The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1917-09-01
KANSAS CORN CROP WILL HAVE
VALUE OF 500, OOO,O 900.
Recent Rains, Which Revived Vegeta-
ton Wonderfully, VIII Result
in Yield of 100000 Bu-

ton Wonderfully, VIII Result
in Yield of 100000 Bu-
shells.
Kansas takes off its hat to the only
sovereign permitted rule In this agri-
cultural empire. King corn, scourged,
blighted and burned by the heat of
July, comes back at the close of Au-
gust strong, robust and vigorous The
transformation is wonderful; a mir
acle that has spread smile over Kan
sas' face from the Missouri River to
the Colorado border. 1t all proves
what water will do to parched and dy-
ing corn fields. The five or six inches
of rain during August have insur-
ed a state yield of 100000 bu-
shells with a value of nearly $780,
100000. The value also of the fodder
for livestock will add millions to this
approximation.
Can Hardly Realize Revival
The farmers themselves can hardly
realize the revival that came so quick
ly to the Kansas corn. A month ago it
seemed beyond hope of resurrection.
Under the scourching sun the blades
would roll up into ropes and hang
dropping from the stem. The dewey
night would bring sufficient relief to
cause these cords to unroll only to
wind up again under the heat of the
day.
1t was at this critical time in the
life of the corn fields that rain came
The fall ranged from a half-inch to
two inces at a time, and it always
came at night-a sound that Iulls
Kansas farmers to- restful sleep.
Some Thirty BusheI Yields.
Out IN central and western Kansas
the estimate on hundreds of fields is
around thirty bushels per acre. The
majority of these viii produce from
twenty to twenty-five bushels. J. c..
Shafer, of Rush County, reports that
he has one field of $50 acres that will
yield sixty bushels per acre. Barton
county, right in the center of the re-
juvenated corn fields of western Kan
saS, also has been the banner wheat
county. Cheered by the corn pros
poets, its farmers will plant an in
creased acreage of wheat Its annual
sowing is about 100000 acres. This
year its slogan is: ''Three hundred
thousand acres of wheat; 100000
bushels; $12,0OO,O0O.
Enormous Possibilities
An old rule in estimating the yield
of field OF corn is now under con-
sideration by thousands of farmers in
this state. In an acre of corn, planted
IOWS.
there are little over 5000 hills. If
each hill produces an average of one
good ear or two small ears, weighing
twelve ounces of corn and cob, the
yield of that acre will be thirty-four
bushels. 1t is easy to see from this
what enormous possibilities this crop
presents. Without any increase in the
number of hills and stalks per acre
the average yield may be easily dou-
bled, simply by securing one good ear
from each stalk, or two good ears
from hill.
Farmers Will Keep Stock
The story of the rejuvenated corn,
the big ears that hang away out on
the stem, with the golden tassel that
surmounts the great fields is told in
cheering letters coming to Governor
Capper, the state board of agricul-
ture and to railroad headquarters in
Topeka. They all indicate that Sec. J.
Z. Mohler will have to cancel his res
ervations for Kansas pigs and hogs at
missouri and Iowa corncribs during
the coming winter, for Kansas farm
ers will not have to ship their live
stock to other states for feeding.
There will be plenty of corn to feed
every hoof of livestock in the state.
A Scene of Beauty
Inc Kansas landscape today is a
scene of beauty. It is a great check
erboard of black soil turned over
for 100000 wheat acreage, and
three shades of green as marked by
the fields of corn and alfalfa, and the
| pastures upon which are feeding.
| thousands of head of cattle. 1t all Dor
tend the rounding out of a year of
plenty and to spare. And it is a scene
more beautiful as prophecy than IT
is as a panorama.
Writing of Kingdom Coming"
William Allen White pays homage to
the green clad sentinels that stand
guard for the homes of Kansas. ssNo
| one looking over this scene, as it is
duplicated from the Missouri Cimar-
ron, can fail to do homage to King
Corn There is something royal in the
magnlficence with which King Corn
adorns his great throne-roon1-the
sculptured hills, the tracery of the
rivers winding around the border of
the throne, the glorious, ever-chang-
ing canopy of blue and white and
gray-and at the sunset and in the
Tnorn-purple, bronze and golden,
these massive forms and graceful nat
ural curves and dazzling color
schemes all point to a regal custo-
dian; and all call for a reverential
homage. Corn is KING - (anifa1