Religion: Parable Proved

Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. John 12:24.

When Perry Hayden, Quaker and Tecumseh, Mich., miller, heard a sermon on this text (that life evolves out of death), he wanted to prove it literally. So he planted 360 kernels of high-yielding Bald Rock wheat. Then Quaker Hayden had another idea: he would dramatize the Biblical injunction of tithing (giving a tenth of one’s income to God), so he pledged a tenth of his harvest to his meeting.

Fortnight ago, when Hayden reaped his third harvest (26 bushels), he had notable visitors: Henry Ford and Charles Figy, Michigan’s Commissioner of Agriculture. Ford, who owns the acre of land used for the project, brought along a -year-old self-raking reaper for use in the harvesting. Figy came to inspect the wheat which in its first harvesting had multiplied 50-fold, almost twice Michigan’s average. So rapidly did the wheat grains grow that Hayden calls them “dynamic kernels.” Next year, Hayden expects to harvest from 15 to 20 acres.