232 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE, 



GREATER CORN YIELD FOR MAINE. 



By Prof. G. E. Simmons, Orono. 



The interest in corn production in this state is increasing 

 from year to year, as the value of com receives higher recog- 

 nition, not alone as a grain but as a product that may be 

 canned, or may be placed in a silo for the benefit of feeders, 

 particularly of the dairy cow. Let us review the present 

 status of corn-growing in Maine: 



Maine's yield, per acre, is forty-six bushels for 1910 and forty- 

 four bushels for the year 191 1, averaging about forty bushels 

 during the past eleven years. The average farm price of corn, 

 on the first day oi December each year, during the past elev'^n 

 years, has been about seventy-two cents per bushel. This com- 

 pares very favoraibly 'with the North Central states, which in- 

 clude the so-called corn belt states. 



The section of the North Central states, east of the Missis- 

 sippi river, yielded on an average, for the eleven years ending 

 in 191 1, thirty-five bushels per acre and the farm values of 

 those years on the first day of December were forty-four and 

 three-tenths cents per bushel. For the states west of the Mis- 

 sissippi river, the average for the same eleven years was about 

 thirty-six bushels per acre, which was valued on December first 

 at forty and four-tenths cents per bushel, on an average. This 

 shows the possibilities in this part of the country in the produc- 

 tion of corn, and also the advantages in the sale of the product. 

 Sweet corn, one of our important products in this state, gives 

 us the rank of third in production of canning corn, IIHnois and 

 New York only, being ahead of us; and in quality, Maine corn 

 is recognized as first class. 



Upon what does the greater corn yield depend? Aside from 

 climatic influences, we might state that it depends upon the 

 preparation of the soil, the selection of seed, the cultivation of 



