Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1916-03-08
The Growing of Sweet Corn, IL
Properly Carried On, Main
tains Fertility of Soil.


of their energies to the raising of
special crops for the trade = often
times at considerable profit to them
selves. Throughout the Corn Belt
both soil and climate permit the
growing Of sugar corn to advantage.
The aim in this article is to set forth
the methods employed and the results
obtained in Vermillion county, Illi-
nOis, where the location of the two
largest sugar corn canning factories
in the country has resulted in highly
specialized farming along this partic-
ular line.
In round numbers, about 5000 acres
in this community are devoted each
season to this crop. This means, of
course, that a considerably larger
acreage is no stranger to sugar corn.
In fact there is but little land in
this vicinity which has not grown SUI
gar corn more or less. And perhaps
this is one reason why there is no
better land anywhere than is found in
this section of Illinois. The growing
of sweet corn, when properly carried
on, has the effect of maintaining and
to some extent increasing soil fertil-
ity. The difference in this regard over
field corn is marked, as will be spoken
of further along in this article. OF the
total acreage under cultivation from
season to season something like one
fourth to One-third is grown by farm
ers residing within a radius of ten
miles of the factories which are stu
uated in HoOpeston. The amounts un-
der cultivation by farm growers run
from little pieces of five or six acres
up to sixty acres. About twenty-five
acres seems to be a favorite amount
for this purpose. In all such cases
the factory furnishes the seed and
loans the farmer a planter to put it
in.
A satisfactory seed bed is consider
ed essential to success with sugar
corn. Only by thorough preparation
of a dust mulch can the crop be
brought through the period of drouth
which is not unusual in midsummer.
Accordingly, every effort is used to
secure this condition before planting
is begun about the latter part of April.
From this time on planting is continu
ed daily as the weather permits until
as late as the tenth or possibly the
middle of June Later paintings than
this are not profitable. A frost might
catch them and if it should be hot and
dry in September an army of corn
worms is apt to develop which very
materially retards factory processes.
Of late years the tendency has been
to rush the eanrly paintings and COM
plete the work if possible by the early
part of June.
The first paintings are of Country
Gentleman. This produces the finest
grade of corn available for canning
purposes The mid-season pack is
composed of Old Colony and this is
followed by Evergreen. All receive
the same field care, but the nature of
the land to be cultivated determines to
a large extent the variety of corn to be
grown upon it. Country Gentleman
will not do we'll save in the richest
soil. Consequently, the paintings Of
Old Colony and Evergreen are reserved
for such fields as may not be up to
the standard desired for the earlier
corn. Cultivation is continued indus
triously as long as possible. In fact
the factory land usually shows high
er yield than does that of the farm
growers, owing to the fact-SO the fac
tory heads state-that it is a matter
of settled policy with them to give
one or two more civilizations to their
fields than the farmers they can spare
the time to devote. Jerking" begins,
as the harvesting is termed, not far
from the tenth of August. 1t is COM
pleted as a rule the first week in Octo-
ger. During these eight weeks some
thing like 100000 cans are timed if
the season is favorable.
There are many advantages to be
gained by the farmer raising sugar
corn for factory use. For one thing
it is a cash crop and brings ready
money at a time of year when there
is little else, as a rule, coming in.
He is paid by the hundred weight-a
deduction being made for the husks.
Each growers product is tested in this
regard by a simple method and he is
paid accordingly. Last season the
factories paid sixty-seven and one-half
cents per hundred pounds net for
Country Gentleman and fifty-five cents
per hundred pounds net for the larger
varieties.
Just what this means to individual
growers is best shown by records on
the factory books. One factory reports
that the average receipts from nearly
700 acres of Country Gentleman corn
grown by farmers was $16S0 per acre.
Six hundred acres of Old Colony and
Evergreen averaged S13.47. Good
farming, however, increases these
yields very materially. 1t is not I'M
usual for Country Gentleman growers
TO receive from $25 to $50 per acre.
The later varieties often yield from
$50 to $23 per acre. In 1915 there
were two growers who set new high
dater records for the vicinity. One
of them drew SAT an acre for twenty