The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1913-11-19
POP CORN AS
A COMMODITY
Somebody Somewhere Is Giving Pop
Corn More Than Passing Notice,
Sac County Among Other.
oDEsoLT CENTER OF LOCALITY

ODEBOLT CENTER OF LOCALITY
Fifteen Thousand Acres Annually Pro-
duced in That Vicnity-lnterest.
ing Study Of the Corn.
written by Supt. H. J. Voris, by Re-
quest.)
Probably the average citizen, passing
by the popcorn stand on the street
corner has never thought of it as be-
ing of any commercial Importance.
A little reflection however will con-
vince anyone that somebody some
where is giving pop corn more than a
passing notice. For, whence all this
pop corn that is being sold on the
street corners of every city, town and
hamlet of the land; that is being
peddled up and down the streets and
on the trains everywhere? Where
can one go that he does not see the
pop corn vender?
1t is plain that the garden spot here
and there will not supply the demand.
Thousands upon thousands of acres
are required.
The center of the locality which pro-
duces it most extensively is Odebolt.
Within radius of fifteen miles of Cd
ebolt, from twelve to fifteen thousand
acres are produced annually. No other
single locality is engaged so extens-
lively in the production of this crop.
Good pop corn increases in bulk
from sixteen to twenty-five times when
popped. An interesting question is,
what causes it to pop? The grain of
corn is made up of the germ or en-
bryo, which is commonly called the
heart of the grain, and supply Of
food material called the endosperm.
The food varies from all soft white
starchy material in the soft corns to
all hard flinty material in the hard
flint corn. The endosperm or food Of
the common dent corn, which is the
field crop of Iowa, consists of an outer
hard portion and of soft part which
makes up the bulk of the butt of the
grain. In pop corn all the endosperm
is 8of the hard finty variety. Now
WREN this corn is we'll matured and
properly dried it is ready. for popping.
When gently heated to sufficiently
high temperature the small amount
of moisture imprisoned in the very
nard endosperm explodes, and the re-
suit is familiar to everyone. There
must be the right amount of moisture
for the best popping. The corn may
become too dry. The dealers here I'M
derstand this, and when they have
corn two or three years old on hand it
Il, vNyS s,y, ho MT ro$ tn lon ,,
er. 1t pops better then than in dry
weather.
Some questions which may be of in.
terest to farmers who have never pro-
duced popcorn as field crop are:
Does it pay? Is it hard to raise? Does
it require any special kind of soil ?
How is it planted? How cultivated,
etc.?
There is more pop corn shipped out
of Odebolt than any other town in the
world. 1t is bought and sold by the
hundredweight and not by the bushel.
The average crop in this locality Is
about $500 pounds per acre at husking
time, and the average price at that
time Is $1.25 per hundredweight. The
cost of planting and cultivating is not
more than that of the ordinary crop Of
corn. Husking costs from twelve to
fifteen cents per hundred. The husk-
ers make better wages at these prices
than they do hus king field corn. Many
farmers have suitable cribs for stor-
ing the crop and market it the follow
ing summer. As rule this is pay
ing proposition. The price has gone
above $500 per hundred. This sum-
mer it touched 1925. At the present
time last years crop is worth $275.
These prices are per hundred for
shelled corn. The loss in cobs and
shrinkage is commonly from 20 to 80
per cent; $500 pounds at $1.25 would
be $31.25, price per acre at husking
time; $500 pounds, less 80 per cent.
at $3.50, about the average price
through the summer, would be $43.75.
A field that is well prepared for the
ordinary field crop of corn is ready for
pop corn. The pop corn is planted by
either drilling or check rowing. Check.
ing appears to give better results than
drilling. 1t is planted with an ordinary
corn planter, putting from five to
eight grains to the hill. Pop corn has
a tendency to sucker. Better ears are
obtained when it does not sucker. 1t
is claimed by some that by planting
thick the suckers are not so abund.
ant, and SO from seven to ten grains
may be put in hill.
The time required to mature the
variety of pop corn that is grown in
this locality is but little if any less
than that for the field corn. This re.
quires planting about the time of the
ordinary crop. The cultivating of the
crop is not different from that of the
field corn.
Last year the Mississippi
Grain company bought pop corn at
Odebolt, Arthur Early and Battle
Creek. The crop at Odebolt averaged
about $50 pounds per acre more than
at any of the other towns, and it. is
claimed that the field corn crop that
year in this vicinity was not better
than in the others mentioned. This
appears to point to difference in the
SOIL What this difference which fay-