CORN, INDIAN

or MAIZE, a prolific grain believed to be native to the tropical regions of America. The early colonists found the Indians cultivated the plant, and named it Indian corn to distinguish it from that grown in the Old World, where wheat, barley, rye and other grains are known as corn. The general cultivation of Indian corn in temperate climes dates from its discovery on American soil, though there is a supposition that a similar grain was once grown in ancient China and in the East. If, however, the Old World was ever really acquainted with the plant known as Indian corn, its cultivation was neglected; at any rate it was viewed as’ a new and strange plant when Columbus brought it to Spain, whence its growth spread slowly over Europe, Asia and Africa, and later to Australia. On the American continent corn is grown from Canada'to Argentina. It is an annual crop, and has several types grown for grain. Among them are Pop, Flint, Dent, Soft or Flour, or Sweet or Sugar Corn. The plant generally reaches a height of from two to fifteen feet, according to its type and variety; its ears vary from one to fifteen inches in ‘length. The white and mealy portions of the kernel consist chiefly of starch; most of the protein is in the hard and fiinty parts; and the germ contains most of the oil. The kernels of pop corn burst open when heated. Flint corn has a mealy starchy substance enclosed in a hard and flinty kernel. It is used for feeding, like dent corn, whose starchy portion extends to the summit of the kernel. The contents of soft corn are mealy and white. Sweet corn, with its horny kernels, is dried or canned, or consumed in the green state. Other types are Dwarf Golden or Rice pop corn, King Philip and Long fellow flint corn, Reid Yellow, Leaming, and Boone County white dent corn, Curzo soft corn, Early Boston Market and Stowell Evergreen sweet corn, and pod corn, in which each kernel is enclosed in a pod or husk. ‘ The roots of corn are fibrous and extend in all directions, spreading from four to twelve inches beneath the surface. The crop is planted in hills or rows or drills, usually in May, when the soil is warm’ and moist. It is grown either for the grain, when only the mature ears are harvested after the plant has dried, or for fodder and silage, in which case the crop is cut as the ears begin to harden. Corn is mainly grown as cattle feed, but it is also extensively utilized for cereal breakfast foods, while it also figures in the production of starch, glucose, paper, varnish, gun-cotton and other materials. As a table vegetable its culture is quite extensive near large cities, where it is cultivated as a truck crop, and in some districts for canning purposes. Generally, its cultivation calls for better land and farming than any other of the staple crops. The harvest takes place in the fall. The world’s crop of corn exceeds that of all other staples; in 1921 it amounted to 3,710,115,000 bushels. In 1922 the area laid to corn in the United States covered 103,224,000 acres, which produced 2,875,000,000 bushels of a value of $1,801,900,000. The United States contributes between half and three fourths of the world’s supply.