eUif. Men. JleGA4t /Hcid Jf^fi^id Goah 



i 



When Oscar J. and Arthur Sommer of 

 Tazewell county recently completed their 

 fine new seed house on the farm three 

 miles east of Pelcin, they dedicated it by 

 inviting out the Pekin Rotary Club for 

 dinner. Jas. R. "Jimmy" Holbert of 

 Bloomington (Funk's Seed Company) a 

 pioneer in the development or hybrid 

 corn, appropriately, was the speaker. 



to make a good hybrid com. 



"The use of hybrid seed com has come 

 into wide use only during the past few 

 years. In 1934, there were only around 

 5,000 acres of hybrid corn grown in the 

 country. This year, 1938, the acreage is 

 approximately 5,000,000." Holbert said 

 that there are about 75 varieties or com- 

 binations of hybrid corn being produced 



HYBRID CORN MEN 



las. R. '7isnm7" Holbert 

 left and O. J. Sommer "The 

 best inbreds have a lot of 

 ioults." 



ROTARIANS AT LONCH- 



EON IN SOMMER SEED 



HOUSE 



"They had lots of ques- 

 tions." 



He told his audience how hybrid com 

 (about 30 years old now) was developed 

 and why it was diflFicult to develop in- 

 breds that had a maximum of good qual- 

 ities and a minimum of bad ones. 



"Even today the best of our inbreds 

 from which we get the commercial hy- 

 brid seed com have a lot of faults," said 

 Holbert. "It takes a combination of the 

 strong characteristics of our best inbreds 



FOUR FLOORS, 4000 BUSH- 

 EL CAPACITY 



Hot airheated by coal 

 and stoker. Com is ele- 

 vated to top floor, sorted, 

 then dried and shelled. 

 The plant is equipped with 

 modem, motor-driven mo- 

 chinery throughout. 



in commercial quantities in the corn belt. 

 The Rotarians had a great many ques- 

 tions which the speaker answered in his 

 stride. 



Sommer Brothers have been in the seed 

 com business on their 230 acre farm 

 since 1909. When hybrid com came 

 along they quickly changed using inbreds 

 they secured from Holbert and the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois. They are producing 



and selling Funk's hybrids. Most of 

 their seed is being produced under con- 

 tract by neighboring farmers. 



On the Sommers' rolling farm you will 

 find much attention being given to ero- 

 sion control with the help of the soil 

 conservation service and the local CCC 

 camp. Two fields have been terraced and 

 hybrid com is grown in drilled rows on 

 the contour. 



peeping Cl|rt9tnTas 



There is a better thing 

 than the observance of 

 Christmas Day, and that 

 is, keeping Christmas. 

 Are you willing to for- 

 get what you have done 

 for other people, and to 

 remember what other 

 people have done for 

 you; to ignore what the 

 world owes you, and to 

 think what you owe the 

 world; to put your rights 

 in the background, and 

 your duties in the mid- 

 dle distance, and your 

 chances to do a little 

 more than your duty in 

 the foreground; to see 

 that your fellowmen are 

 just as real as you are, 

 and try to look behind 

 their faces to their 

 hearts, hungry for joy; 

 to own that probably the 

 only good reason for 

 your existence is not 

 what you are going to 

 get out of life, but what 

 you are going to give to 

 life; to close your book 

 of complaints against the 

 management of the uni- 

 verse, and look around 

 for a place where you 

 can sow a few seeds of 

 happiness — are you 

 willing to do these 

 things even for a day? 

 Then you can keep 

 Christmas. — HENRY 

 VAN DYKE. 









p. 



•A 



DEC04BEIL 1938 



