Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-03-10
County Proud Of
l. D. Corns, Named
A Master Farmer
BY JOHN w. WILKINSON
Agricultural Publicity Agent, mis-
souri, Pacific Lines

BULL NAAAS
Cameron County, Texas is proud
of L. B. Corns, who heads the list
of the 10 Master Farmers OF Texas,
named in the statewide contest
conducted by the esslVe
Farmer of Dallas, Texas.
Henry Alsmeyer, the county farm
agent of Cameron county, IS also
mighty proud Of the fact that n
of his farmers this high honor.
He lives in Missouri Pacific terri
| tory near Harrington, Texas.
MI. CornS has an irrigated farm
of 40 acres near Harrington on
which he is growing citrus and
truck crops and he is making good
profits from all farm operations.
He has 25 acres of grape fruit OF
which eight acres are OF the Dun
can variety and II Of the Marsh
seedless type. The first is an early
maturing variety which commands
good prices on the early market,
while the latter ripens later, but
is of a fancy quality and highly
priced by consumers.
Trees Return Profits
Four acres of his grapefruit are
nine years old and the remaining
range from one to three years old.
| His bearing trees averaged S92O per
acre in their returns for last year.
The average cost of its production,
MI. Corns estimates at $55 per
acre. -
Harvesting started on october Is
and was finished by the 1lrSC OF
February. The trees were sprayed
four times and were given six Gull
| tivations. Each irrigation cost about
SITS per acre. The trees were care
fully pruned whenever necessary.
Three acres of the citrus grove
were set out in orange trees, pine
apple and the Lou Gin Gong. One
acre of the orange trees will aVer-
age eight years in age, while the
other trees are much younger IN
age. The returns from the bearing
trees. according to MI. Corns, aver
aged $675 per acre. The cost OF
production is practically the same
as for grapefruit, and a compari-
son of the net returns Tor both
show that grapefruit is by far the
most profitable of the two crops.
Cotton and Truck
On the remainder of his 40-acre
farm. Mr.. CornS grows cotton and
truck crops. The latter consists OF
| cabbage and tomatoes. MIR. Corns
has two fine Jersey COWS that keep
the family supplied with milk and
butter. He also has 500 White Leg
horn hens that keep the egg fac-
tory busy the year round. They
average from 215 to $50 eggs per
day and these are sold at an aver
age of SO cents per dozen. All feeds
needed for the hens, cows and WORK
animals are grown on the farm.
Mr.. Corns has a beautiful eight
room residence that was built !
1920 and is thoroughly modern In
every respect. 1t has a system OF
waterworks and electric lights. He
also has a well equipped two-story
barn, a big garage, and a good mo-
tor car.
Makes Study of Problems
Most of Mr.. Corns' education was
received in Purdue university and
he completed a course in electrl-
cal engineering in that institution,
but the lure of the country Tor him
was so strong that he returned to
the farm after his graduation. That
course trained him to be an accur-
ate observer, a careful thinker, and
to be accurate and exact in all OF
his farm work and methods Of &C.
counting.
He has made a careful study OF
the right use and value of the prop
er kinds of fertilizers to produce
earliness of maturity and at the
best quality Of fruit. Both he and
his wife take an active part in
community and county fairs.