Omaha daily bee., 1908-03-03

70 leSl Seeu COEn. IHt IdTHltT uON
wait till few days before time to plant.
Furthermore, 1 believe in testing the corn
in dirt and not between some nice, clean
blotting paper Out here in another city
there is a man who makes a device for test
ing seed corn. I wouldn't give cents for
1t. They lay the corn between sheets of
paper and wet the paper and If 1t sprouts
then they consider 1t good.
'''The best seed corn tester in the world
is a cigar box with some dirt in II. Look
at this box here of corn from a farmer
friends supply. Only thirty-seven grams
out of fifty sprouted and look how weak
some of the stalks are They sprouted
here under the most favorable conditions
out in the field much of that would never
have sprouted at all.
Poor seed corn last year cost the farm
ers of Iowa $45,O000OO. Iowa has annually
about 100000 of acres. of corn. There was
only about one-third stand last year and
it was due to poor seed corn. 1 know most
farmers blamed the weather, but the real
trouble was their seed corn. The test for
seed corn should be in dirt and after 1t is
sprouted it should be continued till the
stalks are three or four inches high to de-
termine whether or not It has vitality. Seed
corn should be selected from the field be-
fore October l and through the winter
should be kept in room where the tenn
perature never goes below freezing. The
parlor is none too good a room to keep
seed corn in"
Compilers Want Help.
Unless the early settlers Of Iowa and the
few struggling survivors of the Mexican
war come to the aid Of the state Of Iowa,
the roster of Mexican soldiers in the vol
un1es soon TO be published by the state will
be quite incomplete. If the people of Iowa
will come to the aid of the board, it may
still be possible to make the volume as
complete as though the original documents
were at hand.
The Mexican war broke out just at the
| time when Iowa was being changed from a
territory to a state and as a result there
are no state documents to speak of, and the
government at Washington has issued an
iron-clad order that the Mexican war rec
ords cannot be inspected. giving as an ex-
cuse that they are fast crumbling and that
it will not do to- allow them to be handled.
Cut off from access to the war records
at Washington. Iowa must fall back on the
memory Of its early settlers, old newspaper
files and wherever possible to obtain the
muster rolls of the companies. Nearly
every state in the union has tried to get
|
modify its order. Iowa is the last, and there
is no more show that Iowa will succeed
than that the others would, and the others
all failed.
When President Polk called for volunteers
for the Mexican war he asked for a regi-
ment of ten companies from each state.
Iowa responded to the call of Governor
James Clarke with thirteen companies of
! the state militia. The companies were ac-
cepted by Governor Clarke but were never
mustered into the service of the govern
ment Iowa did, however, have some COM
panies from Pottawattsmle county which
went a brigade attached to a regiment
from another state.
Inasmuch as these thirteen companies en-
listed for the war with Mexico, it is desired
to place their names in the roster of Iowa
soldiers, and an effort is being made to
secure their names. Some Of them have
been secured. Some of the companies are
now nearly completed, but there are a num-
Der that are not, and the effort is now be-
ing made to complete the list
The Roster board provided by the last
legislature has employed Mr.. Harvey Reid
Of MaquoketS to prepare the lists of these
companies. Mr., Reid has devoted con-
siderable part Of his time and money to
investigating the early military history OF
Iowa. He did this before the state provided
for the roster. Since he had already gone
over much of the ground and was familiar
with the difficulties. the State board EN-
ployed him to prepare the list Along with
the list Of enlistments for the Mexican war
he is preparing the lists OF those who par
ticipated in the early Indian wars OF the
state. Mr.. Reid is spending his time search
ing through old newspaper files In the hope
OF finding mention Of these enllstments.
He is also interviewing early settlers and
wherever he can find a survivor of the
Mexican war he interviews him for informa-
tion.
He is desirous OF securing the name OF
! every survivor of the Mexicon war now
residing in the state and wherever any
citizen has any information on these early
enlistments for the Mexican war he wants
TO hear from him.
National Banks Fight.
The attorney generals office is getting
inquiries for an opinion to the assess
ment of the capital stock of national banks.
The decision OF the United States supreme
court last year in holding that stock of
state and savings banks in Iowa when in
vested in government bonds cannot be