8 PRACTICAL CORN CULTURE 



made during the next ten years. We believe present 

 farm prices are here to stay, unless, perchance, they go 

 higher. 



GOOD PRICES FOR FARM CROPS 



The last census shows that the population of the' United 

 States increases over twenty per cent every decade. This 

 increase in population has been much greater than the in- 

 crease in the available supply of land. The demand for farm 

 crops has increased faster than the supply, with the result 

 that farm crops and farm lands continue to bring higher 

 prices. This is especially true of corn and corn land. 



At least eighty per cent of the corn land in the corn belt 

 proper is now under cultivation. If, then, we are to grow 

 more corn in the future, it will be necessary to grow more 

 bushels to the acre. More bushels mean better farming, and 

 better farming requires not only more thorough and intelli- 

 gent culture but the building up of the land and more care- 

 ful selection of seed. 



"While we are confronted by depleted soils and the stern 

 necessity of better farming, we are cheered by the fact that 

 the resulting higher prices are making better farming exceed- 

 ingly profitable. Twenty years ago the farmer was excusable 

 for following bonanza methods (we have excused ourselves) 

 with corn selling at fourteen cents per bushel. 



From 1890 to 1895 it was necessary for the corn belt 

 farmers to economize in every possible way in order to meet 

 necessary expenses, to say nothing of buying manure spreaders 

 and turning under leguminous crops. Automobiles did not 

 exist, and if they had existed, the farmer could' not afford 

 to own one. During this period, careful farmers did well to 

 play even ; while with the majority farming was a losing 

 game. Crops were often sold at a price which brought the 

 farmer less than their value as a fertilizer. 



