schools or universities. He early grasped the vision of how much could be accomplished for his fellow-countrymen by the development of the character of crops raised to feed the world. By the example of his father, he was impressed that diligence and excellence were the essentials of farm work. His father taught him to read when he was four years old. He had his early schooling in the district school and from there, he attended the academy at Tremont conducted by James Kellogg. It was one of the early means of education established in the new country. Early in life, he became a student of the Bible and of the spiritual lessons they taught. He learned the wonderful truth that it is possible for man, the creature to put his hand in the hand of the Father and be led in the secrets of Nature to make it more abundantly productive. During the winter and spring of the year 1865, James L. Reid became a teacher in Tazewell County. During that time, he taught the Heaten School in the neighboring township of Boynton. Following this teaching engagement, he began farming on his own account near Boynton Center.

In April 1870, he was married to Marietta Jenks, daughter of George and Henrietta Jenks of Tremont. It is apparent that while attending the Academy at Tremont, his attention was not exclusively devoted to the pursuit of letters.

From 1865 to 1880, James L. Reid gave special attention to the development of Reid's Yellow Dent Corn, raising that variety himself exclusively and endeavoring to induce his neighbors to cultivate the same variety. In 1880, he yielded to the siren voice calling him to Kansas and moved with his family to a farm in Osage County in that State. There he endeavored to grow Reid's Yellow Dent Corn by the Illinois method. He continued the struggle until 1888. The hot winds of August and September of that year, proved fatal to the crop and he returned to Illinois and took up his residence on the home farm of his father and there continued his work of developing yellow dent corn. His father, Robert Reid removed from the home farm to Delavan in the fall of 1880, where he resided until the time of his death, which occurred in December, 1888. When Robert Reid removed to Delavan, he rented his farm to Mr. John Withrow, who occupied it for seven years and continued to raise Reid's Yellow Dent on the home farm

during that time. During the tenancy of Mr. Withrow, the loss of the strain of Yellow Dent Corn being developed, was seriously threatened, in the neighborhood of Reid's farm on account of an early freeze many farmers lost their seed and Mr. Withrow with others, purchased corn shipped from the State of Missouri. When the corn was received and they compared it with the corn in his own crib, the landlord and tenant, decided to discard the imported seed, and planted yellow dent corn selected from the open crib, producing a good crop. Mr. Withrow was no exception to the general rule among tenant farmers. He continued to grow corn consecutively on the Reid farm, until it was almost "corned to death", when James Reid came back to his father's farm in 1888, he had before him the problem of re-vitalizing and reclaiming the old place. He at once established a system of crop rotations, procured a herd of jersey cattle and fed much of his crop on the land. After he had brought his father's farm back to corn producing life and possibilities, he began a systematic development of yellow dent corn from the homegrown strain.

The type of corn chosen was an ear of medium size, more cylindrical in form than the early type, with rather a smooth surface, deep indented grain, bright red cob and clear yellow kernels. Considerable attention was given to development of well filled butts, and tips, with deep kernels, later the ears were roughened more and care was given to the characteristics of corn stalks producing the crop. Much stress was laid upon the thorough maturity of the crop and absolute freedom from all appearance of mixture. While he maintained a single type of kernel characteristic for show ears, as demanded by exhibitors. When it come to seed selection for the corn crop, he chose the ears of corn that showed a high per cent of corn to the ear, regardless of kernel, shape and type of dent. These are facts that have been controverted by various amateur corn breeders. In the development of the characteristics which James L. Reid considered to be of the greatest importance to farmers, he worked consistently and untiringly. Gradually, under improved soil conditions, the type of corn responded to the efforts made for its development, and within a few years the yield in bushels per acre in some fields, reached the one hundred mark.

It became the custom to gather several bushels of splendid ears from the fields early in the fall. The best looking ones were used for exhibition purposes and the rest kept for a part of home stock.

In 1891 James L. Reid made a corn exhibition consisting of twelve ears at the Illinois State Fair in Peoria and then and there, received the highest award. This was his first introduction outside of his home county, and brought James L. Reid the first recognition of the work he had performed. Mr. Orange Judd, editor of the Orange Judd Farmer, and former editor of the American Agriculturist, was present and was one of the judges, passed on that corn exhibit. Mr. Judd measured and weighed each ear examined them all carefully, and shelled a part of them in order to determine the percentage of corn to the bulk of the cob in the ear. Two years later in the famous World's Fair year 1893, James L. Reid made an exhibition of Reid's Yellow Dent Corn at that exposition. Which won for him the highest score a medal and a diploma. A brief history of the corn, its genesis and development under the name of Reid's Yellow Dent, accompanied that exhibit.

In 1893, Mr. Reid established a retail mail order seed corn trade. The corn was sent to many growers in Illinois, and neighboring States; State colleges of agriculture carried on experiments covering several years. Shipments were sent North, East South and West, also to South America. Reports of yields in different parts of the country proved the corn to be adaptable to varying conditions of soil, temperature, and length of growing season. The business of the production of this seed corn promises to increase a larger farm on which to grow corn, seemed necessary. Only a comparative small portion of crop on the home farm, was put on the seed market. This, however, required a great deal of labor, time and capital. A larger farm would mean more seed corn, better facilities for handling the crop and possibly a better price for seed. In 1902 the larger farm purchased the year previously, was made the home for the family of James L. Reid and the scene of his developing business. It was located in Vermilion County, Illinois, near East Lynn. In time a large seed house and corn crib were built, including an ele