The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1912-04-30
BOYS TAUGHT HOW
TO RAISE CORN
Youngsters Results Under Uncle
Sans Tutelage.

With several corn growing contests
going on in Morris county the fol-
lowing narrative of what is being ac-
complished in this line in other states
should be of interest.
The finest corn exhibition at the
Oklahoma State fair in 1911 was
grown by a 7-year-old boy 1t came
about in this manner: The winter
before F. A. Mitchell, federal agent
in charge of farm demonstration WORK
in Lincoln county and w. ID. Bentley'
in charge of the state work, lectured
at a schooolhouse at Stroud. Abner
and James Norcum, two farm boys,
enrolled in the corn and cotton CLUBS
started as a result of those lectures.
Each prepared two acres for COTTON
and one acre for corn, according TO
the rules of the department or agrl-
culture. In the summer, when the
farmers were at work in their fields.
Bentley and Mitchell visited the Nor
cum home to see how Abner and
James were getting along Near the
gate. beside his mother, the two men
saw a little 7-year-old boy, crying:
'sWell, well, little boy, what's the
matter?" the men asked.
Cause I'm not big enough to go
into the contest like Abner and
James," the younger brother, Frank
by name, sobbed, I've got the acre
of corn and two of cotton. just as
good as they have, and it's not my
fault that I'm not bigger.
The agents knew the rules well;
only boys of a certain age can par
ticipate in the club contests which
the department of agriculture is con-
Quoting with such success through
out the South. But they were inter-
ested in the sobbing youngster.
Ibid you plough your own land?
they inquired
mo, sir; I'm not big enough to
plough" replied 7-year-old Frank Nor
cum. adding, 'But | helped mother
pay father for ploughing the land for
me- have chopped my corn and cot
ton and it's clean"
It was then that the government
agents broke the departments strict
rules for the first and only time.
They received Frank NorcUm into the
Oklahoma contest.
The champion corn grower of the
world is-a 14-year-old South Carolina
lad, Jerry Moore, who, in 1910, raised
228 bushels and three pecks of corn
on one acre of land. Jerry was one
of over 5000 boys in South Carolina
enrolled in the boys corn clubs in
the South. He carted over 700 loads
..;ot5Tr> .oTr rich, earth to his acre and spent
over 500 on fertilizers. But his profits
after paying all expenses, amounted
to over $3.50, while his antique distinc-
tfon has won him much more. He
has been summoned as far away as
Columbus, Ohio, where banquet was
given in his honor, and to his dis,
comfiture, too.
What Jerry Moore, of South Caro-
lima, accomplished in 1910, a 16-year-
old Alabama boy Eber A. Kimbrough,
almost duplicated the following year
by growing 225 bushels of corn on
one acre, thus winning the prize OF
a $3.50 mule offered by the Central
Georgia Railway company, and free
trip to Washington, New York and
other Eastern cities. Yet it was only
two years before that this lad had
even become interested in corn grow
ing. His prize-winning crop was
raised at an aggregate cost of only
nineteen cents a bushel
What these three young lads have
accomplished in such a striking man.
ner scores of other boys, both South
and North, are almost duplicating.
The corn yield in Iowa, one of the
greatest corn states of the country,
is only thirty-two bushels to the acre
on a longtime averages Yet there
were AZ young corn growers in South
Carolina last year who were awarded
diplomas by the governor because
their acre yield was above seventy
five bushels. Nor are the honors
confined exclusively to the boys. For
instance, there is 16-year-old Addie
Blanche Ragan, of Durham county, N.
c.. who grew seventy-six bushels of
corn to the acre in 1911, with the aid
of only one mule and $3.50 worth of
fertilizer.
But there are lads in the North VIII
deserve recognition fully as much as
these boys and girls of the Southland
For instance, there are the splendid
records achieved by the boys of the
Page county public schools in souther
Iowa, under the efficient tutelage OF
the county superintendent of schools,
Miss Jessie Field. These Page count.
boys won first prize in every class
in corn for Iowa at the National corn
show held in Omaha, while their coun
ty exhibit won the grand prize; an
automobile, which Miss Field now
uses in her trips from one school to
the other. The same boys won thirty
prizes at the Iowa corn show held
in Des Moines a year ago, while prize:
aggregating $500 in value testified
to their efficiency for the year Like
wise, the Page county public schools
had the honor to furnish the prize
winning corn judging team, selected
after a strenuous competition at the
State agricultural college.