The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-08-23
MANY MILLIONS IN MAIZE
Great Increase I'm the Georgia Corn
Crop Principally Due to the Work
of the Corn Clubs
(Atlanta Journal)

| A recent announcement that the
value of Georgias corn crop has
grown thirty million dollars within the
past five years has aroused statewide
/ wonder. Such an increase appears
well-nigh miraculous But it is a well
lattested fact and it is due, not to any
extraordinary conditions, but to the
patient, practical application of scien-
| tiic methods of farming
The chief factor in this remarkable
growth has been the work of the boys
corn clubs. These clubs were first or
ganiZed in Georgia in 1905. In the out
set they were few and scattered, but
Immediately their results became fruit
fully manifest In 1909, the State Col
lege Of Agriculture turned its influence
particularly to this enterprise and
aOout the same time a campaign of
farm demonstration work was begun.
In both these undertakings the federal
department of agriculture joined hear
tily and rendered invaluable assistance
1t is interesting to note the results
of this work as they accrued from
season to season. At the beginning of
the corn club movement, the states
average yield of corn was little more
than ten bushels. In 1903, the record
in 1910 to fourteen and three-tenths
bushels, and in 1911 to sixteen bushels.
This means that last year Georgia
produced seventy-siX million bushels of
the great staple crop and thereby won
a place of renown among the country's
grain growing commonwealths. 1t
means that within five brief years
there have sprung from her soil, thru
the natural magic of sun and shower.
aided by intelligent labor, millions of
wealth that hitherto had lain dormant.
The significance of this increase to
the states business interests cannot
be overgauged. 1t touches every shop
and store, every bank and market
place. 1t puts more money into cir
culatiOn and, what is especially i'm
portant, it keeps at home money that
formerly went to distant sections. II
reminds that here within our own
boundaries we possess all the sinews
of self that We can pro-
duce harvests of food as easily and
more cheaply than harvests of cotton,
that we can be economically free and
independent, if We only will.
1t should be noted that the increase
from ten to sixteen bushels of corn
per acre represents a statewide aver
age. There are instances, and they are
numerous, where fifty a hundred and
even two hundred bushels have been
brought from a single acre. This re-
suit, as we have said. is due simply to
the working out of well known meth
DDS of cultivation. The soil has been
made to unbosom its natural treasure,
not so much by the use of artificial fer
tilizers or by harder work as by the
,tot; ton, -
tical use of certain truths which science
has unfolded.
The one primal secret behind the
thirty million dollars added to the
states wealth is-education.
Too much credit cannot be given to
the agency through which this knowl-
edge was turned actively to account.
The boys corn clubs lave been the
practical instruments in this construc-
tive work. They have enlisted the
thought and endeavor of the rising
generation in almost every county of
the state and have turned thousands
of youths into ardent builders of a
greater Georgia.
Every possible encOura cement should
be given such work and the boys who
are carrying it forward. They should
be supported, and 1t is good to know
that in scores of instances they are
supported, by chambers of commerce,
boards of trade, the railroads, by edu-
Gators and by public-hearted individ-
uals. If within the next five years the
state can accomplish in this vital work
what it has during the past five, we
shall nave a commonwealth even more
prosperous than now and one that Of
fers richer advantages to every line of
endeavor.