The sun., 1910-06-12

Asked THIS Year 10 Help IN securing I
GOos Corn Cr0p fer IowA.

Asked THIS Year to Help IN securing .
GOOd COrn CrOP Ter lows.
let ~ pray for oar sesd oOrul- would
sound 10 the Fastetn ear almost like
Sacrilege: bit out in Iowa Il ISN'T very
different nom saying Give Ne this day
our daily bread
Anyhow. seed corn as a subject Of
prayer and exhOTtation did gst into the
Iowa churches this spring. The corn
experts at the State Agricultural College
sent broadcast an urgent appeal 70 preach
era 10 devote a Sunday service 10 remarks
on this years SEED corn.
II was a new departure In piety. Cen
orally preaching and praying on the sub
jet Of crops doesn't begin until they're
a. good a. Lost. This time the preachers
were asked to at busy when Il would
do most good. which this year was before
the crop was even planted
Twenty years ago corn vas just corn.
You put Il In the ground. Nature did the
rest. A comfortable enough method.
for YOU could always put the blame for
a poor crop on Providence.
The agriculture sharps know better
now. Thev pick ont their seed cOln,
a whole lot oG promising ears. and they
take a few grains trOm each ear and along
toward spring they plant these test grains
In boxes Of earth. or in testing houses
Il they have them. Then they wait TO
see what happens
Now. the cause of the rumpus In Iowa
this year was that what hAppened was
pretty nearly nothing at all. To the
dismay Of the shRrps Il WAs found that
more than half Of the seed corn on which
Iowa was depending fot this yeai's . crop
was not fertile. When you planted it
there was nothing doing.
IL looked all right That was the
danger Of it Absolutely the only way
you could find out whether Il would grow
was to plant il and see; hut that was
something the average farmer hasn't
been in the habit Of doing Out in Iowa
especially. where they pride themselves
on never having had a complste crop
failure. they have had a good deal Of
cont dence in the special attention Of
Providence.
The men who tested the 1910 seed
corn knew that Providenos had put it
up 70 them this year 10 save the Iowa
crop. and away back in February or March
they baEan hustlinR 70 do it. They Rot
the newspapers 20 print columns Of warn
ing "a the farmers Test your cOrn!'
was q command met with az every turn
Circulars Of instruction were sent through
the country Men from the agricultural
college went about the State talking and
demonstrating. and a. a final effort
every preacher was asked 20 devote one
sermon 20 the subject
A wear or two ago Iowa's corn crop
Jumped 20 a total of 400. .OO0 bushels.
thanks 70 a more intelligent selection OF
seed corn, They mean 70 keep u mere
or perhaps 70 make Il 90 on jumping
fha corn RoslRl- train has gone up
and down the State year after year
teaching farmers how 20 improve their
corn. how 20 make 500 grains grow where
only no grew hefore. As a result IN the
course 0f few years sod c1rn was pro-
duced which brought fancy pricea. q good
many dollars for a single ear.
IN order to stimulate interest IN the
prospective farmers corn contea,g were
inauaurated among the boys and girls
"a the State. Seed was supplied % the
school children by the County Superin.
.endent. Along IN Deoember the district
contests we're held. each contestant ex-
hibitinR Ave ears OF corn OF his or her own
raising
Reporta showed that the boys and girls
harvested an average u ten bushels
apiece. which made L not altogether a
work Of pride with them. The winners
received cash prizes and certificates. In
A single one of these contests hfty-one
bOss and girls took part.