CORN 115 



the Corn Belt. They are Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, 

 Missouri, Kansas, Indiana, and Ohio. The Corn 

 Belt supplies many other states and countries with 

 its surplus of corn. Besides a good soil in which 

 to grow, corn needs hot weather with long days of 

 bright sunshine and a great amount of rain. 



A Corn Train. If the corn crop of. the United 

 States in one year was placed in w^agons, with fifty 

 bushels in each load, and each wagon and team had 

 been allowed twenty feet of space, the train of corn 

 would have reached more than nine times around 

 the earth at the equator. 



Com Land Valuable. Where corn thrives, it 

 yields about twice as much food for each acre as is 

 produced by any of the other grains. That is the 

 reason why land in the Corn Belt is very high in 

 price. Corn is grown in many places where only 

 a half-crop is obtained, for a half-crop of corn yields 

 as much food as a full crop of wheat or rye. 



Choosing Good Seed. It is believed that the farm- 

 ers in any state in the Union could increase the yield 

 of corn from five to twenty bushels an acre if they 

 were trained in choosing their seed corn. In order 

 to choose w^ell the farmer must be a good judge of 

 an ear of corn. To know a prize ear is not such a 

 difficult lesson to learn. 



The Prize Ear. A perfect ear should be round, 

 tapering, and full and strong in the middle. It 

 must be firm to the touch, and the kernels should 

 not be loose on the cob, as this shows that the ear 



