The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1913-11-20
home OF GOOD CORN
Statistics Show That Minnesota
Raises as Good Corn as Any
Other State.

The corn crop of Minnesota for 1913,
as estimated by immigration Com
missioner F. Sherman, amounted to
over 1OO,OO0,000 bushels. The aver
age yield was AZ bushels to the acre.
About 2,438,O00 acres were planted
to corn.
Mr.. Sherman bases his estimate on
information secured first-hand from
every county in the state, which he
has every reason to believe reliable.
In securing corn crop reports from
his correspondents he warned them
against being too optimistic. "Please
do not make your estimates too high"
he wrote them, Remember / am not
asking for the biggest yield or the
smallest yield in your county, but for
your estimate of what the average
of the whole county will be.
All counties reported, and from the
county reports the state average of
AZ bushels to the acre was struck.
The estimate of acreage planted to
corn is based on the official reports
of the United States Department of
Agriculture, the annual percentage of
acreage in past years being applied.
The exact figures for acreage thus
arrived at are 2,438,666. Applying
to these the average yield of az
bushels to the acre, we have as
Minnesota's 1918 corn crop 102,423,-
972 bushels. The yield of corn in
1918 will thus exceed the yield of
wheat by probably over 20,000,000
bushels.
At current market prices the value
of Minnesota's corn crop would exceed
$7O,OOO,OOO. The crop, however, is
one that is not marketed to any great
extent in this state. 1t is fed to
hogs and other stock. An extremely
conservative estimate of it's farm
value would be $5O,00O,00O.
While the bulk of Minesota's corn
crop is still grown in Southern and
Central Minnesota, the corn belt is
rapidly extending to the north and
northwest. Fully matured and heavy
crops are reported from the Red Riv-
er Valley country. The prize corn
exhibited at the Minnesota state fair
this year was grown in Pine county,
sixty miles north of st. Paul. A yield
of 1875 bushels to the acre, from a
field of forty acres, is reported from
Faribault county.
The extension of Minesota's corn
area has been rapid. Forty years ago
practically no corn was grown in the
state. The farmer in a southern coun-
ty who could point to a three acre
patch of matured old Indian flint corn
thought it a remarkable achievement.
The yield of corn per acre in the same
section of Minnesota in 1913 exceeded
that of the recognized corn states of
Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska
The quality of Minnesota corn is su-
perior. AS result of climatic condi-
tons the same varieties here contain
greater percentage of nutriment
than when grown in states farter
south. Minnesota corn is freer from
insect pests.
While many of the varieties of corn
grown here are those common to the
corn growing states which have be-
come acclimated, Minesota's success
in raising corn is largely due to the
development by the Minnesota College
of Agriculture, and Minnesota seeds
men, of varieties especially suitable
to a northern latitude. Of these per-
haps Minnesota IS is first in import
ance. It is a yellow dent corn, rich in
nutrition and generous in yield.
Minnesota %, first grown by Polk
county farmer, and later developed by
selection and experimentation by the
Agricultural college experts, is relied
upon to mature without fail in the
most vigorous climate of the North
and Northwest section of the state.
Northwestern Dent, an old standard
variety fully acclimated by well
known Northwestern seedsmen, is
successfully grown in the same Sec
ton. Other varieties developed in
Minnesota are the Rustler and Sterling
White Dent. ..
The rapid extension of Minesota's
corn ara northward warrants the con-
clusion that the time is not far dis