are so low in available phosphorous content that it is necessary to apply this element through acid phosphate, bone meal, or some other similar medium. Potash is lacking in the muck soils of northern Indiana, but in most other types is present in good quantities. However, every effort must be made by farmers to return as much as possible of the plant food removed in the crops.

The present yield of corn in the corn belt is not satisfactory. Abundant evidence is at hand to show that the yield can be materially increased without greatly increasing the cost of production. Such an increase in production means a lower cost per bushel, which in turn means a larger net profit to the farmers.

The cost of producing an acre of corn in Indiana in 1915 according to figures obtained from more than one thousand farmers is as follows:

The average yield per acre for ten years is 37.1 bushels, which makes the cost of producing a bushel of corn in Indiana, 36.4 cents. This may be reduced since many farmers produce corn at a cost of 17 to 25 cents per bushel. This was demonstrated in a state-wide corn growing contest conducted in Indiana during the season of 1915, when 408 men

in twenty-three counties kept accurate records on the cost of producing corn. Each two-horse load of manure was valued at $2 per load and commercial fertilizer was valued at cost; however, only one-half of either was charged to the corn crop. Labor of each man was valued at 20 cents per hour and labor of man and team was valued at 35 cents per hour, while 3 cents per bushel was charged for harvesting. Rent was fixed at an arbitrary figure of $6 per acre. On this schedule for expenses the following table shows the relation between yield and cost of production:

The cost of producing a thirty to forty bushel crop was $12.75 while the ninety-bushel crop cost was $15.43. It will be noted that the cost of producing an acre of corn is approximately the same whether the grower produces thirty bushels or whether he produces ninety bushels. When the cost per bushel is determined, the table above shows that the more bushels that are grown per acre, the lower is the cost. This is what might readily be expected since the cost of growing a ninety-bushel crop up to the time of harvesting will be practically the same as the cost of growing a thirty

bushel crop. The difference comes in harvesting. It will cost $1.80 per acre more to harvest the ninety-bushel crop, but the crop is worth $36 more when corn sells at 60 cents per bushel. The high yields then are not only more profitable because of a larger total value, but because there is a greater net profit on each bushel produced.

As the corn acreage of Indiana is above the average and labor is scarce, the harrow and weeder should be used more extensively than usual for early cultivation of corn, unless the surface has been beaten down by rains. Weeds are easily killed while small and a harrow will kill weeds almost as well as a cultivator at this state and at the same time cover from two to three times as much land per man and per horse in a day. Since the killing of weeds is the principal object of cultivation, and a heavy rain may give them a start that can never be overcome, the importance of getting over the entire field when they are just starting, is seen to be very great. The harrow can frequently be used until the corn is six inches high without breaking the stalks, especially if a few of the harrow teeth are removed, the remainder slanted well back and the teams handled carefully.

IMPROVEMENT OF CORN THROugh SelectioN AND BREEDING

Under average methods of seed selection and field conditions there is from year to year more or less deterioration in all varieties of corn. Through the mixing caused by "stray" pollen of other varieties and careless selection of the seed the varieties lose in quality, producing power and other valuable characteristics. This "running out" of corn, as it is termed by many, makes it necessary to secure a new supply of seed every few years-a practise which is respon

sible in a large measure for the unsatisfactory condition of the corn at the present time.

Investigators who have studied the matter in a practical way advocate that as far as is practicable every farmer should grow seed corn for his own use; also that methods should be employed in selecting, planting, cultivating, harvesting and storing that will give seed of the highest quality and strongest vitality-methods that will aim, not only to maintain the desirable characteristics of a variety, but those that will improve the variety from year to year.

The selection of high yielding ears of corn is not altogether a simple matter for the corn grower. It is difficult to keep corn strains pure because of the promiscuous crosspollination. This is hard to prevent except by painstaking efforts and much time and labor spent in detasseling. There are a number of farmers in Indiana, however, who have been selecting their foundation stock for seed by the earrow method. By this method a number of well typed, carefully selected ears are chosen and one-half of the ears is planted in individual rows. Instead of planting the entire ear one-half of it is saved on the cob, labeled and put away for use the next year, if the results prove that it is desirable. The corn is all planted in adjoining rows on uniform. soil and each ear-row is harvested separately and yields determined.

The corn which has been saved of the ten or fifteen high yielding ears is then used the next year as seed for a special breeding plot. From this plot seed is secured for a larger crop and eventually for the entire crop. Work carried on by investigators shows that increases of from five to fifteen bushels per acre may be expected from careful breeding of corn by this method.