No. 4.] CORN GROWING. 99 



in New Englaiul, and her worn-uiit soils, shall take notice that 

 New England raises more corn per acre than is raised by any 

 other section of the United States. To be snre, the acreage 

 is not so great in the New England States as in the great 

 corn-growing States of the west, yet last year Connecticut 

 raised G0,000 acres of corn ; Massachusetts 47,000 ; and Con- 

 necticut, with her so-called worn-out soils, raised more corn 

 per acre by 10 bushels than did Iowa ; by 5 bushels than did 

 Illinois ; and by 1 bushel than did Indiana. I wish to call 

 especial attention to this fact, for while we may have used 

 more commercial fertilizer, and the cost of raising our corn 

 crop was without doubt somewhat greater than the cost of 

 raising corn in the middle west, yet New England agriculture 

 is not a thing of the past, and we have never yet realized the 

 full possibilities of the fertile New England hills. Averages 

 are always low. When one man in Connecticut can raise 

 lo3/-{ bushels of shelled corn to the acre, and our average pro- 

 duction for the State is only 41 bushels per acre, it means that 

 the farmers of Connecticut are not fully awake to the possi- 

 bilities of corn growing. Without any considerable increase 

 in expenses, but with more attention to details, to adaptation 

 of the crop to the soil, to the use of proper fertilizers and 

 proper seed corn, the average yield per acre of corn in New 

 England could be increased from 10 to 30 bushels ; and this 

 increase will come, not because the railroads of the country 

 are going into farming, but because of the painstaking work 

 of the individual farmer, and because in every community 

 there will develop some farmer who will lead the way and 

 show to the others how this increase can be brouglit about. 



We all are interested in the practical means by which the 

 average yield of corn may be increased. The subject of corn 

 breeding has come to be almost a science during the past ten 

 years, and yet in spite of all the agitation we have only held 

 our own in the average yield per acre. For the past five 

 years there has been a slight increase in the production per 

 acre. We may possibly feel satisfied that we have been able 

 to maintain the production of previous years, in spite of the 

 fact that the agricultural lands have been depleted somewhat 



