The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1911-11-23
EVERY DAY FARMER
BEAT THE EXPERTS
Oakland Man Was Corn
King at Portland
Hiram C0rnfOrth Had Been Growing
Yellow Dent Corn In Central Maine
for Twenty Years.

Something over twenty years ago,
Hiram Cornforth of Oakland procured
few kernels of yellow dent corn from
man in Pennsylvania. Early in
July after getting his other. crops into
the ground, Mr. Cornforth went out
and planted his importation in a con-
venient spot at one end of the garden
After the corn came up he hoed it at
intervals along with the rest of the
plot. The stalks were still green when
the frost struck them in September, so
Mr.. Cornforth went out next morning,
cut them up, and started for the barn
yard to feed them to the cows
On the way he turned back the green
husks, and was surprised to find the
ear of corn fully matured.
The COWS got something else for
breakfast, and the next spring Mr.
Cornforth planted 1-5 of an acre with
the seed he had saved. He cut the
corn up 70 days from the date of plant
ing, and husked out forty full bushels
of ears, or at the rate of 200 bushels
per acre. Ten days later or 80 days
from planting he took a grist to mill,
where it ground so perfectly that the
miller insisted that it was old corn
So thoroughly had the grain ripened
that the meal never fermented a par
ticle.
Now this corn that our Oakland
friend was raising had one shortcom-
ing. 1t lacked the fancy points neces-
sary to win prizes at the fairs and
exhibitions. The corn experts CD in
sisted that it was not true to type, all
of which had some foundation of fact,
but the little yellow ears could GER
tainly deliver the goods. Each one
would shell off sufficient grain to
more than fill the space formerly &C.
cupied by the entire ear. This Mr..
Cornforth demonstrated over and over
again, by rolling a paper cylinder
about an ear, tying it with string, and
then Smelling the corn into the paper
receptacle. And for more than two
decades he kept right on growing that
corn, in spite of the critical attitude
of the alleged experts
Last Friday week, Hiram Cornforth
came into his own, yellow dent corn
and all. This is the way it happened.
Two or three years ago, DR.. Raymond
Pearl, the peerless biologist of the
Maine Experiment station, got &C
quainted with Mr. Cornforth while
making a systematic investigation OF
the various kinds of corn grown in
this state. His practiced eye recog-
nized the find which the Oakland man
had made nearly twenty years before,
pertinent. Before long he concluded
that the farmers of Maine ought to
know what Hiram Cornforth had. The
opportunity to show them came in
connection with the Portland Corn
and Fruit Show.
When that exhibition WAS in an
embryo stage, Mr.. Pearl suggested to
the management that corn was grown
to eat, not TO look at The keen wit
ted promoters Immediately saw the
point, and offered a prize of 500 for
the bushel of ears that would shell
out the most grain. The Smelling was
done at the Portland Auditorium.
Each competitor put in 10 pounds of
cars. These were first judged for
maturity, on a basis of 10 points for
perfection. Two points were allowed
for each pound of grain, and one
point was deducted for each pound of
cob. The award was based on the
final score With the returns all in,
Hiram Cornforth led the list and
took the 800 over a long string of
exhibitors, including several with
whom wining blue ribbons has become
almost a habit. His margin over his
nearest competitor was equivalent to
almost 100 pounds of shelled corn per
acre, while over the general average it
was nearly half a ton on the same
basis.