42 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



kind, shown by Mr. Raine of Canton at the State show in St. Louis, 

 February, 1904. One field was good ground, planted in good time and 

 given good cultivation and produced corn true to type and as good as 

 the original. The other field was wet land, planted late and was poorly 

 cultivated. The corn of this field has deteriorated so much that no one 

 would recognize even of what variety it is. While the land should be 

 fertile an'd of the same general character of the land upon which the 

 seed is to be used, yet it should not be one-sided in its fertility. If too 

 much nitrogen were in it, as would be the case in an old feed lot men- 

 tioned by President Laughlin in his annual address, it is probable there 

 would be a tendency to an excess of stalk. 



Perhaps the most difficult single problem the farmer has to solve 

 is just what particular type of corn and of what particular origin will 

 be the most proltable corn to plant in any given locality. The Tennessee 

 Experiment Station found by a trial of three years that corn developed 

 on rich bottom land did not produce so well when planted on upland as 

 corn developed on upland, and vice versa. It is true, however, that 

 corn adapts itself to environment and becomes acclimated more readily 

 than any other farm crop. A neighbor near Canton sent north a few 

 years ago for seed corn. The crop the first year was very disappoint- 

 ing. The second season it was larger and better. The third year it 

 grew well, retaining its characteristic form with greatly increased size 

 and yield. It was good enough to afford splendid specimens for the 

 Missouri exhibit at the World's Fair. 



In the majority of cases coming under my observation, where far- 

 mers have sent off to seedsmen for new and untried varieties which 

 were extravagantly advertised, they have abandoned them the second 

 year, either because the yield was disappointing or it was allowed to 

 become mixed so as to lose the type. But where farmers have secured 

 good seed in the ear of the standard varieties from reliable growers 

 within one hundred miles of their own latitude, they, as a rule, have 

 been well repaid for the expenditure. 



In view of the many difficulties and uncertainties attending the plan 

 number two (that of sending away for seed corn), I deem it much the 

 safest and best to adopt the third plan (that of developing and raising 

 one's own seed corn). This may be done, however, to great advantage 

 by the co-operation of a group of farmers in a given community. One 

 member of the association whose farm is suitably located, is selected to 

 grow a single variety, all of the members agreeing to buy their seed 

 from him at a remunerative price, say $1.00 per bushel. This grower, 

 so selected, would be expected, of course, to adopt up-to-date methods 



