Judsonia weekly advance., 1913-08-13
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By HORACE MAeKLEY.-

Is it possible that the present type Of farmer has reached the limit of his capacity to improve? It may be so. At any rate, besides all this there is an agricultural press, of vast pro- portions throughout the states. work. ing to educate the farmers and keen him posted on everything that may be of help to him in his business. Many farmers take several such pub- llcations Then again, the tools that are available to the farmer for his work are far superior to what they have been in the past, and are i'm proved every year. Is it possible that the farmer is not as a class taking ad- vantage of the best tools for his | work?
 What is tke first thing to be done
 in the growing of better corn crops ?
 l think, in seed selection. There is
 nothing startling or original in this,
 I admit; it is the doctrine that has
 long been preached but would sim Eply add my testimony from the re- suits of my experiments with the i hope that it may lead others to try along the same lines. There is noth- ing difficult about 1t. there is certain ly nothing costly; it amounts to sim ply -litfie more thorough and intelli- gent heart interest in ones labor.
 To secure corn that will yield ten fold what he has been accustomed to getting the farmer must breed for results. He has got to improve the corn in the same way that he would raise the standard of his stock or his flocks And once he has secured a type of corn that shows increased productiveless, he must try to keep it pure. avoid inbreeding and main tain it's stamina with the same watchfulness and care that all breed ing demands.
 It does not require scientific edu- cation to grow more and better corn, or better crops of any kind. It does require brains. One of the first things to be done is to get out of the slip-shod ways of working. Corn, es, pecially is one of the most abused crops of the farm. Because it will grow and give some returns with a lOt OI ucSlGct-lL gets IL.
 In no one respect is the average farmer more careless than in his choice of seed and this may be said to be the prime essential. The farm CT is blowing manuring, performing all the operations from planting time to harvest, year after year, and with some of these he takes considerable fn1 inc C., who are perfect plowmen: they knew it and are proud of their skill, but these same farmers are hide bound in an old custom of throwing their corn in their crib just as it Is husked, aSd when they want seed in the spring time, they so to the crib and pick out sufficient likely ears from what are left to meet their needs, and let 1t go at that.
 It is an enigma how man can be so skilled as a workman in many re- spects. and yet absolutely inert to one of the most vital phases of secur- ing perfection in that work It needs no argument for it has been demon strated cyer and over again that the breeding of plants can be followed with as much certainty as to results. as the breeding of animals. Then why not do it? The only added euuip- ment which nine out of ten require is the exercise of more intelligent care and precision in some of the details
 It seems strange, but 1t is never theless fact. that most farmers are aware of what may be done in plant breeding, and know the general prin- ciples, but they will not wake up to practice of them in their own in- terests.
 If we are to increase the corn yield we have got to get 1t in the breed