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IOWA SEED COMPANY, DES MOINES, IOWA. 35.

[image] PROSPERITY

THIRTY YEARS OF PEDIGREE.
It is over thirty years since we first began breeding seed corn, our first thoroughbred corn (The Profit) being offered first for sale in 1881. It was bred and grown by the same man who still directs and superintends our seed corn growing. In those days the average farmer considered it folly to buy seed corn, as every man saved his own seed. Our sales of seed corn were very limited up to 1892, when we introduced the Iowa Gold Mine, but this sprang at once into popularity, as it had the brightest color, deepest grain and smallest cob of any variety then known, and it is not surpassed in those qualities to this day. Since that time we have introduced Iowa Silver Mine, Early Longfellow Dent, Improved Early Mastodon, Lenocher's Homestead, Star Leaming, New Century Wonder, Profit, Farmer's Reliance, Golden West and Prosperity, which have all become very popular and are everywhere the best of their class.

WE ARE PIONEERS
in the seed corn business, and foresaw that improvement in corn breeding was as sure to come as was the improvement in live stock. Our most prominent varieties have furnished the basis upon which the present thoroughbred corn is founded. Numbers of varieties are now sold which are only selections from the Iowa Gold Mine named anew by other growers and dealers. The same is true of the Star Leaming and Iowa Silver Mine. We have never found it necessary to give our varieties new names, and we know that the care and attention of thirty years have given us thoroughbred varieties that will tell in the field production just as surely as a long line of ancestors produces the prize steer.
We have not competed for prizes for show corn but our customers have won prizes throughout the country. Our policy has been entirely directed to perfecting corn that would be sure to ripen in any season, and would produce good crops, believing that 50 bushels of good, sound corn was better for the feeder than 75 bushels of immature corn, and science is today bearing out this thought by demonstrating that immature and unsound corn is productive of disease to both human and animal.

FIFTY PER CENT OF ORDINARY CORN IS DEAD.
THE SEED CORN WE ARE OFFERING IS ALL SOUND.
The frosts of middle October killed the germ in fully half of the corn. There is no question but this has injured the corn not alone for seed purposes but also for all other uses. We are therefore more than ever strong in our faith in our known varieties and urge you to plant them in preference to the "Mammoth," "Jumbo" and "Big" sorts, which may win ear prizes at the shows, but will not stand the test of Jack Frost for 120 days.

GRADED SEED CORN.
We carefully grade all seed corn which we send out, removing tip and butt kernels so that it is readily planted with edge-dropping corn planters. But the grading is only a part of the labor which we give to the production of good seed corn. All varieties are carefuIly grown under the direct supervision of the president of our company. It is gathered early, and stored in our seed corn house, where every ear is carefully inspected by experts and only those absolutely true to type and of strong vitality are shelled for seed purposes. You cannot buy better seed corn in America, no matter what the price.

PROSPERITY CORN.
For some years we have realized the need of a yellow corn which would produce a satisfactory crop with less favorable conditions than those required by the Golden West or Reid's Dent and with confidence we offer this new sort as fully "filling the bill." In our numerous tests on both good and poor soil we have found that while it responds to good soil and cultivation with an immense yield, it will also produce more corn with ordinary treatment than any other large-eared yellow variety under similar conditions. The plant is ideal, the stalk being about eight feet high with abundant broad leaves, and it is so well rooted that it withstands windstorms extra well, being only equaled in this respect by the Profit. It is comparatively free from barren stalks. Ears are borne uniformly at about four feet from the ground, high enough to get the sun and air, low enough to be protected from windstorms and just right for husking. The shank is long, allowing the ear to droop when maturing, thus shedding the rain instead of holding it in the husk, and being small it is very easy to break in husking, yet we seldom find an ear whipped off by the wind. The ears are large, 10 to 12 inches long, nearly cylindrical, holding their size well to the end, are well rounded or capped over at both ends and have that well groomed appearance of thoroughbred corn. The fine shaped grains, which are set in straight rows, are quite deep and broad at the germ end, thus making a solid or heavy ear, and they are of such rich yellow color and uniform size that it is surely the handsomest corn we have ever seen. Cobs are dark red and so smaIl that 70 lbs. of ear corn shells out 61 lbs. It is not as smooth or close on cob as some other sorts and therefore dries out better, does not mildew and the live stock can eat it from cob more easily. It usually ripens in 110 days but has the faculty of maturing quickly in an unfavorable season and has matured fully when planted as late as June 9th. It is not as handsome when shelled as Gold Mine or Profit because the grains are more of the shoe-peg type, but in the ear it looks better than any of our other varieties. PRICES: Pkt. 5c, lb. 25c, 3 lbs. 60c, charges prepaid. By freight, purchaser's expense, pk. 90c, bu. $3.00, 2 bu. or more at $2.90 per bu., 10 bu. for $27.50.

[image] SEED CORN GRADED FOR EDGE DROPPING.

REMEMBER YOU CAN RETURN CORN, IF NOT SATISFACTORY, AND GET YOUR MONEY BACK.