The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-11-24
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 From many parts of Alabama ws get reports of extraordinary yields as q result Of the corn growing contests that have been in progress this sum- mer. In some cases the resuits are really surprising, and in all they are encouraging. It is not merely that some have won valuable prises. and that most, if not all. have derived profit from the experiments. though all who have taken part in the con- tests.
 But there is something that ought to be more far-reaching than present profit or triumph. We are told that what man has done. man may do again" or words to that effect and 1t can well be applied in this case. If a man proves by. actual results that with the right kind of preparation and culture of the soil he can grow three to five times as much corn on an acre of land as he has been doing 1t seems natural to suppose that many of them. if not all, will exert them selves to do so. The demonstration that he can save large part of his farm for other crops, or that he can just as we'll as not have big lots of corn to sell should be sufficient in- ducement to the provident and care fui farmer to make all reasonable ef- forts to double or treble present yields.
 And this is not solely . matter for the farmers and land owners them- selves to consider. It is . truth which should require no argument that the greater the yield in proportion to the labor and cos, of production the more will be the profit. It may be true that larger crops will reduce the sell ing price. but what Of 1t? If farm- sr raises 100 bushels of corn on two acres of land and sells 1t at twenty five cents a bushel Is he not really much better off than if he had raised twenty bushels and sold 1t at seventy- five cents q bushel7
 But 1this Is q matter that reaches far beyond the farmers themselves, however much they may be benefited by the change. Statistics are prov ing beyond possibility Of doubt that the food supply of the world is sure ly becoming insufficient to furnish bread for tho constantly increasing population, and this deficit is contin- ualiy growing and becoming more alarming. The land now devoted to grain throughout the earth. with the normal yield of the past and present time, will not feed all the people. and there are but two remedies in view. apparently. One Is to bring new lands into cultivation, and the other is to Increase the yield per acre
 The first offers only temporary re- lief at best. for even If It proves a relief at all 1t will soon end as the area of uncultivated land is not with out limit. The plain and obvious pro- visian against bread famine lies in a larger ana continually increasing yield per acre ofs corn. wheat snd other breadstaffs; an increase that will con- tinue as long as the, scarcity exists. or until the limit of production has been reached.
 This Is the hopeful and encouraging side of the experiments which have been going on and of the results att tained. The demonstration that much larger crops of corn can be grown is an object lesson for tho farmers ana an encouraging sign for the consum- er It is certainly to be hoped that the results attained this year will act as an incentive to future efforts, and that the problem of food supply will not much longer worry humanity.
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