The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1916-03-23
CHAPTER VIII.
The Committee Gathers Corn.

The Committee Gathers Corn.
T0CT. 10 the committee came out
to measure Joe's corn. The
three gentlemen took stand
ard bushel measure and q
standard scale, filed the measure by
pulling the corn from the stalks them
selves, then weighed it and made their
calculations.
Joe had made 1873 bushels Of corn on
an acre at cost Of $12.3O!
The committee took his record sheet.
where he had faithfully put down ev-
erything he had done in connection
with the crop, how much he had spent,
how many times and the dates of
working, how much and what fertilizer
and when and how applied, verified his
calculations, certified their findings,
signed it with Joe and forwarded it to
the county superintendent Of educa-
ton.
Joe now began to gather his corn.
The stalks he had marked for seed he
got first; beautiful, perfect ears they
were. Leaving thin shuck upon these
ears, he put them in sacks and sus-
pended them from a hook in the cell
ing Of the attic SO mice and rats could
not get at them.
The three precious ears from the
stalk showing the beginnings Of a
fourth ear, reserved to experiment
with, he slipped each in a quart pre-
serve jar, clean and dry, and screwed
the top on tightly.
There were twelve bushels Of "nub-
bins" These he began to feed to the
pigs, now great, big fellows. He also
gave them the Mexican June nubbins
and the small, unstable sweet pota-
toes left in the field. One could almost
see those hogs putting on fat.
Joe went over his prize corn and
culled out fifty bushels mostly from
the stalks bearing the two perfect ears
and nubbin. He sold the fifty bushels
for $3.50 bushel. The ten best ears
he saved to exhibit at the state fair.
The sale Of the seed corn brought in
1925.
A few days after he had disposed of
the fifty bushels a man came to him
wanting some seed corn.
Haven't any more" said Joe.
''My gracious, Joe, you amt sold all
that $50 bushels already, have your
"Oh, no; I've saved five bushels for
seed for dad and myself-money could
not buy that I've sold fifty bushels
Of selected seed, and I've culled twelve
bushels Of nubbins. No, I've got hun
dred and eleven bushels Of corn yet"
"Well, I'll take bushel for seed"
"lm not willing to let 1t go for seed.
1t Is not the best; that Is gone. Corn
Just common, ordinary corn-1s worth
40 cents. I'll sell it all to you at that"
"Ain't it good for seed?' queried the
man in establishment "Ain't 1t outen
that same patchT
Eyes, but that don't make It good
seed corn, or corn that will guaran-
tee to make what mine did with the
same treatment The fifty bushels of
selected seed I did guarantee"
"Oh, shucksl The commonest stalk
IN that patch of yourn is SO much bet
ter than the rest Of the corn raised
around here that Teller is bound to
do better with 1t. Gimme four bushels
at 20 cents"
"All right-with the understanding
that I'm not putting it out as seed I
can vouch for"
The news was bruited around that
Joe Weston was selling his fine corn
at common corn prices, and in two
weeks he had not a bushel left. To
each buyer he explained the difference
between field selected seed and that
which he could not guarantee. Every
buyer reasoned as the first one did and
bought ------ -------