Lower coast gazette., 1913-01-18
SATURDAY, JANUARY IS, 1912.
Possible Corn Culture in Louisiana

Department Of Agriculture, has recently sta1eu
that he thought the South would be the great
source of the future meat supply OF the country
A country wherein the grass grows ~ Jim
ally that millions OF dollars are ah1uaiiy spei.
in combating it would seem 10 De 'he sue@i
Mace for meat production, whether Deel' PORK
or mutton. AS an incident to this, however,
the question of corn comes up predomlnantly
and cur people have been disposed TO thlnK Vflas
the production Of corn could not be carried Oh
here as well as in the more ard lands OF the
West, where the weeds grew with less lfeeoolh
and where clean culture, ana that comparatively
Inexpensive, was very possible. The least neg
lect here thraWs taeaWhole crop into the Weeus
and orass and. as during the year lol2, we may
loco tho cron practically entirely.
The bottom lands Up in the central west,
somewhat similar TO our %alluvial lands here IN
tba Mississippi Valley. have produced in some
: . bnndred bushels of corn annually per
oo,o for naarlv . century. This has been more
na,ticularlv the case on some lands that were
annrallv ovarf1owed say near Chilicothe, Ohio.
rfho vollov Of tho Scioto is often spoken of as
boino ono Of tho most fertile in the world and
roar fb;l,;cotbo corn fields are reported to have
crown, a hundred bushels per acre since the
eor,r so+tlamant Of that town. more than a hum
Jno1 ,oare 900
Ttoro would seem TO be no insuperable diff
L. :, o,,, nlan+;no opr corn here either in
olasey rows 10 nreyent the growth Of grass and
s.aoa. :. !, come manner yell understood by
.aod oor;c, nj +,,y;ets to take measures to prevent
r., g o,oos hu ;nadaonate cultivation. We GER
4o;,lv bave tho soils that will produce, as we
laos, horo nov, 40 TO so bushels of corn per
aoro & # ba made the n~rincipal crop and if such
atfont;or ha Given TO the corn crop as we know
= ,,oods re- tbis can no done. as has been done
l., nlan+ors of orr acoDaintance. the figures re-
sji1sd bv them ran certainly be raised consider
..ablv birher with still more careful preparation,
cflt;yetioo selection Of seed corn and with such
precautions as our advanced agricultural data
;nd;cate as desirable.
Sore inspiration comes from the Texas In
dusfrial Congress, under date Of January Z, the
renort is now made Of the results the ten year
average of corn and cotton production in Texas
as compared with that accomplished by con-
~testants for $4,000 in cash prizes, offered an
nuallv by the Texas Industrial Congress for the
hest Yields Of these crops.
The average weld Of corn in Texas for the
past ten years was but 10 bushels per acre.
There were four thousand competitors in the
1912 contest and their corn production averaged
81 bushels per acre. Similarly, the ten year
average for the state was q third of a bale of
cotton to the acre and yet these contestants
averaged 1.O4 bales and the leading contestant
produced {. SO bales on ore acre.
As vas ascertained by the boys corn clubs
in this state and in Mississippi last year, on the
\ hill lands the prize crops ranged from 100 to $50
bushels per acre. These things can be done and
while We don't have that confidence in prize
work that would justify US in expecting such
Yields in our ordinary industrial way, still the
prize work shows what can be done and the
general average in Texas shows $50 per cent
Weld hv the four thousand contestants as com.
+ pared with the states average production fol
q ten years.