The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-11-17
GROWTH OF IOWA
CORN GROWERS
ASSOCIATION
The Story Of How King Corn
Has Come to His Own
In Iowa.

Six years ago the Iowa Corn Grow
meeting at Ames during the short
course. There were no prizes offered
and not very much corn shown. This
was just at the beginning Of the re-
Nuisance in Iowa corn growing which
began with the coming of Professor
Holden at the head of the newly born
agronomy department at Ames. Grad
ually the farmers woke to the i'm
portance Of the crop which they had
been planting and harvesting mechan
1cally for so many years. They began
to be dissatisfied with the average
yield they had been producing. Dis.
satisfaction is the first step toward
Improvement and slowly Improvement
began to appear At first this was
mainly along the lines of increased
yields. Careful selection, storing and
testing of seed corn, together with
more attention paid to the preparation
of the seed bed and the cultivation of
the crop, did much to wiring increased
profits from Iowa's responsive soil.
Following the increase in yield
came period of development along
breeding lines. From state which
raised lust corn or depended upon
the eastern states for it's improved
seed, Iowa has come to be one Of the
foremost corn breeding states in the
Union. Every section, every county
almost, has its corn breeder. The
best of the old breeds. have been assim-
Hated and adapted to Iowa conditions.
Where the old breeds failed to meet
the requirements, new ones were de-
veloped.
The most striking example of this is
the Silver King variety, originated by
III. ]. Goddard of Winnesheils county.
This corn met the demand of northern
Iowa for an early maturing. heavy
yielding corn Of good quality, and met
1t SO well that during the last two
years Silver King has swept over the
northern half of the state like an old
fashioned prairie fire.
AS yet the work of corn breeding is
only In its infancy. The possibilities
which 1t holds out are so alluring that
it Is little wonder that graduates of
the Iowa Agricultural College smiling
ly decline the salaries that are offered,
and go back on the farm to put their
ideas on corn breeding into practice.
Amid all this advancement, the Iowa
\ Corn Growers association has flour
ished. Backed by the virile enthusi.
asm OF the corn men, who are putting
their souls into the work with as much
belief in their work as any missionary
who ever tried to teach cannibal chief
of the merits of a vegetable diet, it has
become the rallying point of the corn
| growers and breeders of Iowa, It's
/ meetings resemble the old camp
meetings they used to have in the
days when pa and ma" were young.
Grey haired men throw their hats
into the air and shout for joy as they
see the ribbons tied on the corn which
represents so much of their painstak
ing care. The boys are there, too
with much more enthusiasm than they
ever displayed at Saturday afternoon
ball game. The browning moment OF
excitement comes when the corn sale
starts. Here the prize corn is sold
bringing all the way from 81 per ear
to 10 cents a kernel Nor are these
inflated values. A 10c kernel may
/ produce a $40 ear and in the third or
fourth generation will yield enough
/ seed to plant the entire farm and add
/ from five to ten bushels an acre to the
accustomed yield.
This year the corn show in Des
4 Moines will be in keeping with the
/ great corn crop of the state. John
Sundberg, who was unanimously re
elected president of the association fol-
this year. has used his hard earned
4 experience in building up a bigger and
better show than ever. A regular
manager, DR.. Knowles, has been hired
and has been giving all his time to
securing prizes and looking after the
details of the show. The secretary
4 Professor Crossley, has not been able
to give as much of his time to the
work as he did last year, but he has
found time to give the workers an oc.
casional inyigorating slap on the back
and whisper in their ear "hunch'
that has just come to him. The Des
Moines Commercial club has been
i hacking the association with time
money, and influence.
The prizes that have been offered
aggregate nearly $4,000. These prizes
cover every conceivable phase of corn
growing. being given not only for the
best samples shown at Des Moines
but also for the best yielding acres
throughout the state. There are
i prizes for boys and girls, prizes for
4 corn clubs, prizes for amateur exhib
itors. prizes for Judging, and prizes for
almost everything else that could be
thought Of Prizes are to be given for
the best exhibits of small grain and
4 grasses Prizes have also been offered
for the best preserved silage exhibit
at the show. Everyone is working to
gether to make the corn show that
will be held in Des Moines, Nov. 20 to
Dec II, the biggest thing along agri
cultural lines that has ever happened