
From a painting of Eugene D. Funk in the 
famous Saddle & Sirloin Club, Chicago. 



... Across a nation’s cornlands, through a = SS LS = 
ceaseless succession of plantings and harvestings, the story of America’s SS - 
progress in corn unfolds. Uncounted names—of strains, of the men 
who produced them—have gone into the record. A certain few stand 
out—those appearing on these pages as the “‘bridge’”’ over the century _ 
from Indian strains to modern hybrids, and a number of others=as—— 
having made enduring contributions to America’s greatest crop. 


Indians “‘discoveréd’ corn It spread, i 
north, south, east, west. White settlers found it growing-from Canada 

to Argentina. The steel plow, breaki ge Virein grassland, opened a new 
era in corn development—and open pollinated strains appeared, of an 
excellence never known before: Yet, our best farmers sought more. In 
1913, E. D. (Gene) Funk; yunding out a quarter of a century spent in 
developing and improving open pollinated strains on the famous Funk 
Farms in Illinoigysaid? ““We need better corn.” 
boy Gene Funk flung that challenge before a Hoosier 
farm boy—and/it channeled Jim Holbert’s life to the improvement of 
corn. Successively—and successfully—Jim Holbert became an agrono- 
mist for the United States Department of Agriculture, then head of 
the great Funk Hybrid Corn Research Staff. Dr. Holbert and a handful 
of other corn breeders are responsible for developing one of the greatest 
miracles of America’s agriculture . .. modern Hybrid Corn. 
On the cover is an historic picture. Carol Mack, great-great-great granddaughter of the famous 
Sauk Chief, Black Hawk, holds genuine Sauk Indian corn in one hand and modern hybrid corn 
in the other. The photograph was taken on the site of the ancient Sauk cornfields where authentic 
Sauk Indian corn is each year grown for comparison with modern varieties of hybrid corn. 
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