434 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



but one that required all the muscle the young man could muster 

 up, to swing and lay on swath the crops of wheat, rye, oats and 

 buckwheat produced. Farmers to-day have become mechanics, and 

 the more machinery we can use profitably the better the work, and 

 the cheaper cereal crops can be raised. We have to-day the self- 

 binder to harvest the large crops of wheat, oats, rye, buckwheat and 

 clover seed, and we have the corn-harvester to cut and bind that 

 heaviest of all crops. The corn and the corn busker is fast coming 

 to the aid of the farmers in handling this immense cereal crop. Com- 

 mercial fertilizers have also figured in aiding the farmers of the 

 State to' better crops, and better grades and more fertilizers are be- 

 ing used each year in raising most of the cereal crops of Pennsyl- 

 vania. The farmers of Pennsylvania are recognizing the fact too, 

 that increased yields per acre, is the profitable way to raise crops. 

 Men of minds in the great cities are looking to the farms of our 

 country for the wherewith to feed the millions of humanity who are 

 flocking to the great business centers. 



Agriculture lies deep at the foundation of things that relate to the 

 material life of the world and its vast processes go forward like the 

 movements of the heavenly constellations in silence. 



The year of 1905 has been unprecedented in the amount produced 

 in this great country of ours according to figures shown by report 

 of Secretary Wilson. This country has never known such averages 

 per acre, as we have had, and we all feel that the limit is not yet 

 reached. The possibilities of an acre are yet unknown. The past 

 season of 1905 will go down in history as one of prosperity to the 

 farmers, and improvements along all lines, in farm buildings and 

 labor-saving appliances are apparent. 



CORN. 



By correspondence, observation and reports as could be obtained, 

 we have ascertained that the corn crop of the past year has been a 

 record-breaker, surpassing the great crop of 1903, in which the 

 average production per acre was 31.2 bushels, while the crop of 1905 

 exceeds that year over 11,000,000 bushels, and the average produc- 

 tion according to report of Bureau of Statistics is shown to be 38.9 

 bushels, a yield exceeded only in Indiana and Illinois. Some crops 

 are reported as having an average of 100 bushels shelled corn per 

 acre, but we somewhat discredit such reports, but crops of 60 to 70 

 bushels are to be found. The value of the corn crop can hardly be 

 estimated. The green corn" used for feed; the thousands of tons 

 siloed each year; the millions of bushels husked and cribbed to be 

 fed out and converted into beef, pork and mutton and the amount of 

 corn-stover for roughage, place this crop ahead of all the cereal crops 

 of Pennsylvania for food value. The benefits to be derived from the 

 breeding corn for seed is being tested among some of our progressive 

 farmers, and we feel assured that good results will be shown, where 

 properly carried out. I also call attention to quite an income some 

 of our farmers have from the sale of dried or evaporated sweet corn, 

 as well as sweet corn sold in ear near our larger towns and cities. 

 It is in itself quite an industry and pays well for time and labor 

 expended. 



