406 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



PAPERS READ AND ADDRESSES DELIVERED AT THE 

 THIRTY-FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE PENN- 

 SYLVANIA STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, HELD 

 AT HARRISBURG, PA., JANUARY 24-. 25 AND 26. 

 1911. 



KEPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON CEREALS AND CEREAL 



CROPS 



By J. MIHES DERR. Chairman 



The production of cereals and cereal crops may be considered the 

 greatest industry of the present day. On account of its importance 

 to all classes of people it should receive a great deal of considera- 

 tion. We have in our country several million acres of as fine land 

 as ever kissed by the sun or tickled with a hoe. One crop from the 

 farms of our great country would pay for all the railroad property 

 of the United States. 



Corn 



Let us consider a few of the leading cereals produced in the 

 United States: "Corn is King," and has been properly named on 

 account of its importance as a feed and value of the product. It 

 is by far the most valuable cereal we raise. Our corn crop is worth 

 more every year than all we get from our gold, silver and lead 

 mines. It has been estimated that our corn crop is worth more than 

 twice as much as our wheat crop. Our annual corn crop averages 

 more than two billion bushels of shelled corn every year. Corn is 

 raised in nearly every part of the United States. Ohio has the 

 highest average per acre, about forty-two bushels; Pennsylvania third 

 and Florida lowest, about eleven bushels per acre. More than one- 

 half of our corn crop comes from the seven great states: Illinois, 

 Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Indiana and Ohio. This is the 

 greatest corn patch on the face of the earth. It produces more than 

 one billion bushels of corn every year, or more than one-half our 

 corn crop. Can we realize how much corn one billion bushels is. 

 Suppose it would be loaded upon wagons, forty bushels of shelled 

 corn to a wagon, and driving the teams so that the noses of each 

 team would just reach the tailboard of the wagon in front of it, 

 making a continuous train of wagons more than one hundred and 

 fifty thousand miles long, or long enough to reach six times around 

 the world. These seven states produce about one-half of our corn 

 crop, and if we want to know how many wagons it would take to 

 carry a whole crop, multiply the number by two. 



