256 TwEKTY-FlEST BlENNIAL RePOBT 



ered best by many exbibitors produced a very long ear 

 with large cob and sbort, wide seed. The first State 

 Fair at Louisville was notable for the numbers of these 

 long ears shown, some of them measuring fully 17 

 inches. The length has diminished gradually with each 

 succeeding fair, while the cob has grown smaller and 

 the grain deeper. Much of this change for the better 

 is due to the good work done in farmers ' institutes. The 

 reading of Station bulletins has also doubtless helped, 

 and the opportunity to observe and compare really good 

 corn with their own product at the fairs has contributed 

 its share in spreading among our growers right ideas 

 on the subject, and with them unproved varieties of com. 

 Some of the com shown at our recent fairs would have 

 compared favorably with that shown iu the States where 

 this matter of selection has been most carefully and sys- 

 tematically followed. This year we stood third on wMte 

 dent corn in the National Com Show at Columbus, Ohio, 

 beating such States as Ohio and Illinois. 



There is yet much to do in Kentucky on our corns. 

 Some of the very best varieties m the State are not com- 

 pletely suited to our conditions. Some young fellow 

 with a good farm at his command can make himself a 

 name and help forward the agriculture of his State by 

 devoting his life to this one object of producing a com 

 for Kentucky of decidedly better quality than any we 

 now have. The enterprise is well worthy of any farmer, 

 and is, I believe, sure to be profitable to the one who 

 undertakes it. 



In looking to the improvement of com it will be nec- 

 essary not only to select the best ears, as is now the 

 fashion, but also good, well-proportioned, vigorous, pro- 

 ductive plants, that will hold their own against unfavor- 

 able weather and produce no sterile stalks and no nub- 

 bins. 



Sorghum is another valuable forage plant, furnish- 

 ing both food for man and feed for stock. I think its 

 value, for cattle especially, is not as fully appreciated in 

 Kentucky as it ought to be. It has a special value for 

 silage, and yields more such fodder than com. It should 

 have a place on every dairy farm, at any rate. 



