Pueblo chieftain., 1921-12-12
The Chieftain's Monday Morning Farm Page
WE Are NOW
IN CORN BELT
WITH A PLENTY

Pueblo does not yet look like coun-
try town in Indiana or Kansas with
wagonloads of corn moving about tho
streets, high-topped loads OF fodder
and OF hay standing around the court
house, but there certainly Is nearer
approach to this animated condition
than ever before. Not u day but a big
truck moves in with its great box-bed
level full of corn "on the ear Some
times it is tho old fashioned wagon
bed similarly loaded with corn, and
drawn by horses or mules. Never were
such quantities of corn produced In
these six counties of Arkansas valley.
The price is very low-65 cents per
hundred pounds. This puts It down to
about % to 23 cents Il bushel as a
minimum. From this thore are many
variations caused by the important
features of shelling and transporta-
ton. To load the corn twenty miles
away and then haul it to Pueblo adds
several cents, and shelling puts on
several cents more. Growers recalling
their labor and expense would be dis
posed toward discomfort yet on taking
a wider view they realize that they
are fortunate in selling at any price.
and 1t is indeed surprising that there
is a market for 1t here, when corn has
very recently been as low as 10 cents
in the east. Indeed 1t was quoted at
IL almost Wltnln SlSht OIL chicago. All
the grains closed the past week in
Chicago in a weak and hesitating con-
dition altho they showed some strength
on two or three days earlier in the
week on the news Of enormous Ship-
ments to Europe.
the growing and handling of the great
American maize afford much of inter-
est and almost every year new itemH
develop. Down in Kiowa county a pow
erful shel1ing machine is at work In
the town of Eads which turns out not
only hundreds of bushels of corn.
grown on land that never before pro-
duced anything but buffalo grass; also
large quantities of cobs. These cobs
are sold for a dollar Il load at tho mill
or S1.5O delivered to fuel bins In the
town. Meanwhile back in Washington
the government chemists arc patiently
working on moro and moro strange and
| useful products coming from corn cobs,
most of these from the carbon they
contain. but also producing slrup, glue
and dyes, almost rivaling tho riches of
| the chemical constituents of coal tar,
No cob pipes have been manufactur-
| ed in Colorado SO far as announced
but corn husks are often used for
wraps for n well known species of
hot dogs formed of boiled corn meal
and peppered meat hash.
| Nor do we ever see parched corn in
any shape on tho market. During the
civil war when hardtack ran short tho
soldiers would fall back on corn for
aged from tho fields. parched on n
shovel and then pounded to q coarse
powder. This forms n nutritious and
| digestiblo article OF food. either
| soaked in hot milk or bacon drippinga
| or squirrel gravy; n luxury unknown
| to tho trench soldiers over there"
| Corn meal was probably used us mush
to some extent In Franco but It was
poor stun. simply because there was
no old southern Nanny along to cook
II. These white trash never can prop
| crly mako corn mush or corn ponc be-
cause thoy have no patience. To de-
velop the rich sweet oil OF American
corn II must be given n long time of
contact with the fierce heat OF an
oak fire. This extra timo OF cooking
| is what imparts tho rare popcorn flaw
or and nutrition. When half cooked
| tho meal carries n raw taste, either as
| mush or as muffins. Yet there arc
thousands Of homes In which all the
year round neither the corn. tho beans
nor the coffee arc givcn a chance
| to demonstrate their real goodness.
Nor is their n restaurant anywhere
In which can be obtained that finest
and most delicious article of tho
American. backwoois-corn napjacks.
To make IL you must have "A great
fireplace with pile OF hardwood logs
burned down to mass OF glowing
Goals. You must also have four fresh
" split oak clapboards such as were
made for roofing "a barn. These splits
of clean wood were three feet long.
four inches wide. half inch thick
Have your meal ground rather fine.
mix II with milk. very little flour.
two eggs. plenty OF salt. Spread IL in
spots or In long narrow ovals on tho
boards. Lean thcm almost pcrpcndicu-
lar In tho two ends OF tho firc place.
in tho red smokclcss heat. In ono hour
| they are nearly done. Tho kaiser and
Ludcndorf never ate anything SO good.
n. @.