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Show Com Isa&eatCrap In Utah a few years ago wo used to raise a great deal moro corn than wo do now. This may not bo true, however, In some communities. The corn crop of the United States Is Increasing, In-creasing, tho Immense crop of two billion seven hundred million bushels this year is wonderful. Corn Is king of nil the crops. Over twenty per cent of all the Improved farm land in the United States is annually devoted to tho growing of corn. In tho year 101J, 105,000,000 acres wcro planted to corn In this country, producing something llko 2,-700,000,000 2,-700,000,000 bushels, which brought tho growers 11,900,000.000. For nearly near-ly fifty years the land planted to com has been equal to, if not greater than the acreage of all the other cereal crops combined. , Corn Is tho universal crop. In 101 tho world's crop of this cereal amount ed to more than 3,500,000,000 bushels, grpwn on 170,000,000 acres of land. Tho' United States produced two-thirds two-thirds of this tremendous crop. In 18CC forty-nine years ago, corn brought tho American farmers fill,-000,000 fill,-000,000 and for forty-nine years stneo that time, corn has steadily Increased In ncreago and value, never onco fulling full-ing below tho figures given. Corn Is grown In nearly every section sec-tion of tho United States. The great er part of tho crop, howover, Is grown In the central states. The annual corn crop exceeds cot ton by nearly a billion dollars. In 11)13 tho cotton Crop of tho United States brought in a total of $800,000,-000; $800,000,-000; the hay crop, $797,000,000; tho wheat crop, ?G10,000,000; tho oats crop, $110,000,000. Iowa and Illinois each put In about 10,000,000 acres annually an-nually to corn, each producing from 300,000,000 to 100,000.000 bushels. Although wo produce such a great crop of corn wo Imported In 1915 flvo million bushels from Argentine Ho-public Ho-public South America. The Panama canal cost approximately $300,000,000 and Is tho greatest engineering feat of tho ago. The attention of tho world has been attracted by its great noss, yet every year the farmers nro growing n ono nnd three-fourths billion bil-lion dollar crop, nnd we hardly give It a second thought. The feeding of the corn crop Is another an-other Important matter. There aro about 100,000,000 people, and over 200,000,000 farm animals In tho United Unit-ed States, Including cattlo horsos, mules, sheep and swine, that cat corn in some form every day In tho year. Corn furnishes a great variety of feed and food for man and animal. Tako away wheat, barley, rlco and onts, and corn will completely substl-ture substl-ture them all, supplying our needs with meal, hominy, syrup, starch, corn sugar oil, alcohol and ono hundred and fifty other preparations. A great deal of Interest has heen taken tho last few years In tho improvement im-provement of our corn. Some men are devoting their entire timo to tho breeding and improving of tho corn crop. Wo nuoto from a recent article arti-cle of Professor Molden on this subject. sub-ject. "For centuries our domestic plants lmvo been bred for certain purposes, and as a consequence certain parts of tho plant are abnormally dovelop-. ed. Tho selection in tho caso of corn, has been to secure moro grain, not a greater per cent of stalk. The result is that an ear of corn weighs as much as tho stalk under ordinary conditions. When a highly bred plant Is subjected to unfavorable or oven to normal conditions the first thing to suffer is that quality which has been most abnormally developed. In tho caso of corn, If tho caro Is poor, wo may obtain two thirds of n crop of stalks, hut less than ono half possibly but one-third of a crop of grain. "Corn requires much greater caro to provent deterioration than most other crops, slnco It Is a comparatively compara-tively now crop, ns wo know It today, to-day, and its characteristics have not been so thoroughly fixed through centuries cen-turies of breeding, as lmvo those of many of tho grains, but for the samo reason it is also much moro suscop-tibia suscop-tibia to Improvement, if it is given tho proper treatment. "Uy intelligent selection and breeding, breed-ing, corn has been Improved in tho past few years far beyond our greatest great-est expectations. Corn is yet fit tho plaBtlc stugo of its development, and for that reason it adapts itself readily read-ily to now conditions, responds quick ly to good treatment and gives better Returns for tho efforts put Into It than any other crop that grows. ''Upon tho great fundamental law that Hko produces like, rests all human hu-man progress. That poor seed also means a poor crop, no ono will question; ques-tion; but it is not so fully recognized recogniz-ed that unless great pains bo taken to plant only tho best seed, tho crop will gradually deteriorate, or run out, as we often say. "Corn has been taught, talked, preached, printed, painted, demonstrated demon-strated and advertised In every agricultural agri-cultural country of tho world. Thousands Thou-sands nro teaching it today. Hundreds Hun-dreds of corn demonstration trains have penetrated every section of the country in tho past fifteen years There aro corn demonstration forms everywhere. Thousands of corn clubs hnvo been organized, nnd are now at work , Thero are corn shows, corn picnics, corn growing contests, and corn schools; but still, .with all tho work dono by our eductalonnl Institutions, In-stitutions, bankers, manufacturers nnd farmers, for tho Improvement of corn, the average por aero yield In the United States is less than twenty-six bushels not hnlf a crop. "Poor seed Is the greatest causo of tho poor yield of corn. Just one small elpht ounco car of corn added to each hill will ralso tho average of tho Unl ted States to fifty-two bushels per acre, double the yield and valuo of the crop and add about $1,"00,0"qP,000 to its total valuo. "The most Important needs for a greater yield and a better quality of the corn grown am: "First. Hotter caro of the seed and moro careful testing before planting. "Second. Tho Institution of campaigns cam-paigns of education for the home consumption con-sumption of homo grown corn, together to-gether with Improved methods of cultivation and the organization ol boys' corn clubs, etc." Utah Farmer |