MAIZE IN OTHER COUNTRIES 



337 



migratory in character, but in the corn belt cultivation 

 has been systematic and agricultural improvement per- 

 manent. Conditions surrounding the growth of corn 

 in Argentina are unusually favorable, and with agricul- 

 tural methods careless in the extreme the rate of yield 

 averages very little less than the average in the United 

 States. With corn planted in drills, rows only twenty- 

 four to thirty inches apart, usually cultivated but once 

 or frequently not at all, yields of twenty to thirty 

 bushels per acre are normal. 



Fig 99— Corn in the Old Style Rail Cribs 



The rails are g l '-> to 10 feet long:. Each crib holds 350 to 400 bushels. 

 These cribs are in Christian County, Illinois, a few miles north of Taylorville. 

 The photograph was taken in October, 1902, at the beginning of the husking 

 season. 



The great drawback to corn culture lies in the un- 

 favorable climatic conditions for drying out the grain. 

 The winter is a period of damp and frosty rather than 

 dry cold weather, making it difficult to dry out the 

 grain into merchantable condition. This failure to dry 

 out makes it difficult and dangerous to handle or store 

 Argentine corn, and the percentage of loss in cargoes 

 during ocean voyage is very heavy. To some extent 



