The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-03-04
AGRICULTURAL
IMPROVEMENT OF CORN.

The well known Indian corn or maize, long cultivated thropgnout many warm and temperate regiels, is supposed to be a native of North America, but is not known in a wild statt. It is ts" plant with unbranched, robust stems. large light green blades or leaves. handsome, long stalked, terminal panicle, known as the tassel and very thick fertile spikes from the husks of which project long. green, slender styles known IS silks. The fruit Is hard, round caryopsls, known as the kernel, and is partly enclosed by the chafYy remains of the four glumes and broad pallet, the kernels and the rachis, or the cob, forming the spike or ear of corn.
 The seed furnishes an invaluable food to man and to domestic animals. The stalks and leaves are used for fodder and the husks are much used for filling mattresses and horse collars and for making door mats. coarse fabric, also, and paper of excellent quality. have been experimentally made from them The cob and sometimes the whole ear is used for fuel The chief value. of course, lies In the kernel.
 It appears in the market in the ear or shelled. It is a highly nutritious food, as starchy matter predominates in It. As human food 1t is used in various forms, including many varieties of bread. nasty pudding hominy. corn starch, etc, The immature kernels or green corn, boiled forms an excellent food in this state maize is largely preserved by canning. Of late years Indian corn has been extensive ly manufactured into glucose. It Is also largely used for fattening cattle and swine as well as horses An enormous amount Is consumed in the manufacture of spirits; 1t is the principal grain distilled in the United States
 Indian corn was found in cultivation over a great part of America on It's dis- covery and was rapidly diffused through out the world wherever the climate was suitable for It. Indian corn Is said to fur nish more food for the human family than any other grain except rice. Ihls Is due to the fact that the poorer classes of people who inhabt our tropicai coun- tries such as India, China and Mexico are large consumers of rice, in fact hVe nearly entirely upon this cereal.
 Demand increasing.
 The demand for these food products from the corn Is constantly on the ln- crease. both in our own country ana abroad. The people of Mexico are great consumers of these corn foods and there is demand from Mexico for these foods. |,
 In view of these growing demands, 1t has been deemed necessary that we eh- courage as far as we are apie' the srow ing of more and better corn ana 10 oo what we can to assist our farmers 10 grow and keep corn up to hig s,aIiuaru; To encourage the growing or more anu better corn-not only to encourage larger acreage. but 10 also iicie s yield and quality of the acreage no" useu In production. is our object.
 Wonderful improvements have been r,ade bv the cultivation and selectlon or seed corn From the little hard squaw corn. found in America among the ih- dians science and cultivation nave de- ,.aloned the great ears of corn we now soa on the market. While this is true, wei our corn has not nearly reached It's bighest state of perfection, and besides this in many sections farmers are auoW- ing their corn to deterorate-ailowihs u to run down in both quality and quantity; Surely the ever increasing demand ana the now almost uniform high price for corn should be an incentive to farmers to improve their soils and seed. so as to produce the very highest yields pos sible. Remember that as we increase the yield we increase the quality.
 To Increase the Yield.
 This is the important part of the sub feet and there are several things which should be carefully considered in this connection. In the first place, we are cultivatng too many acres for the amount of corn that we are producing The corn crop of the United States fer the year of 1905 was something close to Sl 25O 000 000 in value. The crop for 1908. full reports of which are not in at this writing may fall some below the figures for 19o5 However. the crop. in either year was worth more than both the cot ton and wheat crops
 Now. we believe that this great crop of corn could and should have been pro- duced on one-haf the number of acres ,. which. were used in growing the crop. ' 1n rnr1er can see the force of this posi-.