-1908, 1907-10-31

market for an American piOuuNb NoHtN
rebuild our merchant marine. He also
predicted that when the Panama Canal
was completed America would offer az
the ports of China and India a substi-
tute for rice at half the price ofythaf
staple and of twice its food value. AS
a result OF Mr.. Murphy's missionary
work corn bread is still called MUIR
ply bread" in some Of the European
capitals.
Twenty years ago we exported only
4 percent of our corn. We export only
10 percent at present; but the mag
nifcent home demand has put the ce-
real on a commercial basis that insures
again the possibility Of its becoming
fuel again, except in the event Of a
serious panic. The bulk Of the crop at
present never leaves the counties In
which it is grown. The producers
prefer to convert 1t into meat, cheese,
butter. milk, or other products. While
America has learned to assimHiate
her corn in large quantities, Austria
Hungary is now the second corn-pro-
ducing country in the world, and her
product is incre asing every year, but
the demand increases so much mofe
rapidly than the production that the
annual imports increase materially
each year. Northern China, Italy and
parts of Africa are now using large
quantities of corn for food. Our heav-
lest exports 60 to England, Holland.
Germany and Denmark, and a part or
the corn imported into these countries
finds its way to the tables of the in
habitants.
Corn grows from Siberia to the
South Sea Islands, although the great
est producing section is the Corn Belt
in the United States, the latitude OK
which is measured by the northern and
southern boundaries of Illinois. Al
most every civilized country is now
growing corn, and the acreage Is being
expanded in most of them. but the
United States grows about 20 percent
of the worlds crop, and as 1t will be
possible, in the opinion of experts To
expand the American crop to 5,OOO,OOO,-
COO bushels on the present acreage py
improved methods Of agriculture there
is no danger that this country win lose
her position as the great corn grower.
or cease to grow the proportion ot
the worlds crop that she now pro-
duces.
Every state and territory in the
Union grows corn. The crop means
millions in profits annually to trans
portation companies. 1t has buhe
thousands of miles OF railroads IN
the great west; 1t built Chicago, and
when the Are almost destroyed tnat
city corn rebuilded 1t. Aside from itH
fuses as food and for distilling whis-
key, corn is now the basis of a number
of important manufacturing industries,
Not until recently was 1t discoyerea
| that the germ of the corn grain con-
tanned valuable oil. Under high pres
sure this hitherto unconsidered part
of the grain now yields a product that
makes 1t more valuable in proportion
TO its size than the rest of the gram.
The oil is used for salad dressings ana
other purposes, and is frequently sold
under another name. Cornstalk pin
has been for some years manufacturer
into cellulose, used between the inner
and outer shells of battleships TO, pre-
vent piercing by missiles, and to pre-
vent leaks by swelling when the water
rushed into a hole made by piolectiie'
Many kinds Of starch are made from
corn, running from that which is sery-
ed upon the table to that when Is
used in the laundry These are only q
few of the important corn products
there being more than 100 altogether
The modern farmer, using the Latest
machinery, has reduced from foui
hours and thirty-four minutes to forty
one minutes the human labor requires
to produce a bushel Of corn. He know
to the fraction of cent the cost Q
production per busbel. He loosens tn
ground with a gang" pillow, plants th'
grain by machinery, harvests It by ma
chinery, shells 1t by steam, stores
in great elevators, ships It by train 9
the lake ports and the sea, wher
it is loaded upon steamships for export
RI is a far cry from the methods 9
the Indian squaw who gouged q hole y
the ground with a stick and droppe
a grain OF corn into It by the method
of the twentieth century farmer nu
: If Candolle is right the world Is dehto
! to some wandering prehistoric India
!. for the preservation OF the grain ina
\ is now one of the greatest factors
!, agriculture. and the first crop Of "a
y greatest agricultural country In NONE