Corn Growers' Association. 297 



and act. How many more for next year ? Our army is increasing. 

 We need more — stalwart and strong. The advancement these men 

 and others inspired is written and sealed in the great colonnades 

 supporting the triumphal arch of Missouri corn. 



It is gratifying the interest shown in the State contests. These 

 contests are the barometers. How many hundred boys, hearing par- 

 ents talk better corn, read about better com, resolve to grow better 

 corn. Almost ready to write, entering the contest, still not. We 

 see how many have already resolved and actually entered the race. 

 Just what we are after! Five hundred farmer boys to champion 

 the silent thousands that have been in the race. Our institute men 

 report that at each place of meeting some father says : "My boy is 

 in the State contest." These contests are the barometers, and we 

 read high pressure. Let us interpret history aright. If conquest 

 is an ingrown desire, let us lay the field of action. Furnish the in- 

 spiration, not in death and misery, but in competitive shows for 

 better corn. 



Our State is learning variety and color to suit the locality. 

 Surely the farmer is behind the times when shelling com for the 

 calves that mixed cobs fall away from the sheller. It is not enough 

 to have all our crop uniform in shape and color, both in grain and 

 cob or in stalk. 



But we are now ready for the finer arts of breeding in plant 

 life, particularly in corn. Time has changed variety simply by 

 selection. The art of the breeder is more than selection ; it is hand 

 fecundation. The skillful use of the emasculator must be prac- 

 ticed if advancement is our aim. Within the broad arms of the 

 Missouri Corn Growers' Association is needed a small body of earn- 

 est seed-corn breeders — men that are ready to sacrifice for the good 

 of their fellowmen. For in seed-corn breeding, to get pecuniary' 

 reward from effort, we lose control of the stock, which cannot be 

 patented or restrained. Right here with these men our State can 

 ill afford to tighten her purse strings. 



Within our memories, cattle in Southwest Texas could have 

 been bought for one dollar per head. Now, nfter years of breeding 

 — not of female selection, but by emasculation — along with commer- 

 cial causes, these cows sell for $50 per head. Five thousand per 

 cent has been added to their value. Can we, by like ways in plant 

 life, do what has been accomplished in animal life in the short 

 space of forty years? Why are we not sure when planting three 

 Icernels in a corn hill three full ears, field conditions being right, 



