Harold Lee

5202. Roswell Garst A Biography, by Harold Lee (read 28 Sep 2014) Roswell Garst was born in Coon Rapids, Iowa, on 17 June 1898. He was a towering figure in the promotion of hybrid corn in the 1930's and in the 1940's he was a great advocate for commercial fertilizer. These developments increased corn production per acre to an extent which in my youth I would have deemed miraculous. The story of how Garst did this makes a surprisingly interesting account. He also decried the use of legumes, saying that fertilizer was a far better way to increase yields. Likewise he promoted the use of corn cobs and stalks as cattle feed, mocking farmers who 'made hay' as influenced by the despotism of custom. The book also tells in good detail the relationship he had with Khrushchev, who made a famous visit to his plant in Coon Rapids in 1959. Garst vigorously promoted hybrid corn and commercial fertilizer in Russia and was looked on as a towering figure in agriculture in Russia and eastern Europe .I found this book full of interest and it told me how little I knew of the developments in farming since I was a boy on an Iowa farm. I recall how we deplored, in the early 1940's, the inefficient job which a mechanical cornpicker did, missing more ears than a human cornpicker did. It was not till 1946, when I left to go to college, that we had a mechanical cornpicker, and of course Garst was right about the missed ears being insignificant compared to the time saved by abandoning picking corn by hand. The book also tells in detail of Garst's promotion of hybrid corn and commerciai fertilizer in Russia and eastern Europe. Garst was an extremely active promoter of his views as to changes farmers should make and I found the book full of interest.… (meer)