Newspaper Page Text
HE United States govern
ment is now at work
upon one of the most am
bitious and, by the by,
one of the most interest
ing projects it has ever
undertaken. It is noth
ing short of a scheme for
moving the “corn belt.”
Or perhaps it would be
more accurate to call it
y/Jf- a crusade for extending
the "corn belt,” for there is no de
sire to Interfere with the growing of
our greatest agricultural staple in
that broad section of the country
where com has long been the princi
pal standby of the farmer. The new
plan of the department of agricul
ture—for of course that is the branch
of our government machinery that has
charge of this new activity—is simply
in effect to make two blades of grass
grow where only one grew’ before.
Although all the world has been
gasping in astonishment these many
years past at the bumper crops of
corn this country turns out each year,
the experts of the government some
time since came to the conclusion
that great as was the national corn
yield it was not as big as it ought to
be. Furthermore, they thought they
foresaw a time when, with our rapidly
growing population, the corn crop
would not be any too big for our own
American appetite and, of course, if
that came to pass, we would lose more
or less of our foreign trade, for a vast
quantity of Yankee corn products now
find their Way to dinner tables over
seas.
On the theory of a stitch in time
the agricultural sharps proceeded to
get busy over this impending prob
lem. First they set about increasing
the yield of corn per acre and latterly
they have entered upon the even more
significant mission of extending the
corn growing area. As our readers
are aware most of the corn crop has
been grown heretofore in the middle
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west —in states such as Illinois, Indiana, lowa
and Nebraska. But the government experts
scouting around soon came to the conclusion
that as good or better corn than America had
ever known could be raised in prolific quantity
in the south if only the people south of Mason
and Dixon’s line could be aroused to the pos
sibilities lying dormant at their doors.
Waking up these southern farmers to their
neglected opportunities is the present work of
one of the most efficient organizations in Uncle
Sam’s agricultural corps. It was nothing short
of an Inspiration that the experts hit upon the
plan of proving that their corn ‘'fairy tales”
could come true through the medium of the
farmer boys of the south. The lads were enlisted
in this country wide “demonstration work” and
46,000 of them have lately been giving their fa
thers object lessons right at home. What is more,
many of the fathers have taken the lessons to
heart and after seeing with their own eyes what
phenomenal yields can be made if com be cul
tivated as the “book chaps" at the agricultural
department prescribe they have become converts
to the new ideas and have announced that hence
forth they will cultivate corn the way their sons
have been doing these past few months. It will
mean only a fraction more time and work and it
means production doubled or trebled or quad
rupled.
Os course the government gave instructions
to these lads as to how to till the soil in the most
advantageous manner, but the enthusiasm which
resulted in corn harvests that have made the
whole world sit up and take notice was inspired
by competitive contests for the winners in which
all sorts of prizes were offered —township prizes,
village prizes, county prizes, state prizes, and
goodness knows what, all in the way of trophies
culminating in each state in a “grand prize” in
the form of a sightseeing trip to Washington, all
expenses paid, for one boy. Os course, the gov
ernment did not offer these prizes. Uncle Sam
has no money available for such purposes, but
tho department of agriculture engineered the
whole scheme and got the public-spirited citizens
of more than a dozen states so Interested that
they put up the prizes mentioned. Individuals
ouch as bankers and merchants and organiza
tions such as boards of trade, county superin
tendents of education, chambers of commerce,
itc., contributed to the list of prizes which In the
grand total footed up to more than $40,000
This whole movement, alike to other similar
educational crusades, has been under the direc
tion of the division of farmers’ co-operative dem
onstration work of the department of agriculture
•nd the field officers of this institution have
brought about systematic effort on the part of
the youthful corn growers by organizing what
standard unit of organization—and there are
county clubs in about 600 different counties.
Circulars of instruction, prepared by Dr. S. A.
Knapp, the government expert, who is the Sol
omon of this movement, are prepared and
sent several times during the year to each in
dividual boy who is enrolled in this work.
