The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1913-07-03
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Special Washington Correspond
ent of The Times.

Washington, D. Boys, grow
corn" is now established as the slo'
gan of the Department Of Agriculture.
The sentence has taken the place OF
Horace Greeley's famous advice:
"Young man, 90 West"
In the past five or six years the
Department of Agriculture has shown
by demonstration that for young men
there is greater opportunity in pre-
ducing the gold of the corn crop
than there ever was in gathering the
gold from the placer mines Of Cali
fornia.
For no lO.year period has the corn
yield of the United States exceeded
an average of % bushels per acre.
Not even the most fertile state has
ever produced over 81 bushels per
acre. Yet in practically every Sec
ton of the country yields of over 100
bushels are continually being pro-
duced by good farmers.
It is asserted that the corn yield of
the United States can be easily
doubled by the spread of good farm
ing methods. Or, if such a yield is
beyond our needs, the acreage devot-
ed to corn can be greatly reduced
and the land devoted to other needed
crops.
There are untold billions of dollars
which can be added to the wealth of
the nation by increasing the corn
production. No other line of activity
offers such opportunities.
The hope of the Department and OF
the country is ia the boys. They,
more quickly than men, grasp the
scientific principles underlying the
successful breeding Of corn for
greater crops. Youthful enthusiasm
guarantees that the principles once
learned will be applied to actual corn
production with conScientiousness
and perseverance.
Consequently we see the great and
growing organizations of boys corn
clubs, promoted by schools, states,
independent organizations and the
national Department of Agriculture.
Each year the champion boy corn
growers of each state are given
free trip to Washington, where they
meet the President and receive di-
plomas from the Secretary Of Agri-
culture.
The work of getting boys interested
in championship corn contests has
advanced to point where the De-
pyrtment is now showing its hand,
how it intends to utilize this organza-
ton of boys in the future. A bull
letin has just been issued on the sub
ject, and one sentence in the bulletin
might have been written in this form:
"WANTED-A boy in every corn
growing county of the United States,
who can prove his ability as farmer
by several years of superior work in
the corn contests, to act for the rest
of his life as the official seed-corn
grower and distributor in his county
for the government. Pleasant and
profitable work. For further in
formation apply to office of Corn In
vestigations, Department of Agricul-
ture; Washington, D. c."
In other words, it is the intention
of the Department to effect a perma-
nent organization of boy champion
corn growers. One in each county
is desired. By improving seed and
furnishing it to the farmers of his
county he will help toward the gen.
eral plan for doubling the American
corn crop.
The name of the new bulletin is:
GLOW to Grow an Acre of Corn"
1t is corn-grower's textbook,
written in short, pithy paragraphs,
each giving a suggestion on how to
improve corn.
"Boys have splendid opportunities
to produce better varieties than have
ever been produced" is the promise
held out.
It is also pointed out that while
corn sells commercially for so or rs
cents per bushel, the successful
corn-breeder can sell his corn to his
neighbors for seed for 81 or So a
bushel. A boy who can grow 100
bushels of this sort of corn on an
acre spends a very profitable sum-
mer.
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