The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-10
No. 10 for Dyspepsia,
FREAK CORN IN INDIANA.
Growing on Trees and Raised From
Prehistoric seed Maybe 5000 Years
From the Chicago Record.

old.
From the Chicago Record.
Anderson. Ind, Sept. 2L-The work Of
laying in" Indiana's great corn crop has
begun This week the cutters entered
eastern and central fields and are begin
ming to put the corn in the shock
Dempsy Waggy, farmer residing in
Madison county probably has the most
interesting field Of corn in the state. Two
years ago Waggy and Or. Cullen. a neigh
Dor. were hunting in Arkansas. They were
staying in a small viilaged named Marked
Tree. II got its rather unusual title from
the fact that one Of the trees bore strange
hieroglyphics Of an extinct race. The
small village is surrounded by many
mounds Of remarkable snake-like contour.
During their stay some northern scientists
visited the mounds and began explora-
tions. finding many trinkets. Going deep
or they found bones of humans and trim
kets which had been buried with them. In
one Of the Theoretically sealed recepta-
Giles, which was evidently the last rest
ing place Of one of the rulers, the explor-
ers found ornaments, the skeletons Of q
dog and Of a human being and also some
air-tight and when opened were found to
contain corn. 1t was as bright yellow
solid and dry as though il has just been
shelled. The explorers took these vessels
but gave Waggy a handful of the corn.
He wrapped il up in a handkerchief and
threw It into his travelling chest. There it
lay for two years. Scientists claimed
that there were ample proofs that the
body and the corn had been inferred at
least 1000 years and probably as long as
1900 years.
Waggy came across the seeds last spring
and planted them in his garden He was
surprised when tiny blades shot up
through the ground. The corn grew mar
velously fast, and as it developed il threw
out new mysteries almost daily, until to-
day the stalks are ten 10 twelve feet in
hight and are somewhat on the order of
a tree being as thick as a mans wrist
az the ground Three feet from the
ground they shoot out three long, palm
Ike leaves. The leaves are heavy and
very solid, resembling a cactus leaf. Some
of them are five feet long from tip to
tip. These are the only leaves on the
stalk. About two feet further up are the
ears Of corn. Many stalks bear six ears
and none has fewer than four ears At
this rate it is figured that the average
yield to the acre would be about $50 BUSH
els.
Above the ears the stalk continues three
or four feet and is topped with a very
elaborate tassel The husks surrounding
the ears are very heavy, and as the corn
natures they break and curl back re-
vealng a firm, grained ear The
grains are very solid and are exceptionally
good for feeding. The roots of the plant
are very long and bury themselves deep
In the ground. While other corn was suf-
ferlng on account of the drought this year
the prehistoric corn was green and healthy
Waggy viii save all of the yield this year
and plant fifty or sixty acres next year.
He has some Of the stalks and corn on ex-
hibiton and they are attracting much at
tention.
H. j. Blacklidge of Anderson, who owns
several farms north of this city also ex-
hibits a freak in corn. A year ago a friend
An Russia sent him package of seed and
told him TO plant it. The seeds were very
nice and solid and seemed 10 be superior
to the average Indian corn. 1t was planted
in a good lowland section, and it outgrew
all of the surrounding corn. 1t was about
the same hight as the other corn. but
was a little heavier i'm the stalk. The ears
began 10 form and silk and every evolu-
ton was about in line with that of the
other corn which surrounded the small
patch, except that there We're two ears on
the new stalks to one on the old.
one day when the strange corn had al
most matured Blacklidge went out to gath
er a little Of il. He took hold of a we'll
formed ear and threw back the husks He
was surprised to find instead of yellow
grains of corn a series of smaller husks
where every grain should be. He opened
one Of these and found it to be properly
siked. Underneath il lay a second husk,
also properly silked, and under it was the
grain o. corn. Rlackidge figures that the
new corn viii yield 125 bushels to the acre.
and that it is superior in dent TO the
other corn, but he does not know how to
handle IT, Probably it will be fed through
a shelter and then subjected to a tanning
process. He announces that he will plant
several acres of it next year. He cannot
classify it with any of the known va
rieties
a Scottsburg, Ind. farmer who has been
experimenting for the last few years
claims 20 have secured a corn that will
run $50 bushels TO the acre on the Indiana
knobs in the south part of the state If il
viii grow to that extent in that locality. ID
viii run almost double the number of
bushels in the better corn lands of the