Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-11-14
CORN RAISED ] HERE. 4. !.
500 YEARS AGO
Indians Proved Adaptability Of
Soil for This Important
Product.

Soil for This Important
Product. .4- !.
Corn has been grown extensively
in North Dakota for more than 300
years. Earliest explorers Of the re-
gion now occupied by the Flicker
tail state tell Of the vast fields Of,
maize cultivated by the Arickarees,
Mandans and. H~idatsas, occupying
the Missouri valley. Although their
agricultural implements we're Of the
crudest type, these early agrono-
mists, thanks to q soil and. climate
naturally adapted to the production
of corn, reaped large harvests, and
LaVerendrie, who visited them in
1888, and Lewis and Clark, who
spent the winter Of .1S04-5 with these
tribes, found them in possession Of
large, well-stored hordess OF grain.
In fact, had it not been for their
ability to purchase good supplies OF!
corn from the friendly red men l,of.
the Missouri slope, Lewis and Clark
would have been unable to continue
to the northwest their expedition:
which gave to the United States q
great empire by right Of discovery.
Until quite recently, sscorn was
not raised extensively by the mod
ern North Dakota farmer, although
Oscar H. Will, the pioneer seed-man
of the northwest had for years suc-
cessfully experimental with the
breeding Of corn, producing q large
number of varieties which thrtyed
and bore prolific crops. In 1910 but
2,996,0O0 bushels Of corn were grown
in North Dakota. In 1911 the total
leaped to 7,250,000 bushels; in 1912
a gain of an additional million was
made. In 1913 an aggregate produce
ton Of 10000, 900 bushels was reach
ed, and in 1914 the total, as report
ed by the state commissioner OF ag-
riculture and labor, was 1880 ,04O
bushels.
1O6 Bushels to Acre s
In 1912 the North Dakota Better
Farming association inaugurated its
first acre-yield corn contest for boys
from ten to eighteen years. The first
prize was won by a Ransom county
boy with a production Of II bushels
to the acre; second hon0rs went to
the western part of the state, with q
yield Of IS bushels. All -prize-win-
ners averaged 81 bushels.
In 1913 the state was divided into
northern and southern districts, and
in the southern district the first
prize was won by a total production
of LOG bushels to the acre, while In
the northern half the winner produc-
ed 96.2 bushels. In 1914 the two
prize-winning yields were 1913 BUSH
els in the southern and 76.4 in the
northern half. Sixteen prize-winners
in the southern half averaged 70.6
bushels, and fifteen in the northern
half 62.3 bushels.
In 1913 4,142 acres Of corn were
planted and cultivated by various
farmers scattered throughout the
state, under the direction OF the Bet
ter Farming association, and these
averaged 1916 bushels to the acre.
The average yield for the state in
1913 was 20 bushels; for 1914 20
bushels. Illinois in 1913 averaged y
bushels, and the average for the
United States at large was 23.1 bush
els.
.Hogs and Hominy' :
That North Dakota Is q corn state
cannot be denied. Corn was native
to this region, long before the COM
ing of the white man. With the
c:rudest cultivation It responded read
lily. Under the stimulus Of modern
agronomy, and with the scientific
seed breeding OF Oscar II. VIII OF
Bismarck and others who have fol-
lowed in his footsteps, North Dakota
is destined to become one OF the
very greatest corn states In the union.
Already it has surpassed Illinois in
average yield per acre, raising more
corn on $4,000 land than Illinois a
raise on $4,000 soil, and 1t is run:
ming Iowa very close. During tho
current year, when the corn crop tn
many sections of Iowa, Illinois and
other states Of the so-called corn
belt" was an almost complete fall
ure, North Dakota harvested excel
lent yields Of fully matured grain.
North Dakota farmers have wisely
associated with c~orn-growfng the
raising Of hogs. Hogs and Hominys
was the slogan of the recent North
Dakota Agricultural exposition, held
in Bismarck, and "Hogs and Homt-
ny" are fast becoming a new source
of wealth to the Flickertail agricul-
turist. In no section has this COM
bination proven more profitable than
in the Missouri slope country sur
rounding Bismarck.
In 1911 North Dakota marketed
only 50,223 hogs at South st. Paul.
In 1914 the number marketed at this
point alone was 1895. North Da-
kota has proven beyond a doubt that
it can raise corn and that It can
feed hogs. Diversified farming is yet
in its infancy, but the time is COM
ing when more intensified and more
thorough agriculture will treble the
value of every acre in the state.
Bismarck and Burleigh a highly cred
h1o institution.