The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1870-10-20
IMPROVEMENT IN CORN.

RsraJ Nep Yorker and commend Il 10 the du,
consideration Of four readers particularly ou
agricultural readers. We cannot reproduct
the plates, but In place of them will stat.
that they represent stalk of corn with nine
leaves and tassel and an ear of corn in tht
axil of each of the ak. lower leaves, and :
specimen ear of corn with eight rows und
eight inches in length. 1t may be. too late
to be of use this year. but farmers can pre-
serve the article or remember what 1t con
tains and profit by It hereafter,I
Irdian corn or Zeanaays is but giant
species of grass. In the arrangement oil
its flowers It differs widely from the com
mon grasses of our pastures and meadows
for instead of both sexes being produced
in q single panicle or spike they are
borne separately, the male flowers (the
tasseD crown the stem while the female
(the Silk) issue from the axil Of q leaf at
a point usually termed a joint The cal
of corn being really an axillary branch
bearing seed, and inclosed within a kind
of secondary leaves called husks The
question must have occurred to every one
who has ever examined a stalk of corn.
"Why is it that an ear is produced from
one or more joints and not from Others
On the stems of very tall corn there
are often ten to twenty joints, and only
one or two ears but we can discover no
good reason why there should not be an
ear at the axil of every leaf. 1t is true
that with most of our common varieties
we do not expect il, knowing in advance
haA
words, varieties have been bred up or
down to their present condition. The
larger sorts Of the South and West have
been selected for size of kernel and ear
not for numbers, consequently we find
the tallest and coarsest growing varieties
producing fewer ears per stalk than the
dwarfs; and this involves great waste
of fertilizing material. drawn from the
soil, unless the stalks are valued in pro
portion to bulk, which is never done.
Where the soil is sufficiently strong to
Withstand this drain upon its fertility,
the productlon of an excessive amount Of
stalk and leaves is of little or no conse
quenee, any more than the extra number
of bushels fcorn required to make hun
dred pounds of pork upon the raw boned,
ow-fattening breeds of hogs that have
been kept for too. many years in the same
region of country. But when the soil
begins to lose its fertility, different sorts
and a different system of culture must
necessarily follow. To many of our read
ers living in the South and West, the re-
ported average amount of corn produced
per acre in the old and apparently worn
out soils of the Eastern States, has seem
ed to be something marvellous, to say the
least, and some of them have openly ex-
pressed their doubts in regard to the cor
rectness of the figures. That the average
yield per acre of corn In the older States
is from twenty to thirty per cent higher
than IL the richer soils and more favora-
BILE climate of the West and South, can
not be successfully controverted, but it IS,
nevertheless, q lamentable fact, and should
not and would not exist, if farmers used
more brains and less muscle in cultivating
their crops.
We do not propose to discuss the rela.
tive value of the various systems of cult
ure practiced by our farmers, although it
will be admitted by every man who has
examined them personally, that they have
much to do in making up the difference
in yield noted above But our special
object at this time is to show how, and
wherein, great improvements have been
and can be mace in the productiveness of
varieties. In growing a crop of corn,
view First, the grain; second, stalks
and leaves for fodder, and as a general
rule, the former being the most valuable,
our aim is to produce the largest amount
possible from a given area of soil. We
will say nothing of quality, as that ap-
pears to be quite satisfactory, and if far
ther advance in this direction is desired,
it can be obtained in the same manner as
other improvements have been, viz, by
careful selections of natural or forced va
riations. If a man has variety OF corn
that suits his climate and soil as we'll as
himself, he should not rest content with
it as long as there is chance for improve
ment in any direction. lk JUS
Taking all the different varieties togeth-
er they will not yield on an average
more than two ears per stalk; but if one
ear more can be added, and still retain
this full size, the increase in amount pro-
duced in the whole country would be
enormous, Comparatively speaking this
would be but slight Improvement, and
far less than what can be done if those
who cultivate this grain will attend to
the careful selection of seed. For the
purpose of showing that wonderful ad-
vance has already been made in this di-
rection, we give herewith an exact repre-
sentation of the stalk of new variety
raised by Mr.. JUDsoN. A single ear of
the same is also shown of natural size.
This it not fanciful representation of
an accidental specimen, but whole fields
of stalks just like it have been grown the
past season; and we have grown in our
garden several hundred stalks, none OF