The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1912-03-06
CORN isn't FIT
TO PLANT
Farmers of Iowa Must Plant Tested
Corn This Spring-Freezing Last
Fall is the Cause.
THE CORN WILL NOT REPRODUCE
Owner of 1900 Acres Declares Farm
ers Will Get No Corn Crop if
They Use Last Years Late Corn

cES " III 0Cl NO VIII WY -
They Use Last Years Late Corn
Farmers in Webster county and the
rest of Iowa will not get a corn crop
next fall unless they plant tested seed
corn
E. F. Cook, owner of 1900 acres OF
Iowa land, morning declared th@t
re wet freezing wea~-Aer OF as. fal
destroyed the germs in the corn and
that the late variety would not do for
seed corn.
He says to the farmers: Select
early corn that had an opportunity to
dry after ripening. You must protect
yourselves this month or you might
as we'll not plant your fields this
spring."
Mr.. Cook declared his attention was
called to the poor seed corn last fall
when a renter showed him some ears
he had selected for seed purposes. The
corn was frozen and wet. Mr.. Cook
urged the renter to test the corn and
the testing was DONE Not kernel
terminated in the testing box.
Last falls corn" said Mr.. Cook,
chad ample opportunity to mature.
The wet weather followed by the early
frosts, however. caused the germ to
explode with the cold like popcorn
does with the heat As result the
germ will not start reproduction when
planted.
ut is a 100 to / shot that the crop
next fall will be failure unless the
farmers plant tested seed corn.
81 have looked into the matter and
have found spots in South Dakota, in
the southeastern part Of the state,
where there was no wet weather. From
there | have secured my seed corn.
'If the farmers of Webster county
keep on shipping corn which may be
good for seed purposes, they will be
strictly up against it. when planting
time comes.
practically the entire corn belt is
affected the same as is Iowa. The
farmers must Gull out their own corn
and they must do it now"
Des Moines Gets Busy.
The Messenger this morning re-
ceived the following telegram from
the Greater Des Moines committees:
"Des Moines, Iowa, March l.
Special to The MessengeD-Half the
seed corn in the corn belt will not
grow. The state faces crisis. In
less the farmers can be aroused to the
necessity of testing every ear OF seed
corn this month, the state will not
raise half crop. The state will lose
several million dollars. Urge every
farmer you know to test his seed corn
at once. Good seed corn cannot be
bought Every township must supply
it's own. Greater Des Moines Com
mittee."
Iowa is facing calamity of tremen.
dous proportions, involving the loss OF
$7O,OOO,OOO, which can only be warded
off by concerted movement by the
commercial and industrial interests OF
the state to secure testing OF the seed
corn to be planted this spring.
This was the startling declaration
made by H. NJ. Cottrell, industrial
commissioner of the Rock Island rail
way, to large gathering of Des
Moines business men at the conven-
tion-boosting banquet at the Grant
club last night, says this mornings
Register and Leader.
Mr.. Cottrell, who was a guest OF the
Commercial club, was called upon by
President Meredith for an address at
the conclusion of the regular program
and declared that the situation with
respect to seed corn was the most
serious he had ever known, adding
that he had been engaged in this line
of work twenty-eight years.
Conditions Bad Elsewhere.
I'm other states of the middle west
including Illinois, Oklahoma and Ne
braska, conditions were even worse
than in Iowa, whole counties in some
states being without corn that will
terminate. In Illinois one Of the big
gest seed corn growing concerns in
the county, which had expected to
have 10000 bushels to sell, would
have less than 10000.
In Oklahoma, he found they were
expecting to get their seed corn from
Kansas, and in Kansas they were
looking to Iowa to supply their needs
If the farmers of Iowa were expect
ing to import seed corn, Mr.. Cottrell
said they were absolutely certain to
be disappointed, for there was not an
other state in the middle west that
would have enough to meet home de-
mands, to say nothing of a surplus.