114 Cooperation in Agriculture 



types that were adapted to particular soils and climatic 

 conditions by continually selecting the seed to a stand- 

 ard type and by detasseling the plants of these types 

 to prevent self-pollination, and by a rigid selection of 

 seed ears for planting. The association encouraged the 

 holding of corn shows, and furnished experts to judge 

 the displays. It held annual meetings for a general dis- 

 cussion of the results of the year and for the consideration 

 of new plans of work. 



The Illinois Corn-breeders' Association has been fol- 

 lowed by the starting of many similar movements among 

 the corn growers and the growers of other crops in dif- 

 ferent states. The state organizations have sometimes 

 formed societies among the growers for local crop improve- 

 ment, the membership of fifty local and county corn im- 

 provement associations affiliated with the Ohio Corn 

 Improvement Association numbering more than twenty- 

 three hundred. According to C. P. Hartley of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, state corn-growers' 

 and corn-breeders' associations had been organized in 1911 

 in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, 

 Maryland, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, Okla- 

 homa, Texas, and Wisconsin. The immense increase in 

 the yield of corn in recent years hi the Central West is 

 attributed primarily to the use of better strains of seed 

 that have been developed and grown and sold by the 

 members of the corn-breeders' organizations. In Iowa, 

 the members who are most prominent in the corn-improve- 

 ment associations are those who have been active in the 

 agricultural short courses, the farmers' institutes, and the 

 gram-judging contests. The secretary of the Iowa State 