Seed selection and the preparation of the
soil are taken up first In these courses of In
struction by mail (supplemented by the advice
of the field workers of the department who
are continually traveling about to supervise
and give practical instruction.) All the boys
who won the biggest prizes paid very careful
attention to the instructions on this score and
plowed their acres from eight to sixteen inches
deep and thoroughly pulverized their seed beds.
Even more careful advice is given the boys on
the very vital subject of fertilization and one rea
son w'hy so many of these lads have at the first
go off gotten better com crops than their fathers
have ever been able to produce with all their ex
perience back of them is that the youngsters
have none of the contempt of the old fogies for
new-fangled ideas and have been not only willing
but eager to master a general knowledge of nitro
gen, potash, phosphorus, etc., as agricultural aids
and the effect of leaves, wood mold, barnyard
manure, etc.
The whole plan of computing and comparing
yields In this country-wide corn-growing competi
tion is done in the most systematic and business
like manner. With swarms of keenly interested
boys watching each other’s crops like hawks
there Is not much opportunity for deception of
any kind, but in addition to this Insurance of pub
licity of methods and yields the department of
agriculture has its own officers in the field all
the while and they rigidly investigate any sus
picious reports just as the field workers of the
United States census have been probing Into the
enumeration in any town or city that seemed to
show an undue increase in population since the
last census. Be it said to the credit of the boy
corn growers that almost none of them have
fallen under suspicion on any score.
In making up the records of the young corn
growers and awarding the prizes that are offered
the government officials take into consideration
other things than the mere crop yield, regardless
of cost of cultivation and every other factor.
Indeed, in making awards there are considered
in addition to yield, the cost per bushel, the best
ten ears of corn raised and the w'rltten history
of the crop prepared by the boy who raised it.
Not all the boys who won the big prizes and were
personally congratulated by President Taft in the
White House at Washington made the largest
yields tn their states. The economical side was
ayways taken into consideration in giving out
the prizes and In apportioning the diplomas of
merit which Secretary Wilson personally pre
sented to the boys who called on him at Wash
ington.
The boys who have won rank as Uncle Sam’s
champion corn growers in every instance “made
good” by exhibiting their prize products at their
respective county fairs where their neighbors
could see with their own eyes what they accom
plished by the new method of tilling the soil. In
many counties the distribution of the county
prizes for cord growing was made a red-letter
event this past autumn and as many as 1,000 to
1,500 persons have assembled at a county seat
are known as corn
clubs. There are
great numbers of
township clubs all
over the land—the
township being the
to see prizes awarded to lads who are pointing
the way to Increased averages of corn produc
tion in the south, and incidentally to a partial
solution of the increased cost of living. And no
old-time farmer can sneer that the showings
made in this twentieth-century corn growing ars
spurts of no practical significance. On the con
trary the government officials have applied mod
ern bookkeeping methods to the business side of
the proposition and the reported costs of produc
tion can be accepted as fair actual costs.
The yields made during the past season by
these young corn growers have been truly aston
ishing and some of them are almost past the
belief of farmers who have been getting an aver
age of, say, 32 to 40 bushels of corn per acre
in choice corn country In the middle west. In
one Mississippi county 48 boys averaged 92
bushels per acre. In one South Carolina county
20 boys produced 1,700 bushels of corn on 20
acres. In another county in that same state 142
boys averaged 62 bushels per acre. One lad
made SI,OOO from a single acre of corn. Jerry
Moore of Winona, S. C., the champion corn
grower of the world, got the amazing yield of
228 bushels to the acre. Steve Henry of Louisi
ana carried off the highest honors for economical
farming, producing on his acre nearly 140 bushels
at a cost of only 13 cents per bushel. Joe Stone
of Georgia, youngest and smallest of the national
prize winners, is only eleven years of age, but
he produced 102 bushels to the acre at a cost of
29 cents per bushel. Next season the scope
of the corn-growing competition is to be greatly
extended and the government may also strive
to get the country girls of the United States
Into a similar competition, only, of course, it will
not be corn growing but vegetable gardening with
canning and preserving as a “side line.”
