"cess 



; vear 

 Red 

 r this 

 while 

 ■c but 

 bear- 



_ REAL SEEDI 

 Lampe selects hybrid 

 seed ears as carefully as 

 he ever did open pollin- 

 ated seed corn. 



/Vl' YOU raise corn you get divi- 



[/l dends from the Woodford Coun- 

 V__y ty Agricultural Association. Not 

 cash dividends but returns through in- 

 creased yields. Dividends that will con- 

 tinue to roll in for years to come. 



("ash returns meant nothing to the far- 

 sighted Woodford county farmers who 

 organized in 1919 to get equality seed. 

 Nor were they primarily interested in 

 better seed corn. Their aim was to se- 

 cure the best clover, small grain and 

 alfalfa seed available. It all started when 

 W. H. Smith and some of his neighbors 

 bought several hundred pounds of red 

 clover seed. 



"We liidn't know much about buck- 

 horn in those days," Smith .said, "l-evv 

 of us recognized a buckhorn seed when 

 we saw one. We had always bought 

 clover seed from anyone who had a sur- 

 plus to sell. Luckily, most of it was 

 pure. 



"riien one winter I bought a batch of 

 seed. I paid SS6 a bushel for it. When 

 I got it home and examined it, it didn't 

 look like good seed. M. L. Mosher, who 

 is with the extension department of the 

 University now, was our county farm 

 adviser. I took him a sample of seed. 

 He had it analyzed." 



The report of that analysis could have 

 caused little more excitement if it had 

 been a bombshell and had dropped plunk 

 on the courthouse in Eureka. At least 2 5 

 per cent of that seed was buckhorn! 



Smith did a lot of thinking in the 

 next few days. And a fellow can do 

 plenty of thinking when he has several 

 hundred pounds of bum red clover seed 

 on hand that cost him S36 a bushel. 



NOVEMBER, 1938 



Instead ot liuggmg his bad bargain all 

 the tiglitcr, as Abraham Lincoln once ad- 

 vised, W. H. Smith talked about it with 

 liis neighbors. Many discovered, as a 

 result of hearmg Smiths experience, that 

 they were in the same predii anient. The 

 Woodfortl County I'arm Bureau board, 

 of which W. H. was a member, studied 

 the problem. 



There was little to do with the foul 

 seeil. The big cjuestion remained: How 

 i.an tarmers be protected .igainst similar 

 losses in the future." 



Some said there d ought to be a law. 

 (The Illinois Pure Seed A;.t was not 

 enacted until 1919.) The organization- 

 mmded board soon directed its etforts 

 toward forming a farmers' seed company 

 to buy the tinest seed available and sell 

 it to farmers at cost. The Vi'oodford 

 County Agricultural .Association, a sim- 

 ple stock company, was organized Octo- 

 ber 28, 1919. I'armers of the countv 

 soon subscribed about SIO.OOO capital 

 stock at S50 per share. It was not, in 

 the strict sense, a cooperative. The com- 

 pany could earn no profit and savings or 

 earnings were reflected in the prices of 

 seeds. Although the Tarm Bureau 

 played a leading part in org.inizing the 

 association and the farm adviser was ap- 

 pointed manager, the company was not 

 legally affiliated with the Farm Bureau. 



Herman S. Lampe was elected presi- 

 dent and J. J. Schneider, vice-president, 

 offices they have held each year since. 

 C. A. Daniels was the first secretary- 

 treasurer. Headquarters for the company 

 were established in the Farm Bureau 

 office at Eureka. 



To serve farmers who produced their 



Conpi'ratinn 



Thi'Uniidfurd ('nunl.i Afiririilliiriil 

 AsKiiriatinn is iini' of llii* Stalf's 

 llldi'sl Sucri'ssfiil Si'i'd riiuprru- 

 liii's 



own seed, a seed cleaner and a torn germ- 

 ination plant were set up in a buikicng 

 that had Ixen built for a sales barn. 

 Ilie germinator not only tested corn but 

 germinated a new idea in the minds of 

 association officials and patrons. 



In the early '2()'s there were no lietinite 

 corn types. .Most lorn growers selected 

 tiieir own seed and, for the most part, 

 each picked hi^. own type. .Mosher. .m 

 ate crop specialist, and the Farm Bureau 

 directors proposed a test to i.lisco\er who 

 in the touniy was selecting the iiiost 

 producti\c seed torn. This was to lie 

 part of the Farm Bureau crop improve- 

 ment rroxit 



MANAGER GEORGE LUDWIG 

 He sold S6 seed for 26c. 



A call was sent out tor bushel samples 

 of seed to be used in the tests. Twentv 

 farmers responded. The seed was planted 

 in test plots. .Samples were numbered 

 and planted in single rows with a row of 

 a standarii variety between each sample 

 row. This was done to check the variance 

 of fertility over the test plot field. Two 

 such fields were planted on each side of 

 the countv. 



25 



