558 Reading-Course for Farmers. 



County Fair, and carried off a premium. This was followed by premiums 

 from the State Fair, and in 1907 he won the Orange Judd Contest, a 

 $100.00 prize for the best and most profitable acre of corn grown in 

 the United States, the yield for that year on an average being 121^ 

 bushels of shelled corn per acre. Last year, 1908, a surveyed and 

 measured acre, husked and weighed under the supervision of town 

 officials, yielded 133^ bushels of shelled corn. This young man, Mr. 

 Howard N. Brewer, of Hockanum, Conn., is breeding and selling seed 

 corn of several varieties. His career, just started indeed, shows what 

 any young man on the farm, having intelligence and perseverance can 

 accomplish. Every county and every township in the state needs a 

 breeder who will be giving careful attention to the selection of seed. 



There is thus room for dozens of young men and farmers of all grades 

 and stations to take part in work of this nature. All cannot breed 

 seed for sale, but the greater reward in the long run to the nation as 

 a whole will come from breeding seed on each farm for the use of that 

 farm. The writer would urge bo3^s on the farm to train their obser- 

 vation. They should study plants carefully. They should observe the 

 different corn plants, wheat plants (fig, 6), oat plants, and the different 

 plants of other crops, selecting and trying seeds from the different types 

 of plants found. Girls, also, can have a hand in work of this nature. 

 They can study variations in the garden flowers or vegetables. Petunias, 

 verbenas, radishes, tomatoes, indeed ail plants, exhibit these variations. 

 It is probable that there are dozens of plants of wheat, oats, corn, etc., 

 produced every year in the state, which, if found and cultivated sep- 

 arately, would produce varieties that would almost revolutionize the 

 growing of these crops. 



We need trained observers all over the country in order that these 

 good plants, the Shakespeare's of their kind, may be found and utilized. 

 Nature is the handiwork of the Almighty, and this study of Nature can 

 but make one better and wiser, and give greater assurance of success. 

 Boys and girls, see what you can do in this direction! Men, don't let 

 the boys and girls get ahead of you! 



Note: — In the near future Farmer's Reading Course Bulletins will be 

 published containing detailed descriptions of the methods which may be 

 used in the breeding of corn and potatoes. 



