The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1920-05-12
THE BEGINNING OF

4 The Journal of the Illinois State His
| torical society tells how experts Of the
i agricultural school of the state are tax
ing up the culture Of Reid's Yellow
i Dent corn since the death in 1910 o.
i the man who spent his life bringing il
to perfection. The widow Of James l..
Reid and his two children are prepar
| ing to keep pure the strain he evolved
| on the Illinois prairies and the college
men are helping.
| There is probably more Reds Yellow
Dent raised in Iowa than in Illinois
| but the progress of corn. as of other
| things, is westward. Reid's father
drought him from Ohio when he was
| a small boy in the year Iowa was adj
mittet to the union. His uncle had pre-
ceded him to Illinois, and discouraged
by the corn he found in that state wrote
back for his brothers family to bring
several bushels of Ohio corn for seed.
The Ohio corn was not Yellow Dent,
we know now, but it was a fairly con
sistent corn, slightly qopperish below
THE surface, and matufed late in the
fall. VI
This corn was first planted in Illinois
in 1876. For seventy-two years there
after the Reid family kept the strain
pure grading it against the influence
of the local fields and gradually by Sc
lection improving the depth of the
grain, the color of the kernel and the
size of the ear James Reid early in
his boyhood dedicated his life to this
corn. From the cribs and bins he
chose the best ears he could find for
the next years planting. 1t was in the
days before farm bulletins but as sure
4ly as the scientist he had found the
way to breed corn.
+ In 1880 James Reid made up his mind
to leave the family farm for new fields
and taking with him a few bushels of
his best seed corn he moved to Kansas.
For eight years he struggled with land
and weather that was meant for wheat.
In 1888 the hot winds dried up his corn
plants and caused total loss of his crop.
AT the end of that disastrous season he
returned to- Illinois, to find that his OPP,
,portunity lay there. His fathers farm
was .corned to DEATH and by crop 70.
tation, a practice little known then, he
revived the soil and continued to i'm
prove his corn. AS soon as he com
pleted one Improvement he began an
other. When he died he had grown in
to his corn high yield qualities, uni
fornity of color and size and hardness.
Just now Iowa farmers are more con
cerned about the backward planting
season than the history of corn. But
the story Of the grain that was deified
by the Indians and is life to millions
will never lose it's romance. The purity
of a vegetable family is maintained by
vigilance and hundreds of boys today
are carrying on the work James ReiG
started.--Register
Crawford county breeders of pure
bred livestock will be Interested to
learn that Col. N. G. krachel. the well
known livestock auctioneer at Harlan, |,
has formed what he calls the Kraschel|
Auction Co., for the better handling Of
his big hog sale business. He has call.
cd to his aid the well known Fred De-
wore, fieldman for the Duroc Bulletin. !
the company. The new company will
maintain an Office in Omaha and also
at Harlan. and the company will act as
adviser of the breeder who is to- hold
a sale; put forward suggestions as to
how best the sale should be advertised,
and furnish a mailing list. During jan
nary and February this year Mr..
Kraschel conducted fifty-six bred SOW
sales, and sold $500 animals at a grand
total of s1,28s,000. or an average of
$500. The top individual brought
$1,000.
In promoting a big showing of Durocl
Jerseys at the 1920 Iowa state fair, the
Duroc association Is announc-j
ing special prizes for breeders in the
state who enter to the fair next fall. I
The association is asking ten DurOcl
breeders in the state to agree to show
their four best pigs at the fair and join
the promotion club, paying SIS for a
To this $50 thus received
the fair association agrees to give $75
and the American association SIS, MAX
ing total of 5000. The prize list in
tludes offerings for the best four pigs,
the best boar pigs and the hest SOW
pigs. Pigs must have been narrowed
on or after March l. 1920.
--fFl-
Fred Hasslnr. the Manning breeder
Of big type Poland China hogs, sold
fine Poland China boar, Checkers
last week to Jas. Bloomendaal, at AL
ton, for the sum of 100000. While tho
price looks big. it is claimed the hog
was worth every cent Of the price paid.
am