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1905 - 1943 
Another year has passed and we start on our 38th year in the seed business, During 
this time, we have passed through two panics, four depressions, five booms, nine Presi- 
dents, and have done business through four decades, sold to four generations. We also 
have passed through one World War and are now deep in another and at this writing no one 
knows what the out-come will be. It certainly does not look very favorable for the civilized 
world, We are now in the midst of the most terrible war in history and our children nor 
their children will never see it paid for. Many of our best young men will never return to 
their homes again. Sorrow and disaster awaits the nation. 
Also dufing this time we have passed from a one man store until today we sell seeds in 
almost every state in the Union and have the largest seed corn plant in the world. To our 
many customers who have helped us to where we are today, we thank you. 
REFERENCES AS TO OUR RESPONSIBILITY 
We realize that to new customers the question often arises: ‘‘Are they responsible?”’ 
this is our 38th year in business, starting with a one man store until we now employ at . 
times more than 300 people. As to our responsibility we refer you to the First National 
Bank of Peoria or the Commercial Merchants National Bank of Peoria, both of which we 
are stockholders in. 
LARGEST SEED CORN PLANT IN THE WORLD 
Here is our new seed corn 
plant at San Jose, Illinois, 25 
miles south of Peoria, where 
we grow 2,500 acres of field 
seeds. Front building is al- 
most 100 feet high. Corn 
drier has 63 drying bins hold- 
ing from 550 bushel to 1,100 
bushel each, most of the bins 
holding 800 bushel. We can 
dry andprocess 145,000 bush- 
el of corn in a normal season. 
Total storage capacity 189,000 
bushel, 

Picture below shows our mammoth furnaces as they were put in when our new seed house 
was being built. Drying of seed corn is one of the most important operations in the seed 
corn business. 
You can very easily ruin thousands of 
bushels of corn by a few hours overheating. 
In fact, much corn which is not ruined, is 
often badly damaged by drying too quickly. 
With our large drying capacity of over 
40,000 bushel each time we fill our drier, 
we donot have to burn the life out of the 
corn to get it dried quickly so as to get 
another filling in. 
Each furnace is fed by a 200-pound auto- 
matic stoker. Thermostat in the air shaft 
cuts out the stokers at 115° and starts them 
again at 110° all working automatically. The 
air from these furnaces is forced through 
the corn by a large fan which delivers 
100,000 cubic feet of air per minute. The 
fan is operated by a 50 horse power motor. 
This drying outfit cost a good many thousand 
dollars, but we feel good drying equipment 
is very necessary in handling seed corn as 
it should be handled. 

