The farmer and mechanic., 1915-06-22
NORTH CAROLINA'S OPPORTUNITY
IN THE PRODUCTION OF CORN
Farm Demonstrators Cost the Counties Fifty Thousand Dollars
But 1t Is Money Well Invested Says
Bon H. Butler

amounting to something like $40, ,O00,- !
900 year in value. That is one of |
the places where Major Graham finds |
the gratifying increase in the agri- |
cultural products in recent years.
But the moisture supply of North
! Carolina is sufficient to make a much
bigger corn crop, and an army of men
and boys are engaged in finding the
way to get that bigger crop. Mr..
| Brooks with his 127 bushels to the
| acre is only one of the serious seek
ers after the way. Nearly every
county in the State now has a farm
| demonstration, and the farm demon
strators have been largely instru-
mental in adding this $2O,OO0,OOO to
| the annual crop of the farms Of North
Carolina. 1t is possible that the farm
demonstrators have cost the counties
| $500 a year. | do not think the
figure will go above that. If they
are to be credited with one dollar in
ten that the improved corn farming
has brought they have earned sew
eral times what has been paid them.
For the dollar that has been paid the
demonstratOr the corn crop has paid
an extra sum of $40O dollars. SO
reckon the farm demonstration is
earning his money.
, Mind, l do not claim that the de-
monstrator has been responsible for
, all the Increase in the corn yield. l
, would not claim for his work more
than say fifteen out Of the twenty
millions, and he is doing lot besides
, helping to increase the corn crop.
) imagine that the fifty thousand paiG
I him is not lost money.
And that really brings me to wha
have been ciphering out, which i:
that North Carolina is on the verge
l Of a revolution in agriculture. We
have talked diversificatiOn but with
n out just exactly realizing what we
: were doing all the time, the country
Y has been heading toward diversifi
a cation on a gigantic scale SO big VIZ
e have not cOmprehended it. The corr
It club business which has been inau
a gurated by the government and sever
a al Of the States, is going into corr
:. culture in a scientific way. It is en-
: listing the boys and lot Of them vi
y in years as well as the chaps still il
# short trousers, and the results ar
h shown by the figures we started ou
q with. Mr.. Brooks is not the only maj
It who has discovered the relation be
n tween water and corn yields. Al
Is over the corn belt are men Of his kin,
h who are asking themselves question
Is about these things and particular
IS asking why if somebody can raise 25
= bushels of corn on an acre Of groun
1t as was done down in South Carolin
" some years ago, it can't be done j
= any old county and place.
le Fertility Under Control.
- Once people thought that soil fe1
~ tility was the one essential of farming
ts Now they have learned that fertilit
= is a matter in the control Of the farm
"a er. That puts an entirely new pei
spectiVe on the corn crop, and inc
y dentally it might be added, on an
:. other crop. That guarantees that tn
= section which has the moisture ca
:. = make any kind Of corn crop
80 wants to make if it will go at it
% % the right way. The success of me
% corn clubs put this out of the fiel
n Of theory and into the range
~ proven fact North Carolina ha
=, shown that it can make 148 bushe
- Of corn to the acre. and that a be
- can do it. Nobody imagines the be
| who does that has gone to the limi
But suppose that he has. And the
cut his production in two, and So
~ that instead Of 18 bushels to the acl
= - North Carolina should be made to a.
-: erage IA bushels to the acre. or ha
in as much as the North Carolina be
A. made. That would be four times tt
= present yield Of corn. and four tim
nv the present yield would mean a col
~ crop worth about 100000, 900, f
on the corn alone, not counting II
~ enormous amount of feed availab
"a for cattle.
~ It is risky to say what is to be Il
ha future OF the corn crop of the Sout
fo but this much Is a sure guess. tt
Lse Continued on Page Two