Those Church Suppers!
Church sales, dinners, teas and the like are
not only means for promoting social enjoyment
and incidentally of replenishing the treasuries
of the organizations which provide them. These
functions serve a real and valuable economic
purpose, as is Indicated by the lady whom Edna
K. Wooley quotes in the Toledo Blade. This
lady, weary of the work of providing three meals
a day for her family, consisting of herself, her
husband and her daughter, finds a new joy In
living at Ahis time of year, and explains why:
“Last night we went to a roast beef dinner. To
night we are going to a Methodist progressive
supper. . My husband hates those progressive
suppers, because we start with soup at the
church, you know, then go to some house for the
meat course and finish up at some other house
for the dessert. He says when he sits down to a
meal he likes to finish the job on the spot, in
stead of getting up every little while, putting on
his hat and coat and galloping out into the cold
and cruel world to resume his eats at some other
stand. But I think it’s fun. It’s a blessed change.
Tomorrow night we go to a Presbyterian church
supper. That’s only 25 cents, too, and I don’t
see how they do it for the money. The next one
after that is an Episcopal turkey supper, and the
next Is also a turkey supper at the Unitarian
church. Then come the Disciple and Congrega
tion church suppers, and by that time you’ll see
my cheeks sticking out with rich living. What
would we poor home cooks do if it wasn’t for the
church suppers? They give us a rest from the
eternal routine of planning and cooking the dally
meals. Nobody that hasn’t tried that three-meal
a-day business knows what a grind It gets to be.
I don’t believe there’s a man on earth would
stand for IL . ,
ALONDONLANDMARK
St Paul’s Cross Links Present
With the Past.
Shaft Recently Unveiled Is Successor
of Others Whose Earliest History
la Lost in the Mist of
Obscurity.
London. —An interesting link con
necting the London of today with the
London of remote ages was made by
the recent unveiling of the new
Paul’s cross in St. Paul’s churchyard.
There on the highest ground in the
great metropolis was made the first
settlement in far-off days and there
it is believed once stood a heathen
temple, which in due time gave way
to the first of the Christian edifices
which preceded the present cathedral.
The cross recently unveiled is the
successor of other crosses, the his
tory of the earliest of which is lost
in the mists of obscurity. At the time
of the Reformation there were prob
ably fewer than 5,000 crosses in Eng
land, varying in size and shape and
varying, too, in their uses. They were
to be found on the roadsides, at cross
roads and at many other places all
over England, and a pretty and inter
esting tale could be told of the vari
ous kinds, whether they be market,
memorial, boundary, weeping or
preaching crosses.
Some beautiful specimens of preach
ing crosses still remain, but the most
celebrated one in Europe and one
which played a most important part
in the history of England, is old St
Paul’s.
It was a tall wooden structure with
a leaded roof, and stood upon stone
bases. Octagon in shape, it was large
enough to hold the preacher and three
attendants. A low wall surrounded it
Kings and queens often visited
Paul’s cross. The marriage contract
between James IV. of Scotland and
Margaret, daughter of Henry VII. ol
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New St. Paul’s Cross.
England, was proclaimed there, and in
1588 Queen Elizabeth attended in
state at a thinksgiving service for the
defeat of the Spanish armada. Eight
years later, while the lord mayor was
at service there, he received an order
from the queen to raise 1,000 men to
aid the French In the defense of
Calais. Before eight o’clock that eve
ning the men had been recruited and
were marching on the road to Dover.
Among those who did penance at
the cross was Jane Shore, the fa
vorite of Edward IV., while a still
more remarkable case was that of
Lady Markham, wife of Sir Griffin
Markham, who in 1617 stood at the
cross in a white sheet and was fined
$5,000 for marrying one of her serv
ants while her husband was alive.
