The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1880-11-20
A KERNEL OF CORN.

Dut IIluL OHt kcIIiCi VI COth 90 thC
cause of serious dispute, and gave rise
to several questions of honor and fair
dealing which hope the reader will be
able to settle satisfactorily in his own
mind. aH ~ f3as iAas.tis
The kernel of corn may be said to be
a historic one. 1t was the ancestor OF
that variety of field corn once well
known, locally, at least. as the "red
Indian corn"-something as now we
have the pine-knot" corn. the " yellow
flint" and the I" Compton" and the
"lost nation wheat" sh.t.fss
AS l have said, it had curious his
tory, Of which the following are the
points of interest.
: So far as is known, its origin was. on
the farm of man named Carroll, whose
place joined that where the present
writer lived when young. i6si
Jim and Ed Carroll were boy neigh
bors, and up to the time of my story,
were very intimate with my brother
Thomas and myself.
That season, Mr.. Carroll had a two
acre field Of peach-blow" potatoes
Just below our line-wall. on the west
side of the road, and well remember
how beautifully they looked when in
blossom. People never seem to look
for any beauty in potato-field; yet 1
know of few more beautiful sights than
large field of peach-blow or early rose
potatoes in full bloom.
When hUeing-potato time came, Tom
and / changed works, as we called it,
with the Carroll boys; that is to say, for
the sake of working together, we worked
forJthem one day, and they for us the
next. a ta9 3 AXIS
Potatoes, as every farm boy knows.
have to be billed up" We used to
work two to row, one killing up one
side of 1t, the other following him and
killing up the other side. The four of
us could thus carry two rows along at
once, and that almost as fast as one
could walk, after they had been culti-
waited OUT - : -
One forenoon, as we hoed together in
Mr.. CAROLS two-acre field, Ed and !
came to fine, fresh shoot of corn
standing alone between two potato
hills in our row. :.s ~ sfv
:. Seems too bad to cut it up" Ed.
said. =. it looks so green and nice. Let
it grow with the potatoes if it WILL
We pulled out the weeds round it,
hilled it up little and let it stand.
That Kernel of common corn had
found its way into the field here and
terminated, was no great wonder. But
this was not common corn, though we
did not then know to the contrary.
1t grew rankly and was soon visible q
long way off. among the low potatoes.
I n<Augnst, it stood tall, strong stalk
seven feet in height, with remarkably
fine, broad leaves and q bushy tassel,
rich in pollen. Two fine ears had
formed on it. r re
BY the 18th Of September the husk
cracked, disclosing the corn, now fully
turned from the milk. 1t stood erect in
the field and when the boys came to
dig the potatoes, we noticed it more
particularly. sdi p .ae fea
For, instead of being golden yellow,
like the common eight-rowed corr
planted thereabouts. this corn was of Q
deep, reddish tint and ten-rowed. The
ears, too, were very large, fully a foot
in length and very finely formed. The
kernels were evenly set in the rows
along the cob and handsomely shaped
In fact. as every one who saw it said,
g they were two of the handsomest ears o.
corn ever raised in that region. s.
a Mr.. Carroll told the boys to let the
stalk stand till the corn was fully
ripened. so as to save it for seed. Many
visitors and all the neighboring farmers
went to look at it. No one seeing il
knew to what variety " belonged, ane
many were the specuiatlons as 70 now
III got tnere.
some tnougntit was stray kerne
ielt in the SOL ana somehow preserved
down IRON the days when the Indians
used 70 plant corn tnere' anu party
Io.n INA. con!ec.ul1 anu parry it9u'
ns reu coior, ~ so' .ue NAME ~ Icu An
sn sa u UenG. sioh ILL., ma SOIL;
hax;r, ,',o, ~ :. 49,, . 800 r a.
,srca In ~ n"Sssdv Srew : s'o's 1