Com Growers' Association. 305 



required to prevent further deterioration of the scrub seed. Often 

 the scrub seed cannot deteriorate much any way. It's already as 

 poor as it can get. 



When a farmer becomes interested in pure-bred corn and plants 

 it, he grows better corn and larger crops. If a farmer plants well- 

 bred corn he takes care of it and gives it a chance to make a good 

 crop. He is more likely to give the well-bred corn the proper culti- 

 vation, and it is necessary to secure the best possible conditions in 

 the soil, and to give the best possible cultivation, in order to produce 

 again the kind of corn that the well-bred seed came from. Nature 

 never made an ear of corn such as we have today. I have never 

 seen the native corn plant, and I do not know that I would know it if 

 I saw it. I understand it grows down in Mexico on the plateaus. 

 The wild corn has only a few kernels on the ear. We would hardly 

 recognize it as an ear of corn. The present corn has been produced 

 by giving it better conditions to grow in than the wild plant has. We 

 have in com today an artificial product which has been made, under 

 conditions which are co-relative with nature, but which are not en- 

 tirely natural ; and any crop will deteriorate if left entirely depend- 

 ent on nature, without the help of man. Then, if we would improve 

 our crops or keep them up to a high grade of perfection, we must 

 have fertile soil and practice the best methods of culture. 



There is no question but that plant food must again be added to 

 the soil after it has been farmed a long time and the crops have taken 

 out a large part of the fertility of the land. But I am not much of 

 an advocate of the use of chemical fertilizers. I believe before we 

 spend very much money for chemical fertilizers we ought to utilize 

 the natural means God has given us to maintain the fertility of the 

 soil. (Applause.) Those means are good tillage, rotation of crops 

 and returning to the' soil the by-products of the farm. The last is 

 accomplished by feeding the crops on the farm, thus securing the 

 manure, putting that back on the land, and in this way economi- 

 cally maintaining the fertility of the soil by these natural methods. 



THE SEED BED. 



When viable seed is planted in the soil a few simple factors 

 largely determine the strength of germination, the stand and yield 

 of the crop and the quality of the grain produced. These factors 

 are moisture, heat and air. Every farmer knows that a dry seed 

 will not germinate ; no matter how favorable other conditions may 



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