Norwich bulletin., 1913-01-24
ALFRED ROOKIE, BOY CORN GROWER How Nineteen Year Old Merden Lad Won Ali Sweepstakes Prizes on Dent Corn at New England Corn Exposition.

, turned the machine for Mir. Yale wa. none other than the boy Rooke. A the contest this year, MT. ROoke, be 1 cause he had grown into mans estate | so far as the rules of the contest are concerned, entered the machine sher- ing class, and won third. his friend | Yale winning first as a matter o1 1 course.
 MT. Rooke does not own a farm al l though he is a farmer in every other sense of the world. His father, who is i a tool maker in one of the silver fac tories at Meriden, owns a. small place 1 of two acres on BuckWheat Hill, in the southern part of Meriden- The family lives upon this little place in the sub-
 urbs, and the boy Alfred lives at home For nearly three years he has been em- ployed by Walter L. Yale. who owns a large farm a scant half-mile further south. About one acre of the -Rooke lot-we can hardly call it a farm-is used to grow corn for the flock of 100 hens that are kept upon the place. The balance of the lot is used a gar = den, hennery, and the place Is well pro- viGed with fruit trees The son Alfred has taken charge of the acre devoted to corn. and the only time he has had to devote to it has been mornings and evenings before and after his days work al MT. Yale's farm
 The Farm.
 The place is upon an elevation com manding a wide view of the surround ing country. The soil is very charac- teristic of the soil in the neighborhood red rock. It is not what one would call a dry soil, in fact the watertable is quite near the surface in that section of Meriden. The Rooke place has the ad- vantage of an elevation. and as the land upon which the corn was grown, slants quite sharply. it is naturaliy bet ter drained than the level lands at the foot of the hill.
 Poultry is the only live stock kept at ID Th1 nT<zr, 100 hens was used to grow the crop, supplemented by top dressing of Bowker's fertilizer. Corn was grown last year upon the same piece of land. a way as to prevent loss. It is gath cred every day and kept in a small building erected for the purpose. MT. Rooke does not know the number of pounds of hen manure he spread upon the acre planted to corn, but he said he put out about 100 bran sackfuls, that being the way he carried the manure from the shed to the field. To give the corn a good start. and to supplement the hen manure, he broadcaSted a few bags of Boxvker's fertilizer purchased of dealer in Meriden. Just how much Of the commercial fertilizer he used upon the corn he does not know, but he put on enough to make sure of d good crop.
 The Seed.
 There is a bit of history connected with the obtaining of the seed. Some two years ago the younger Rooke-AI- red-went to Illinois for a trip and while there he did a little work with a construction gang upon a railroad, and boarded at the home of a nearby farmer. This farmer had bumper crop of large. bright colored dent corn grown from seed obtained in Kansas. MT. Rooke bought four bushels of ears of the Illinois farmer paying g per bushel, and had 1t shipped to Meriden. Last year he planted the seed, or part of it. upon the home place. The crop was fair The stalks were large and not all the ears came at full maturity but the first year was one of acclima- ton, and this year the seed taken from last years harvest proved equal to the mated Variety. This years crop crop, should find uniformly large we'll filled ears. very bright in color, even rows of kernels and very small cobs. MT. a great deal of care He had many bushels of splendid seed corn carefully husbanded in the chambers of the house, near the chimney. Every ear was selected in the field from the standing stalks, and they were selected before the first frost. Only ears from strong, we'll proportioned stalks were selected to go into the seed room. To show how well the corn adapted itself to local conditions this years crop
 
 lot more of caring, and of a variety of dent that can be depended upon to produce two good ears to the stalk. A very large proportion of the stalks two good ears. and a third about half l size. In fact MT. Rooke had several 1 bushels of small ears represented by l the third ears on the stalks.
 The seed was planted May 29th | which Is late planting indeed. The | corn was planted by MT. Tales planter, l and the rows were three feet apart | When the corn was well up, MT. Rool1e l went over the piece and thinned to one stalk in the hill leaving the plants to | stand about 1s inches apart in the row 1 The crop received no special treatment | turing the growing season, other than | being cultivated and the weeds hood | put. Flat cultivation was practiced. l As soon as the stalks were cut rye was | ;owed as winter cover crop
 The stalks were not cut and put into l shocks" Instead the corn was | iusked from the standing stalks, the work of huskfng having been done late | n October and early in November AS l we have already mentioned, the seed .ars--of which he has a great many ,ushels-were taken out first, and special attentio ngiven to stalk and 'ar characteristic. The stalks, were If medium height. strong, stocky and we'll supplied with foliage. There had ,een scarcely any blowing over' which appeared unusual in view of the | exposed situation of the field-squarely m top of high elevation.
 Prize Ear Hidden.
 Had not MT. Rooke gone to Boston n person he would have lost the grand weepstakes prize on the best single ar of dent He shipped his corn to he show and it arrived in ample time or the opening, which was Wednesday, l Among other entries he sent 40 pounds | O go into the shelling-out contest. Saturday he went to Boston to see the how, not knowing that he had won a 'rize. The ribbons were upon all the 'rize exhibits. He looked for the ingle ear that he had entered in the jingle ear dent class. but could not ind it. At length, after a two hours earch he found it, properly tagged. in he smelling out contest, where it had 'een placed by mistake by those who npacked the exhibit. Luckily that ar had not been sheIled in the con- est. as he had several ears in excess f the 30 lbs. needed for the sheIling- ut contest. Also, luckily for him. he ound the ear in the presence of two f three of the principal officials of the how |. The mistake being apparent he judges were called in and the ear vas awarded the grand sweepstakes