Clark Concern at Wakeman, ----- by Founder,

Now 77, Is Biggest Firm of Kind With

Buyers Through World

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By FRANK STEWARD, The Press State Editor

WAKEMAN, O., April 26 - There are two ways of looking at these hard April rains that are making mud all over Ohio.

One is to grumble and cuss at the trickle of water that falls off your hat and down the back of your neck; to moan about the postponed ball games; to fret and worry about that leaky basement wall.

The other way is better. Just sit back, listen to the patter of drops on the roof and envision tender roasting ears swimming in golden butter.

Think of the juicy kernals on millions of "corn on the cob" served up as the national dish of July and August.

And then remember that it’s the April rains that are soaking the ground, making it ready for the seed corn that will grow into tall stalks.

That’s the way the 500 residents of this village think. For it is the home of the wholesale seed "plant" of the C. S. Clark & Sons Co., the biggest seed corn business in the world.

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This company - consisting of a father, his son and a son-in-law - during the season of 1935-36 shipped out of this village to all parts of the United States, Canada and Europe 3,500,000 pounds of seed corn.

And of this total 2,174,000 pounds were sweet corn - intended for the "corn-on- the-cob" trade.

The other varieties - in a total of 176 - were field corn and popcorn.

In the bins of the immaculately kept warehouse of this firm are stored more than 111 varieties of sweet corn.

At times during the peak of the shipping season there are as high as 17 carloads of sweet corn seed waiting to go to seed firms in all sections of the country.

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But volume; varieties and figures are not the most intriguing part of the history of this "corn-on-the cob plant."

The real story is Charles S. Clark Sr., who founded the business 59 years ago when he was a boy of 18.

Today he is 77 and is known as the "seed corn king of the world."

Back in 1878, Charlie Clark had the urge to make money - he wanted to get started in the world.

There was a $1700 mortgage on the Clark homestead and the youth wanted to help his father pay it off. He decided to go to Cleveland and get a job.

But his mother demurred. She didn’t want her boy to leave home, so she told him she would save her money, obtained from the sale of butter and eggs, so