Courtesy of States Relations Service, United States Department of Agriculture

A PROPERLY CULTIVATED CORN FIELD.

One of the special bureaus of the United States Department of Agriculture is known as the States Relations Service. This bureau has charge of what is called the "farmers' demonstration work" throughout the country. Its hundreds of agents, who are experts in their respective lines of agriculture, devote their time to teaching and demonstrating the best methods for improving the soil and cultivating the various staple farm products, thus showing the farmers how to obtain the best results from their land. The above picture shows a field of corn in the mountain section of Cullman County, State of Alabama, planted and cultivated under the direction of one of the United States demonstrators. It produced 100 bushels of corn to the acre, while the crop on similar land in the vicinity under ordinary cultivation produced about 20 bushels to the acre. According to the report of the demonstrator, the soil- a sandy loam-was plowed and subsoiled March 11; the corn was planted May 11 in rows 4 feet 4 inches apart, with plants 10 inches apart in drills. It was subsequently cultivated shallow six times. The result demonstrated the possibilities of comparatively poor land when properly treated.

what we are pleased to call the "civilized" world, is the one given to it by the Americas, viz, Indian corn, better known beyond the confines of the United States by the name of "maize," the spelling of the word varying somewhat in the several languages into which it has been incorporated.

That maize was unknown to European, Asiatic, and African peoples before the discovery of America is now well established. Aside from the testimony of Humboldt, Darwin, and others, the matter of the origin of maize was finally settled by the celebrated Swiss botanist, Alphonse De Condolle, who in the revised 1882 edition of his "Origin of Cultivated Plants" sifted all the evidence and reiterated the statement he made in 1855 that "Maize is of American origin, and has only been introduced into the Old World since the discovery of the New."

Just where in the Americas it originated is a mooted question. "At the time of the discovery of the new continent," writes De Condolle, "maize was one of the staples of its agriculture, from the La Plata Valley to the United States. It had names in all the languages. The natives planted it around their temporary dwellings where they did not form a fixed population. The burial mounds of the natives of North America who preceded those of our day, the tombs of the Incas-the catacombs of Peru-contain ears or grains of maize, just as the monuments of ancient Egypt contain grains of barley and wheat and millet seed. In Mexico a goddess who bore a name derived from that of maize (Cinteutl, from Cintli) answered to the Ceres of the Greeks, for the first fruits of the maize harvest were offered to her, as the first fruits of our cereals to the Greek goddess. At Cuzco the virgins of the sun offered sacrifices of bread made from Indian corn. Nothing is better calculated to show the antiquity and generality of the cultivation of a plant than this intimate connection with the religious rites of the ancient inhabitants." Again he says: "The cultivation of maize is more ancient than the monuments, to judge from the numerous varieties of the species found in them, and their dispersal into remote regions."

That maize was a staple crop among the ancient Peruvians and that they made both food and drink from it, may be gathered from many sources. In this connection a passage from the "Royal Commentaries of Peru," written by Garcilasso de la Vega, the great Peruvian historian, whose mother was a daughter of the ancient line of Inca monarchs and whose father was one of the old Spanish conquistadores, is of more than passing interest. It is taken verbatim from an old translation of the Commentaries, made by Sir Paul Rycaut and published in 1688, and runs as follows:

The Fruits of Peru, by which the Indians were sustained before the coming in of the Spaniards, were of divers sorts, some being produced above, and others under the

It has been found that a deep and thorough stirring up of the soil, aided by the use of a proper fertilizer, stimulates the productivity of the land. Recent experiments in the
use of dynamite to break up the land have met with great success, as may be seen from the above picture. The land on the left was dynamited and the corn properly
cultivated, producing the splendid crop shown, while that on the right was given merely ordinary cultivation and plowing.

