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Reprint from The Daily Pantagraph, Bloomington, Ill., Sunday, February 21 
Breeding of Hybrid Corn Adviser ’ Cor " Wurker ’ 
Calls Holbert and Laible 
j ^ V 
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L u • s • fw. 
3 0 1937 
!0 "-Vo. 
Two Prominent in Agriculture 
to Join Funk Organization, 
New Adviser Is Sought. 
commercial hybrids marketed by: 
various seed firms in the corn i 
belt. Any valuable strains devel- 1 
oped in the future will, of course, 
be retained as the private property 
of the local seed firm. 
The hybrid corn Industry claims 
two more public men in agricul¬ 
ture, Dr. J. R. Holbert of the 
United States department of agri¬ 
culture and R. J. Liable, McLean 
county farm adviser, according 
to reports confirmed here Saturday 
by H. H. Miller, general manager 
of Funk Brothers Seed company. 
Both will be associated with the 
seed company here. 
Farm Adviser Laible announced 
his resignation to directors of the 
farm bureau last week, explaining 
he exoected to become associated 
with the seed firm by April 1. not 
only in the production of hybrid 
corn but also in improvement of 
seeds, farm services and farm 
management. His successor as ad¬ 
viser was the subject of a board 
meeting at the farm bureau Satur¬ 
day. He v/ill be known as general 
I agricultural adviser for the Funk 
J organization. 
Mr. Liable has served as Mc¬ 
Lean county farm adv : ^r since 
July. 1931, formerly serving in 
similar work for three years for 
the Marshall-Putnam Farm bu 
reau at Henry, and for three years 
as adviser In Green county. He is 
a graduate of the University of 
Illinois college of agriculture and 
spent five years in the animal 
husbandry department there. 
To Discontinue Plots. 
Dr. Holbert, who since 1917 has 
been in charge of the state-federal 
corn experiment plots located on 
the Funk farms, was originally 
associated with Eugene D. Funk 
in corn improvement work. His 
connection with the United States 
department started when Mr. Funk 
succeeded in Interesting the de¬ 
partment in a study of corn di¬ 
seases and methods of avoiding 
their damage. He provided the 
land for the study, and space in the 
seed house here for headquarters, 
and “loaned” Dr. Holbert to the 
deoartment to conduct the studies. 
The latter Is now slated to be¬ 
come vice president of the Funk 
firm, to have charge of the corn 
breeding program. He will be as¬ 
sociated with Earl Sieveking, Funk 
Farm agronomist, and with Mr. 
Laible in this new program. 
Assistants to Dr. Holbert in the 
state-federal corn plots, Bovd C. 
Frye and J. W. Hardin, will re¬ 
main with him. 
The United States deoartment 
of agriculture is expected to dis¬ 
continue entirely its research work 
in corn here, combining studies 
conducted here with those at other 
stations. The Illinois program of 
corn study is expected to be an¬ 
nounced from the agricultural col¬ 
lege and experiment station at 
Urban a. 
Developed Pure Strains. 
In the early days of Dr. Hol- 
bert’s public work here, he de- 
velooed methods of selection to 
avoid damage by corn diseases. 
He washed the entire root systems 
out of the soil to study growth 
and disease infection, devised 
machines to test the pounds pull 
required to uproot a stalk, or break 
it over. The result was the utility 
standard of selection. Refriger¬ 
ators were used to study resistance 
to cold and permit better maturity. 
The disease testing program was 
one result. 
Hybrid corn breeding has been 
conducted since 1917, but has been 
widely recognized only in the last 
few years. By combining disease 
resistance, cold resistance, even 
insect resistance, with high yield¬ 
ing abilities in the hybrid strains, 
this new feature of the work has 
developed to first in importance. 
Pure strains of corn developed 
here are now used in many of the 
Removals 
on Farms 
Pantagraph Central Illinois Service. 
RUTLAND. — Wilgot Anderson, 
who has been working in Peoria, 
will farm the J. H. Hodge farm, 
south of Rutland, the coming sea¬ 
son. Paul Carlson and family, who 
have been living on the Hodge 
farm, will move to near Opheim. 
Mr. and Mrs. David Kovacevich 
Jr. of Toluca will live on the 
George Harms farm, west of Rut¬ 
land, which the Carl Arndt family 
are vacating and moving to a farm 
a mile from Vandalia. 
Mrs. Michael Barth and family 
have moved from the former Earl 
Sullivan farm, south of Rutland, 
to Minonk. John Lehman and 
family will move to the farm thus 
vacated, and Mr. and Mrs. Joseoh 
Ross man of Benson will move onto 
the Meischner farm where the Leh¬ 
man family have been living. 
Ben Onnen and family have 
moved from the Bassett farm, east 
of Rutland, to a place east of We-, 
nona. James Baxter and family 
have moved from near Toluca to 
the farm the Onnens vacated. 
Ed Stimpert will move to a farm 
east of Dana, and the Drummet 
brothers will farm their f f he"’s 
farm where the Stimpeu ”11 
have been living. 
DRY GROVE. — 
Philip Kaufman V»- 
Morrison farn 
Mr. and Mrs. 
family who 
Bloomingtor 
man farm. 
R. J. Laible Ur. J - K - Holbert 
...have resigned their public posts iiere to enter the Funk faim 
organization and its program of producing hybrid seed corn. Laible 
has been McLean county farm adviser since 1931, while Dr. Holbert 
has since 1917 been in charge of the state federal corn plots which 
are now to be discontinued. 
Roiarians Invite Fanners 
Panf-tgraph Central Illinois Service. 
DELAVAN. — The Rotary club 
will hold an open meeting Tues¬ 
day at 6:30 p. m. in the Metho¬ 
dist Annex to which farmers of 
the community are especially 
vited. Following the dinner 1 
W. P. Flint, entomologist 
Illinois universi**' 
speak'*" 
h 
Local Yards Lead 
in Stock Sb : 
The Bloomington 
stockyards let- 
operative s*-’ 
hogs - 
Frid 
T. 
Pan 
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gard . 
7:30 ,. 
farm 
high 3 
Mrs. I 
signed 
will ri 
meet. 
Mrs. 1 
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Mrs. 1 
Ashle; 
Mrs. ! 
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presh 
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TEAR OFF AND M ATT, TO FUNK BROS. SEED CO. BLOOMINGTON, ILL. 
Funks Hybrid Seed Corn Reservation for 1938 
FUNK BROS. SEED CO. 
Bloomington, Ill. 
Date . 
Reserve For .,. . .. ...,. u .. .. . 
P. O ..... 
! 
County . State . 
Direction of Farm 
from Nearest Town . t. 
No. Bushels . 
It is understood this reservation Is subject to my approval of 
price and Funk Bros. Seed Co. being able to supply Hybrid Seed 
Corn from crop produced in 1937. 
On or before January 1, 1938, I am to be notified as to price 
and whether or not seed can be supplied. 
My approximate five-year average corn yield is.bushels 
per acre. 