This was the spot chosen, too,
when anything had to be denounced,
and consequently the bull of Pope
Paul 11. was read from, threatening
all shoemakers who put peaks of
more than two inches long on the
shoes they made, and censuring, as
well, all, whether shoemakers or not,
who went to a fair on a Sunday.
These are but a few of the things
which took place at what was, in old
time, the center of the public life, not
only of the city, but also of the union,
for it was at once the exchange, the
club, and the meeting place of Lon
don. Here heralds proclaimed the
news of victories by sea and land;
here, we are told, “men threw up their
bonnets when they heard of Crecy
and Agincourt;” here it was that
a sovereign brought his new-made
wife to show her to his faithful sub
jects; and last, but not least, it was
here that the wives and daughters of
the citizens gathered for their little
gossips and flirtations.
It was doomed to destruction. The
last sermon was preached there in
May 30, 1630, before King Charles 1.,
and in 1643 the cross was demolished
by order of the long parliament
The new cross is built In accord
ance with a bequest of the late H. C.
Richards, who left $25,000 for the pur
pose. It consists of a Doric column
on the top of which is a bronze figure
of St PauL nine feet high. —-
MACON, DUBLIN AND
SAVANNAH RAILROAD.
“VIDALIA ROUTE.”
Zn effect Sunday, June 14, 1908, and
superseding all previous issues.
Read Down. . Read Up
18 | 20 | Stations | 19 | 17
A.M.|P.M.| |A.M.|P.Mj
| | Atlanta |
7:00] 3:30| Macon ll:05| 4:40!
7:10| 3:41| Swift Creek 10:56| 4:30;
7:18| 3:49] Dry Branch 10:47| 4:20!
7:27| 4:56| Pike’s Peak 10:40| 4:15i
7:35j 4:04| Fitzpatrick 10:23] 4:04j
7:40] 4:09| Ripley 10:28] 3:58|
7:50| 4:191 Jeffersonville 10:17] 3:47]
8:00| 4:29| Gallemore 10:05] 3:32|
8:10] 4:39| Danville 9:57] 3:24
8:15 |4:44| Allentown 9:52] 3:17
8;34| 5:04| Dudley 9:32] 2:57
9:00] 5:30] ar Dublin lv 9:05| 2:30!
9:05] 5:35] Iv Dublin ar 9:00| 2:25*
10:40] 7:00 Vidalia 7:35] l:00j
CONNECTIONS.
At Macon with the Southern Rail-!
way from and to Cincinnati, Chatta-;
nooga, Rome, Birmingham, Atlanta!
and intermediate paints. Also the C.i
of Ga., G. S. & F., M. & E. Ry., and'
Georgia Railroad.
At Dublin, with the Wrightsville &i
Tennille and the Dublin and South
western Railway.
At Rockledge, with the Millen &
Southwestern for Wadley and Inter-;
mediate points
At Vidalia, with the Seaboard Air
Line for Savannah and intermediate
points and for Helena and interme
diate points, and with the Millen &
Southwestern for Millen, Stillmore,
and intermediate points.
J. A. STREYER,
General Passenger Agent, Macon, Ga.
Foley’s
ORINO
Laxative
la Pleasant and Effectiva
CURES
Constipation, Stomach and
Liver Trouble.
by stimulating these organs end,
restoring their natural action.
Is best for women and chil
dren as ORINO does not grips
or nauseate. /
Portable and Stationary
EBBS
AND BOILERS.
Ba*, Lath and Shingle Milla Injetton,
Pumps and fittings, Wood Savs, Split*
ter a. Shafts, Pulleys, Beltlag, Gast-
Une Engines.
LARGE STOCK AT
LOMBARD
Foundry, Machine and Boiler Works
Supply Store.
AUGUSTA, GA.
FOLEYSKIDNIYCURE
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JJYour
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First class work
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11 — . - r~i
FOLEYSHONEY^TAR
for childnai oafo, ouro. No opiateo
