The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1885-06-12
4Niscel
White vs.. Yellow Corn.

If you were to ask the average farmer
which he preferred, white corn or yellow, he
would say yellow" And if asked why, he
would say stock like it better" Or he
might assert that sit makes swoeter bread, or
more pounds of beef or pork, or even more
gallons of whisky TO the bushel" If asked
why" once more the answer comes confident
ly, "because it has more oil in it,"
Our preferences are not always formed on
reason. Why, in our region, yellow corn is
preferred for bread, while in another even the
darkles claim that yellow meal is only fit for
cattle, comes from custom rather than rea-
son.
The writer's experience in raising both
varieties in tho Miami Valley for sixteen
years goes to prove that the white corn will
yield on an average 10 to Is per cent. more
bushels to the acre, will make as many
pounds of pork to the bushel, and, when sold
for shipping, will bring in this market from
two to five cents more per bushel. 1t is claim
cd that yellow corn natures earlier and is
more sound than is the white. If we COM
pare the smaller or medium sized varieties of
yellow with the larger varieties of white, the
claim is true. On the other hand, if we COM
pare the large. yellow corn with the medium
or small varieties of the white, the latter will
mature earlier and be more sound. If we
compare the large yellow with the large
white, or the medium yellow with the
medium white, the latter will be found as
sound and quick to mature as the yellow.
In raising the two kinds it will be found,
too, that the white corn will hold its type or
marked characteristic more uniformly than
will any yellow variety which the writer has
tried, and of the Dents he has tried all the
varieties. The bright yellow color is more
attactive, and looks richer than the dingy
white which characterizes the Dent variety,
and perhaps horses and pigs would select the
yellow ifallowed to choose, just as children
and persons lacking cultivated taste will al
ways choose the red apple without any
further investigation of its quality.
If the popular theory about an excess of
oil in yellow corn is correct, chemistry would
certainly confirm it. Now what does analy-
sis tell Us about this
Dr. Kedzie, in one of his institute papers,
gave analysis of seven yellow corns and five
white, grown in Michigan. The average
per cent. of fat in the yellow corns is 492 and
in the white the average is 500. The aver
age percentage of carbohydrates Starch, fat,
sugar and gum) for yellow corn is 74.44, and
for white is 1881. This very practical and
scientific gentleman, in speaking ofthe COM
parative feeding values of white and yellow
corn says "The quantity of albuminoids
and mineral matter in all these specimens of
corn, being ample. for all requirements of fat
tening swine, and the Carlo hydrates being
nearly the same in all, it would seem that their
value for fattening purposes is nearly the
SINE. If there is any difference it is in favor
of the white corn"
This common talk about the amount of oil
in the different varieties is very indefinite and
proves nothing, since the claim is made by
those who judge only by the appearance or
color of the grains.
1t is more than likely this rich oily look
comes from another substance that fat. Com
pairing the oily appearance of the several
varieties analysed at Geneva Station, we will
see that the oily look is confined to the
varieties having the largest per cent. of gum
rather than of fat. The rich, greasy-looking,
eght-rowed flint shows GIG gum and 483
fat, while the dingy, chafy-looking Tuscan
ora shows LA gum and SIT fat. The sum
ofthe whole matter is that the preference for
yellow corn is deluson without basis in
facts Butter county, Ohio