Raising 167 Bushels of Corn on One Acre
Among the worthy organizations that are working for the improvement of farm crops is the Texas Industrial Congress, 906 Commonwealth Building, Dallas, Texas. It has just sent out to the press of the country the story of how young Alford Branch, the winner in a state-wide contest, raised 167½ bushels of corn on a single acre of land in Texas. Mr. Branch began by plowing his land in the fall with a two horse plow, cutting about six inches deep. He followed this plow with a “bull-tongue” subsoiler that cut ten inches further into the soil, but did not turn any of this earth to the surface. This thorough work with the soil prepared it to store up the winter moisture and to take care of the roots of the corn. He selected the best seed that could be obtained, and kept the soil carefully cultivated after planting, but cultivated shallow so as to keep a very fine surface on top, after the “dry farming” idea. This method of cultivation prevented the escape by capillary attraction of the stored up moisture. The Texas Industrial Congress is authority for the statement that the young man raised more on this one acre than was raised on ten acres of the same soil on the same farm, but that had been tended in the ordinary way. The average yield of corn per acre in Texas for the last ten years has been 19 bushels; the general average of all who engaged in the contest with young Branch was 51 bushels per acre. This shows what intelligent study can do to increase the farm outputs, and the Industrial Congress proposes to distribute $10,000 in prizes this year in order to stimulate interest in brain work on the farm.