EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. " 267 



CORN IMPROVEMENT. 



BY J. A. JEFFEUY. 



Special Bulletin No. 47. 



In 190G Michigan grew 1,475,000 acres of corn, producing 54,575,000 

 bushels worth |24,013,000. 



The average yield for that year was 37 bushels per acre. The average 

 yield for the ten years, from 1897 to 1906, was 32 bushels per acre, 



for Kansas was 22.0, 



for Nebraska was 27.7, 



for Iowa was 32.5, 



for Illinois was 34.0, 



for the seven corn belt states was 30.5, 



for the United States was 25.4. 



It is seen that the yields of corn in Michigan compare very favorably 

 with those of other states. Michigan cuts practically all of her corn 

 for the fodder or ensilage, while in most of the belt states comparatively 

 little, and in some almost none, is cut for these purposes. These facts 

 add importance to the corn crop of this state. 



ACTUAL YIELDS VS. POSSIBLE YIELDS. 



The average yield of corn in Michigan for the ten years indicated is 

 32 bushels or 64 baskets. Compared with the average yields of the 

 states named above, this does not appear so bad. But let us observe 

 from another view point. The reader will have little difficulty in pro- 

 curing from the crib an ear of corn that weighs approximately nine 

 ounces, and one that weighs approximately eleven ounces. The field of 

 corn that averages two nine-ounce ears of corn to the hill with the hills 

 three feet eight inches apart, will yield 104 baskets to the acre, while 

 the field that produces two eleven-ounce ears to the hill with the hills 

 three feet eight inches apart will yield 127 baskets per acre. Neither 

 of these propositions seems extravagant; for it is not an uncommon thing 

 to find many hills in a field bearing four ears to the hill and the ears 

 weighing from nine to eleven ounces each. But observe that the two 

 eleven-ounce ears to the hill gives a yield of 127 baskets to the acre 

 which is practically twice the average yield of corn in Michigan for the 

 past ten years. Why, then, should the average yields fall so far below 

 what seems so easily possible? There must be causes and it should be 

 possible to remove them. 