ground. Of the Fruits which grow above ground, the chief and principle is that Grane which the people of Mexico and Barloventa call Mayz, and those of Peru, Cara, being the onely Bread they use: And this is of two sorts; one is hard, which they call Muruchu, and the other tender and fine, called Capia: they eat it for Bread, either baked or parched over the fire, or boiled in water: the hard Mayz is that which they have brought to show in Spain, but not the fine and tender sort. Some parts produce much finer, and tenderer than others, particularly the Countrey of Rucana. At their solemn sacrifices, as we have said, they used Bread made of Mayz, which they called Cancu; and at other times, on occasion of a Feast or treatment which they gave, they made that sort of Bread which was called Huminta; the which sorts of Bread had little difference in themselves, being onely distinguished by their use, some being made for sacrifice, and others for common sustenance: Their Corn was Ground by the Women on a broad Stone, on which they cast the Grist, and on the top thereof they laid another stone in the fashion of a Half Moon, not round, but with a point of three fingers broad at each corner. At the corners of the Stone, made Half Moon wise, they laid their hands, rubbing and pressing it hard on the Mayz, until it was broken: This difficulty and trouble they had in grinding their Mayz, and all other Grane; for which reason they did not commonly eat Bread. They did never beat their Corn in Mortars, though they had learned the way of it; because it required more labor of the Armes, than the Grinding with a Stone, the weight of which made the work more easie: * * * They made also a kind of Hasty-Pudding, called Api, which was a great dish amongst them, and which they eat with much delight; but this was esteemed high feeding, and not common at every meal. The Flour they divided from the Bran, in this manner, they laid all upon a clean cloth made of Cotton, and then spread it with their hands all over the Cotton-cloth; the finest part of the Flour would stick to the Cotton, but the more gross parts of the Bran would remain loose from it, and so they easily took it up, and divided it with their hands; they then swept up the Flour which stuck to the cloth into the middle; and having taken that away, they brought more, until they had cerned and sifted all their Grist; but they chiefly took this pains for the sake of the Spaniards, and not of the Indians, who were not so curious in their diet, but that the coursest sort of this Bran would go down with them; for the Bran of Mayz is not so harsh or choaky, as much to offend the palate. This was their manner of dividing the Bran from the Flour, for as yet the use of Sieves was not brought from Spain, by reason that their Bread was all made of this Mayz, and not of Wheat: All which I can testifie to have seen with my own eyes, having been nourished for nine or ten years with no other Bread than of Cara, which is Mayz; the which is of three sorts: Cancu is for sacrifice, Huminta for their Feasts, and great entertainments; Tanta, with an aspiration on the top of the mouth, is common Bread. Cara, when it is parched, they call Cancha. * Of the Flour of Mayz the Spanish Women made Biskits and Fritters, and other Dishes, both for healthful, and people that were sick; for the Physicians in that Countrey forbid Wheaten Bread to all those that are sick, and prescribe them no other diet, than what is made of Mayz. Of this Flour, with water, they brew their Drink, which the Indians know how to make sower after a certain manner, that it becomes excellent Vinegar. Of the Canes before the Mayz is ripe, they make rare Honey; and after it is ripe, the Canes being dried, are good feeding for all Cattel. Some Indians, who love to be drunk, lay Cara steeping in water, until it be grown, and then they grind it, and boil it in the same water, and afterwards draw it off, and keep it until it be stale: This is the strongest drink they have, and which presently makes them drunk, they call it Vinnapu, and in other languages Sora. The Incas forbad it, because it was so violent and strong, though now, they say, it is come in use again amongst some toping fellows. All these uses, as we have said, they have of this Cara, besides many others in Medicines and Physick, and in Plasters, as we have mentioned in the other part.

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Courtesy of the States Relation Service, United States Department of Agriculture.

One of the activities of the States' Relation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture is the organization of corn clubs among the farmers' boys throughout the country. Teachers in the rural schools organize the school boys over 10 years of age into clubs; the demonstration agent of the Government furnishes the plan of organization and the instructions; the respective parents furnish the required land, teams, and implements; the merchants and bankers of the community provide prizes; and the local newspapers give publicity to the work. Each boy must prepare the soil, plant, and cultivate 1 acre under regulations governing all contestants. The result of 300 to 400 boys entering such a contest in a county arouses great interest, and the boys learn the best way to raise corn. In one State a small boy raised 152 bushels on his acre of land, while the average yield for the State was but 16 bushels to the acre. The upper picture shows one of these corn clubs receiving instruction; in the lower may be seen one of the young prize-winning farmers standing in his field.