8 CORN 



The ten states leading in corn production represent 65 per cent of the 

 total acreage of corn grown in the United States. Since 1900 the total acreage 

 in corn in this country has increased about 35 per cent. The total acreage of 

 the ten states leading in the production of corn shows an increase of 30 per 

 cent over the total acreage in the ten states leading in 1900. 



In Illinois we find the highest per cent of land devoted to the production 

 of corn, also the highest total acreage in corn. No doubt the increase in 

 acreage the past ten years has been brought about through improved methods 

 in farming, since we find the greatest increase right in the corn belt. Vast 

 areas which were luifit for cultivation a few years ago have been reclaimed 

 through drainage, and much of this land is today the most productive. 

 As we adopt more careful methods of farming, such as systematic rotation or 

 crops, however, acreage will play a minor role in the increased production of 

 corn, and we must then depend upon a higher average yield. In other words, 

 conditions will demand more bushels of sound corn on each acre devoted to 

 corn production. 



WORLD'S PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION 



The world's corn crop in 1912, which is the year of the highest total 

 production up to the present time, amounted to 4,369,742,000 bushels. In 

 one year there was produced enough corn to fill a single crib eight feet wide 

 to a uniform depth of eight feet for a length of 32,300 miles. This crib 

 would extend from New York City around the world, and across the United 

 States again to San Francisco, or, if all of this corn were to be piled upon a 

 square mile of ground the pile would form a pyramid over one thousand feet 

 high. 



There were concerned in this production five continents, including twenty- 

 two different nations. A careful study of the following table will show the 

 amount of corn produced by each country from 1910 to 1914; also which 

 countries have been the heaviest producers. 



