coKN growers' association. 589 



LETTER OF GOVERNOR W. T. DURBIN. 



Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: Having been called away on a mis- 

 sion that necessitates my absence from the capital during your sessions, 

 I adopt this means of communicating a welcome to the Indiana Corn 

 Growers' Association, which I assure you is no less cordial than if I 

 were permitted the pleasure of being with you in person. 



All thoughtful men are beginning to realize in far greater meas- 

 ure than ever before that corn culture in Indiana is a matter of supreme 

 importance in our industrial development, and upon the success of this 

 staple general prosperity in our State depends largely. For various rea- 

 sons, the growing of wheat in some sections, heretofore productive, has 

 retrograded, and in nearly every section the raising of corn is gaining 

 precedence over all other cereals. This is due, in some measure, to 

 climatic conditions, but in larger measure, perhaps, to changed condi- 

 tions which now seem to insure greater demand and consequently higher 

 prices for coi-n and corn products. The erstwhile vast expanse of West- 

 ern ranges is gi-adually being circumscribed by the onward march of 

 civilization toward the west, and free-grazing lands will soon be num- 

 bered with the things of the past. Meantime the demand for animal 

 food products is becoming larger, and intelligent farmers in Indiana and 

 elsewhere realize that corn is inevitably destined to become more and 

 more valuable as food for cattle, hogs and other domestic animals, not 

 to mention its increasing use as an article of table consumption in its 

 original state. The year 1901 was an exceptionally unfortunate one for 

 corn growers generally, but on the whole, no other crop, I believe, is 

 so reliable. The area of corn in Indiana in 190O was 4,005,766 and the 

 yield 169,926,921 bushels. As a source of revenue this is an item of great 

 magnitude, almost incalculable for the reason that the original product, 

 as measured and valued by bushels, confers other inestimable blessings. 

 We are favored with a soil admirably adapted for the raising of grain, 

 but, however rich in that respect, we must have a care that the favor 

 is not abused. The best land will not last forever nor for a long time, 

 as a producer, unless it has that attention nature intends and requires. 

 The phosphates and other forms of plant food must be nourished and 

 husbanded if we expect continued good results; otherwise the time will 

 come when there will be barren and deserted farms in Indiana, as they 

 now exist in large number in some of the Eastern States where land has 

 been "worked to death" by plodders who were content with results of 

 the day, with no thought of the future. The rotation of crops is one of 

 the helpful factors for the protection and perpetuation of a fertile soil; 

 the raising of corn and domestic animals is another potent agency to the 

 same end. The "feeder" can easily calculate the benefits to be derived 

 from stock-raising, and instead of being a seller of corn, he is learning 

 more .and more of the good that comes of so disposing of it that it is' re- 



