The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1901-01-11
THE RACES OF CORN.
An interesting Resume of Fact,
About This Great Native Plant.

An interesting Resume of Facts
About This Great Native Plant.
Indian corn has been in cultivation
by the native races of America for an
indefinite period 1t probably original
ed from a wild form somewhere on the
Mexican plateau. Botonists usually
refer all our forms to one species. Yea
mays, with several well marked sub
species or races. There are five impor-
tant races of corn grown in the United
States on commercial scale:
/. Dent Corns.-A part of the starch
in the grain is of a close hard texture.
This is called the horny endosperm and
Is found along the sides of the kernel,
while the softer portion. or starchy en-
| dosperm, is found in the center extend
ing to the summit. In drying the CEN
ter shrinks more than the rest and
hence leaves 4 dent at the apex of the
grain. Dent cornS are the common
field varieties grown in the corn belt
and are almost the only kinds exported.
There are various colors. white. yellow
and notified calico being the most
common. There are also red and blue
varieties. Three hundred and twenty
three varieties are described
>. Sweet Corns.-These are chiefly
| found in gardens. but are grown on a
! commercial scale for canning purposes.
and some of the large sorts are grown
for fodder. The first variety cultivated
was obtained from the Indians of New
! England in 1919. In 1854 there were
| 10 varieties Now there are Is. Corn
as a vegetable is practically unknown
outside the United States.
3. Flint.-Th horny cndosperm en-
| tirely surrounds the Starchy. and hence
the grain is smooth at maturity. Color
! various Many varieties have eight
rows and hence are known as eight
rowcd corn Flint corn can be grown
much farther north than the dent corn.
since it natures earlier; hence it is the
! prevailing form in Canada and the
northern United States Since it is the
common corn of New England it is Of
ten called Yankee corn.
/. PopcurnS.-TheSe resemble the
flint cornS but differ in the ability to
pop when heated. This phenomenon
! depends upon the fact that the starch
is in the form of horny endoSperm,
and the moisture present cannot easily
escape, but finally eXplodes, turning
the grain inside out. Popcorn seems
to be the least modified from the orig
NAL type. There are ~ varieties.
>. Soft CornS-In these the starch
Is all in the form of starchy endo-
sperm. Seem to have been common
among the Indians of the southwest.
Some of the blue squaw corns belong
20 this race Brazilian flour corn sold
by Secdsmen is Il soft corn. There is
no dent in these varieties.
Besides the above there is Il pod corn
grown as Il curiosity. in which each
kernel is incloSed in Il huSk. and some
ornamental varieties derived from the
flint corn, grown for the striped or
barred leaves. The latter are usually
| sold under the name of Ica japonica.
The varieties of corn are very varia-
Bile in size shape and other qualities
The late DR.. Sturtevant, an authority
on corn, said: The height of the plant
in varieties and localities has been re-
ported from Is inches for the golden
Tom Thumb pop TO 80 feet or more for
varieties in the West Indies and single
! stalks in Tennessee at 22la feet.
have seen ears one inch long in the
pop class and rs inches long in the dent
class, The rows in varieties may vary
from s to "A or more and in individual
ears are reported from / to IS. A hun
dred kernels of miniature pop weighed
46 grains; of CuZco soft, 1,531 grains.
y variety that ripens in one month is
mentioned from Paraguay, and seven
months is said to be required in some
southern countries"
The tables show that the average
composition of dent corn is: Protein,
1913 per cent; fat, > per cent. Flint:
Protein. 100 per cent; fat, ) per cent
Sweet: Protein. 11.6 per cent; fat, 81
per cent. Sweet corn is thus richer in
protein and fat and correspondngly
poorer in carbohydrates
At the Kansas State Agricultural
college experiments are in progress 10
increase the protein content of field
corn by crossing and selection Any
increase in the protein will greatly eX-
tend its usefulness as feed for stock.
A :. Hitchcock, Kansas