AGRICULTURE 



PART I. FARM CROPS 



CHAPTER I 

 CORN CULTURE 



CORN is king of farm crops. The value of the corn 

 crop is almost equal to that of cotton, wheat and oats 

 combined, and totals more than a billion dollars annually. 

 We feed our stock upon corn, eat it for our own food and 

 use it in many other ways. The welfare and prosperity of 

 millions of people are dependent on securing a good crop 

 of corn. 



Three-fourths of the corn crop of the world is grown in 

 the United States. Each year we produce more than 

 2,500,000,000 bushels. Should we load this enormous crop 

 into wagons, fifty bushels to the load, and allow twenty feet 

 for each wagon and team, the line would reach about eight 

 times around the earth at the equator. 



Taking the whole country together, the average yield 

 of corn per acre is slightly less than thirty bushels. The 

 states best adapted to corn raising are Illinois, Iowa, Ne- 

 braska, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana and Ohio. These seven 

 states, which are called the "corn belt" of the United States, 

 raise nearly half of all the world's corn. In them the yield 

 is somewhat over forty bushels to the acre. This is a much 

 smaller crop than could be raised if the soil were enriched, 

 and greater care and skill used in growing the crop. A 



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