The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1908-10-15
Great Future for Maine Corn Seen.

mat MAINE farmers may yet raise
stock at a profit, by raising corn
greatly to reduce the present cost of
feed, is one of the hopeful promises
of the scientists connected with the
experiment station at the University
of Maine. The scientists have per-
fected the sweet corn industry until,
rightly handle the farmer may not
only raise the finest sweet corn for
packing, but may bring his corn to
maturity and thus secure his seed at a
minimum rate.
In short, the corn growing industry
of Maine, which is one of itsSvery
highest agricultural, industries will, be
entirely revolutionized within very
few years If the principles discovered
by the scientists are properly applied
in the planting and cultivating of the
corn crop.
This is the prediction made by Prof
Ray mond Pearl, Phi. D., who, with
the aid of his assistants, has just
brought to successful conclusion a
year of practical experiments and
proved conclusively the truth of his
theories regarding the adaptability of
feed corn in Maine soil.
every few farmers raise enough
corn for use on their farms" says DIR.
Pearl, who has for several years been
giving his closest attention to breed
ing of vegetables, and since his con-
nec:ion with the Maine experiment
station has unearthed some exceed
ingly important and valuable posi-
bilities in vegetable growth. The
causes for this are clear, for with the
varieties of corn which have matured
in this climate, the season has not
been long enough to bring the corn to
that stage of maturity and develop
ment which would give yield that
should be profitable. Consequently,
it has become necessary for the
farmer to buy the great bulk Of his
feed and as corn is the principal food
supply for stock, the raising of stock
in Maine has fallen to a very low
place in the list of agricultural pur-
suits. Farmers can no longer raise
stock at a profit when the cost is so
tremendously increased over what it
used to be.
"Western corn, which the farmers
dbC lOA iCCNliiS pun
poses, is all dent corn. 1t can be re-
cognized by the little dent in the top
of each kernal. The corn raised in
Maine for feed purposes is practically
all flint corn. This has been because
the dent corn, when efforts have been
made to introduce it into Maine, has
come up mostly to stalks and while
growing to height of Is to 20 feet, is
e. F0l \
corn won't set ears and won't raise
grain. The disadvantage of this can
be seen from the fact that dent corn
is raised in 16 to 20 rows to an ear and
with large, finely developed ears,
while the flint corn is about an eight
row corn.
ave have been giving this ques-
ton much thought, especially lately,
for we believed that variety of corn
might be developed which should be
sufficiently rapid as a grower in the
Maine climate, to permit it to mature
and ripen in the short Maine season.
More by accident than otherwise, we
co. some dent corn grown by farm
er at Waterville, who said that he
had grown it for II years and it had
matured every season, and he has
never missed crop. We secured
supply of it and planted some this
season and find that it is dent corn
that will mature in Maine.
This farmer was Hiram Cornforth,
who has been a farmer all his life, and
a visit to his farm will show you how
progressive he is. He is a very OBJ
servant man and lately seems to have
devoted most of his time to expert
menting. 1t was because of his pro-
gressiveness that he sent word to US
of his success with dent corn, when
everybody else was meeting with
failure. One year Mr.. Cornforth
says he planted an acre of corn, one
fourth being planted to dent and the
balance to flint corn. The fourth
acre yielded more shelled corn than
the other three quarters, which
gives you some idea of the import
ance of the western variety. We
planted some at Pennington and
some at Sebago Lake, and proved TO
our perfect satisfaction that the corn
is all we have hoped it would be.
This discovery means that after
three or four years experiments, the
Maine farmer won't have to pay 81 80
bag for corn, but will be able to
produce it for tremendously re-
adced cost, right at home.
"Dent corn costs no more to raise
than flint corn, but is vastly cheaper
in results obtained, since for a given
area the dent corn yields such enor-
mously increased product. Sixty
bushels to the acre is doing extraord-
inarily well in corn culture Today.
This dent corn that we have expert
mented with will now yield 100 bush
els to the acre, and when perfected
will run as high as 100 to 125 bushels
an acre-in fact, think a man could
go close to that now.
"But we have been doing some
other experiments in corn raising
that are of great interest not only to
the Maine farmers. but to those who
are fond of the widely heralded
Maine canned corn. The raising and
packing of sweet corn is the largest
agricultural industry in the State,
with the possible exception of the
potato crop of Aroostook, and | am
not sure that it is not even more i'm
portant than that
The Maine sweet corn is recog-
nized for its very high quality and
delicious flavor, and until the enact
ment of the pure food laws it was a
common practice for outside Gamers
to put their product out as Maine
corn, even though 1t had never
been in Maine. We took up this
morG IF braad I'm ~ cuyaat corn hapanap