The farmer and mechanic., 1915-06-22
CBION III. BUTLER.)

Lemon Springs, June 1--we
wcr4 riding down the Jonesboro
,oaa There" said Hatch, the
banker. lis the Brooks farm where
Won see all the trees planted" "And
Brooks" said st. Clair, the editor, sis
the man who made 127 bushels OF
corn on an acre" So naturally we
had to debate with ourselves how
Brooks made 1877 bushels Of corn to
the acre. and before we were through
We had discussed farming, infant
baptism. Bryan's resignation. the
supply Of tin in the Straits settlement,
whouping cough, vulcanizing tires,
and the rest of the encyclopedia. The
admirable range of philosophy Of
man and a SraphophOne is wonderful
when you think about it.
every once in a while we would
get back to the subject of Brooks
and his corn. That's another thing l
like about people. Not matter what
they talk about, even at the women's
clubs, from time to time they wander
back to the question under discus
sion if only to get a new start on all
the rest of the subjects In, on and
under and above the earth. SO we
would get back to Brooks and the
corn every mile or so.
Corn is the great crop Of the
United States. 1t is the great pro-
duct Of the United States. The last
figure | have that I can just now put
my finger on is the crop Of 1913
which was worth almost a billion anG
three quarter dollars. Over a hun
dred and five million acres are plant
cd in corn in this country, three
times as much as is planted in cotton
The American corn field, If it were il
one big block. would cover all tn
area of North Carolina, Virginia
Maryland. Delaware, New Jersey am
Pennsylvania.
South Strong ON Corn.
Many people look on the corn GRO
as product Of the North and West
but right there we call Brooks ir
The government has been gatherin
records of the yields Of the big acre
Of the United States, and Iowa an
Indians are the only States of tn
North and West that have made a
much corn on an acre as Brooks di
here above Lemon Springs. 1t is in
teresting to note that the records fO
big acres are in the South. They ru
like this:~
a Mississippi boy comes first wit
202 bushels on an acre, Georgia 18'
Alabama. It's, South Carolina, IL
Virginia 166. Texas 164, North Care
lima 148. Pennsylvania 14S, Kentuch
l44, Arkansas 124, Louisiana liz, an
you notice that has all the Souther
States but Maryland in the 10
bushel class.
Illinois at l19, Minnesota lis, NJ
braska SO. Michigan 81. Indiana II
and Iowa 139 do not look very bras
alongside of this exhibit of Souther
yields. The fact about the corn cro
Is that while many people think it
northern crop 1t is a crop for
limited area of the United States, ar
most Of the area is the South. low
and Illinois are the leading col
States Of the Union. With low
taken out the production of col
ly balanced. Texas is the third Sta
IN the value Of it's corn products, whi
OF the first fifteen States rated by tt
value of the corn crop, eight a
southern and seven are Norther
and North Carolina is one of tt
elght. These fifteen produce nearly
Der cent Of the entire value Of tt
corn crop.
To make it's greater proportion
corn the North plants about a thi
more land, although it is a fact tn
,he average acre yield Of the Nor
Is greater than that Of the South.
hopeful indication is that the count
- increasing it's average, althoul
tae average is yet only about % bus
els to the acre. Illinois holds
TO about 80 bushels Of an averat
me South is considerably below tn
~ united area of the North does b,
'er than Iowa, but not much.
Now compare the 202 bushels til
mississippi boy took from an ae