628 . ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Do* 



2,500 plots on farms. We have gone into the country and set the 

 standard at 100 bushels per acre, and as a result we have raised it; 

 in one case the average was 55.1, where it had formerly been 25; in 

 another 46, and so on, all over the state we have succeeded in getting 

 a better standard. We have given them a better variety of* corn, but 

 the question is how to raise the standard. Now, we have states- 

 men in our state, and I don't know but what you have them in your 

 state; they are usually round: Last winter we needed 300 bushels 

 of corn to apply on our farms, and we went to the man and said, "We 

 need this corn," and these statesmen sent us down the best corn. 

 Then we took the different varieties of corn and laid them out in 

 rows, and marked them one, two, three, and so on. Then we made 

 boxes about three feet long and 2 feet wide, and put up little bars 

 inside about 3 inches square, of galvanized wire, and filled these 

 boxes with sand. You can do the same thing, and these boxes can 

 be filled with sand or ground. Then we took from No. 1 five grains, 

 and planted them in one of these little squares, putting in a marker, 

 ''No, 1;" in the next square No. 2, in the same way; and so on. Then 

 we put a cover on the box of a piece of carpet, and kept the box at liv- 

 ing room temperature, and at the end of five days you can tell 

 whether the seeds are going to show up good or not. If at the end 

 of five days it has gei*minated you will probably get good results 

 from the corn; if not, you had better throw it out. If you don't you 

 will have trouble. 



Here is an ear of sand-hill corn, which is near the desired stand- 

 ard for an ear of corn. Here is another corn produced with more 

 sunshine, and more moisture, but which gives you just about one- 

 third as much as the other. Here is another sand-hill corn, raised 

 in moisture, which produced these nubbins. There is something 

 wrong in the breeding of this corn, and if we could get back to the 

 original stalk we would find the same thing. Here is another, and if, 

 as we are told, corn reproduces itself, this will not produce an ear 

 of corn. Instead we have nothing but barren stalks and tassels. 

 Now, right here in germinating, we can pick out the poor ears and 

 cast them aside. If you do this it will give you in return dollars 

 and cents. 



Now, as I said, there are many other things here that it would 

 be well to talk about, but the hour is growing late, and a few ques- 

 tions may be in order. If any of you people h&ve any questions, I 

 will try to answer them this evening, but you will find if you ask 

 them, that I don't know all about it. 



