The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-05-28

been organized in various localities and are working for prizes offered by the bankers, merchants, boards of trade, county clubs and public-spirited individ- uals of their neighborhoods They are also working for the prize given to the best boy corn raiser of their respective states, consisting of diploma from the Department of Agriculture and free trip to Washington. where they may spend a week and see the President and Congress and the interesting features of our na- tional capital The prizes given to such boys by the localities last year amounted to $40000 and more. They will probably be | twice that this year. They consist of cash. farm implements. ponies, pigs, bicycles, watches, guns, books and everything which will tend to gladden. boys heart and make him work.
 | The number of southern boys compet- | ing in 1910 was. according to the govern ment rolls, S3225 Each of these planted an acre of corn and worked 1t under gov ernment directions, producing crops which staggered their respective communities. Tn Mississippi. where the average corn crop last year was less than 20 bushels per acre, 4S of these boys raised on the average of 92 bushels per acre In one county of South Carolina. which state has an average per acre of less tfren 19 bush- els, 20 boys produced 100 bushels of corn on 20 acres, and TAO boys averaged 62 bush els. The governors of the different south ern states are now giving diplomas or honor to all boy corn ralsers who can | show a crop of 75 bushels per acre, and at the national corn show at Columbus last fall an automobile was presented to the boy who had raised the most and best corn on one acre at the lowest cost.
 The automobile was awarded to stephen e. Henry. huc al oP corn on one acre at cost of 136 cens per busheL Stephen comes from Merose, La. He is the youngest of five boys of a fam fly, and he has been raising corn for three years by the government directions. He has won a number of premiums and last year he received 8 gold watch from the governor and also a pig, two sheep, S25 in gold and diploma. The club to which he belongs contains 200 members. and Stephens brother Is also prize winner. | I give you in brief the way Stephen raised his last crop of corn. He broke tho ground in the fall blowing it eight inches deep. He turned the soil again in March and went over it with blow and harrow until it was thoroughly fine He put out two tons of stable manure at that time and then planted the corn. This was on the 17th of March. The seed sprouted all right, but a part of the crop froze. and l He Idu lo Itpidiii 4hdy AV AlicA thoS thO coBp was cultivated again and again with la hoe and cultivator. all the suckers being pulled from the hills. When he laid the corn by he planted COW peas between the rows to increase the fertility of the land for the next year. The corn was harvest ed, shelled and weighed. and at 56 pounds to the bushel it measured 1888 bushels.
 1 But this yield would not have given
 Stephen the prize. There were many
 boys who raised more. There were io0 who belonged to the corn clubs of the
 south who made an average of 1887 bush- els per acre in 1910. There were five who grew more than POO bushels and quite number who grew 15O.
 | No, stephen got the prize because ho raised the most corn at the lowest cost. Jerry Moores 22S bushels cost him 0 cents. and Morris Olgers of Virginia raised 16S bushels at 70 cents. Of the na- tional prize winners who came to Wash ington, Ira Smith of Arkansas raised 119 bushels at a cost of cents per bushel. while Floyd Gayer of Oklahoma produced 95 bushels on an acre at the same cost.