1918.] FACTORS INFLUENXING THF YIELD OF CORN. 43- 



Connecticut fur every C(jnnecticut farm. I do n(jt believe 

 that niurc than two per cent, oi the larnu-rs need to gn out- 

 side of Connecticut for the best, and uKjst prutitaljlc corn they 

 can raise. And this two per cent, arc farmer-^ in the soutiiern 

 part of the state wIkj grow silage corn. We have very good 

 varieties for silage purposes and the Connecticut farmer 

 should not go out of the state for seed corn. Raising Con- 

 necticut grown dents for silage will mean better quality of 

 silage and less purchased grain will be needed to supple- 

 ment it. 



What else can Connecticut do as a seed corn state? She 

 can sell seed corn to Massachusetts, Vermont, Xew Hamp- 

 shire and ]\Iaine for silage purposes. The Maine farmer if he 

 raises corn for silage purposes cannot raise his own seed, and 

 he can get a better quality silage by getting seed from Con- 

 necticut than from Illinois. Connecticut should grasp this 

 opportunity and develop her seed corn industry. 



Increasing the Yield of Corn in- Connecticut. 



As reported by the United States Census of 1910. the 

 average yield of corn in Connecticut was forty l:)ushels or 

 eighty baskets per acre, which is not a big yield, but it gives 

 Connecticut the distinction of having the largest yield of any 

 state in the Union. Still we ought not to flatter ourselves 

 as the yield is too low. Wt should produce twenty more 

 baskets to the acre, or one hundred baskets instead of eighty 

 per acre. Fifty bushels of corn certainly is not too high for 

 Connecticut. 



A\'ith sixty thousand acres of corn grown ni this state an 

 increase of twenty baskets of corn on every acre would make 

 a total of six hundred thousand baskets, thereby netting us 

 an increase of $810,000, or very nearly $1,000,000 more and 

 all without planting an extra acre of land to get it. Increas- 

 ing the yield of corn on ninety-eight per cent, of the farms is 

 a possibility, and at the present prices of corn would be prot- 

 itable. 



Is eighty baskets of corn to the acre the actual average of 

 Connecticut? There is no way of kn;»wing definitely for this 

 average is based upon the estimates given by the farmers who 

 grew it. If one farmer estimates high his neighbor esti- 



