The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1920-09-15
IOWA POPCORN TURNED INTO !.
s.a fREEE ----g.r4-.

The following story relates to Aber.
deem Angus steers, fattened on popcorn
by two brothers up in Sac county. and
Is sent out from one Of the commission
houses OF Chicago:
This is not a story about popcorn
balls, crackerjack and candy. Still
some of these CONNECTIONS enter into
the yarn, for the cattle we are telling
about were fattened on a ration of pop
corn. -1.ass g-
They were Pollcd Angus yearlings
and when their owner brought them to
the yards this week they tipped the
scales at 800 pounds and sold for SIT.
The young cattle, the most Of them
purebreds, didn't mind the trip at all,
didn't shrink much, but they did feel
a little peeved about having to give up
the big feeds Of popcorn which John
and Ernest PfeiKer, father and son, had
been feeding them for the past six
months. ..-
The load of steers, twenty seven in
number, are believed to be the first cat
tie ever shipped to the Chicago yards
or any other yards for that matter,
which had been fed during the entire
fattening period on the corn which
bursts into big white flakes when plac.
Cd IN modern pepper or even in a
Skillet and ratified over a. good hot fire.
But the reason the yearlings got this
corn was because it wouldn't pop-not
even in a grease coated skillet shaken
back and forth over a blazing fire. Elk
perts had tried it first and given it up
there was no pop" in it they said,
and the buyer who had contracted for
a large part of the Pfeiffer crop re-
fused to take it unless these farmers
knew some way of restoring the pop"
The farmers answered that they did
not know any manner of putting hack
the. explosive qualities of the corn, so
they stored it away, figuring the crop
a total loss.
All of this happened back in 1917 A
frost struck the popcorn in Sac county,
Iowa, that year. the county where the
two Pfeiffer farms are located in the
popcorn center of the United States.
thousands of acres Of this corn are
& raised there every year. Popcorn ele-
Vators and storage places dot every
town in this section. The farmers put
the crop on their best fields, plant, plow
and harvest it just like they do the field
corn, which Is also grown extensively
in adjacent fields.
Well, the Pfeiffers 1917 popcorn CROP
lay around in the crib for quite while.
Nobody wanted it for it wouldn't pop,
and Of what account is popcorn without
Il ''kick' in it?
But last January these farmers got
their heads together and held several
conferences in regard to this ''popless"
corn, during which an idea popped into
their heads. They were planning to
feed out the ycarlings and when the
calves went into the feed lot they were
started on popcorn. The Pfeiffers' rip.
ped the Stats off the crib sheltering the
rejected corn, ground it up and mixed
it with oats.
During the first part of the feeding
period field corn was used to some ex.
tent. For four months, however, the
popcorn and oats We're used exclusively
as q. grain ration. Alfalfa hay was fed
during the whole period. When the
steers arrived on the market they were
in slendid condition.
I'LL
Mr.. Cox's sanctimonious declaration
that he thanks God he is a free man
after his endorsement Of Tammany-
has raised a suspicion that he is an
other of the Wilson holier-t han-thou
type. Heaven knows and most Of the
voters are certain, they have had
enough of that sort Of political hypoc.
risy during the past seven years