Corn Cultivation Page: 3
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B. P.I-581
CORN CULTIVATION.
POSSIBILITY OF DOUBLING PRESENT YIELD.
It is possible within a few years to double the average production
of corn per acre in the United States, and to accomplish it without
any increase in work or expense. It is not to be understood from this
statement that it is desirable to double the present corn crop, but that
it is desirable to produce the same yield on a smaller number of acres
and with less labor. If 60 bushels a are raised on 1 acre instead of on
2 acres, the labor of plowing, harrowing, planting, cultivating, and
harvesting is greatly reduced. The demand controls the quantity
that should be grown. To meet demands the producers of the United
States have, during the ten years previous to 1910, averaged in round
numbers 2,500,000,000 bushels of corn yearly. In producing this
quantity a little more than 95,000,000 acres have yearly been devoted
to corn growing. The average production per acre has been 26
bushels. Very few farmers would like to acknowledge that their
average production for the past ten years has been as low as 26 bushels
per acre, but from the best estimates that have been made the con-
clusion is unavoidable that half of those who grow corn harvest less
than 26 bushels per acre. Twice this quantity is a fair crop, three
times 26 bushels is a good crop, and four times 26 bushels per acre
are frequently produced.
Since the average crop in the States best adapted to corn growing is
but little above the general average of the entire country, it is evident
that the average is not lowered to any great extent by the poor crops
in sections unsuited to corn growing. Moreover, the yield per acre
in the New England States, with their poor soil and short growing
season, is as great as in any other part of the country. This clearly
indicates the possibility of greatly increasing the yield per acre in the
corn belt. This is especially easy of accomplishment in the Southern
a The laws of the majority of States recognize 70 pounds of ears or 56 pounds of shelled
corn as a bushel of corn. These weights are reliable when the ears or shelled corn con-
tain only 15 per cent of water. About one-third the weight of ear corn as customarily
harvested in the Northern States is water, while that harvested in the drier sections
of the South contains less than 15 per cent of water.
414
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Hartley, C. P. Corn Cultivation, pamphlet, 1910; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc87505/m1/3/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.