HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. Ill 
Mr. Lams. A farmer in my district makes 90 bushels on the acre. 
He made that on his whole farm, and his farm is 9 acres. (Smiling. | 
Mr. Scorr. He calls that a farm? [Laughter. ] 
Mr. Woops. Our special problem is to increase the yield, not by any 
one particular method alone, but principally by giving the farmer seed 
selected for higher productiveness, for by that process alone we can 
very greatly increase the yield. 
The Cuatrman. The trouble is that when you teach them they would 
forget it the next year. 
Mr. Grarr. I had always supposed tbat the greatest difference in 
the yield in Ilinois and in other States was due principally to the dif- 
ference in the soil, but the investigations made at the Illinois agricul- 
tural experiment station and also in Kansas go to show that the 
oe is largely due to difference in cultivation and to difference 
in seed. 
Mr. Gatioway. I could add right here, in answer to your remark, 
that at the recent meeting in St. Louis this question was brought up, 
and they had an actual record of the distribution of 25,000 bushels of 
selected corn, and the record shows that, other things being equal, it 
averaged about 8 bushels per acre in favor of the selected corn. 
The Cuarrman. There is no doubt about that. The selected seed 
is a sine qua non with reference to good corn. 
Mr. Grarr. In reference to the seed corn, I would like to have Mr. 
Woods make a statement as to the result of investigations as to the 
methods of drying corn for seed, first by the ordinary method of 
exposing it to the weather, and then by artificial means. Of course 
the usual method for the farmer in any of the corn States is to go to 
his crib and pick out the best looking ears. 
Mr. Henry. We do not do that in New England. It is selected 
when the corn is husked. Is it not true that corn adapts itself very 
quickly to its environment and localities, much more so than any 
other product? That has been my experience; and to show it is 
adaptable even in our State I can say we have upland regions in the 
Connecticut Valley, and at the Chicago Exposition in 1893 exhibits 
were made by the Connecticut Experimental Station, and the director 
solicited samples of corn, and we exhibited in Chicago 75 types of 
corn grown in the little State of Connecticut alone. 
Mr. Woops. It is true that corn does vary under the influences of 
environment. Types of corn can be grown that will fit the extreme 
northern and the extreme southern limits of our country. Corn 
indeed offers a wonderful field for work of this kind. 
Mr. Bowiz. I wish to ask another question for information. You 
say [addressing Mr. Graff] that the product per acre is less in the 
corn States than in the New England States? 
Mr. Grarr. Yes. 
Mr. Woops. That depends upon the improvement of the soil condi- 
tions and keeping down the parasites. 
Mr. Bowre. Has it been the tendency in the West and South not to 
diversify? 
Mr. Woops. Yes, sir; there has been considerable concentration on 
corn in some sections. They are suffering from the evils of not 
diversifying. : 
Mr. Bowrg. That has something to do with the reduction of the ear. 
Mr. Woops. In many cases. ; 
