The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1926-07-09
TOURING WORLD
WITH CORN CROP
"Corn," in Other Countries
Don't Mean What 1t
Does in America.


cannot be marketed satisfactorily
either In the sack or ION the hoof,
corn holds the center of the economic
land even the political-stage In
America just now.
"Just what Is cornP asks bulie-
tin from the Washington ID. CO head
quarters of the National Geographic
society.
1.-THE youngest farm lad will be sure
he can answer that question fully,
continues the bulletin. But can he!
"Tell an Englishman that bumper
corn crop Is causing our farmers eco
nomic distress and he will not think OF
fields Of great, tall stalks and big gold
en- ears. but of waving wheat and huge
elevators. You must speak of maize
II you would have him understand
"Talk to South African of either
corn or maize and he will fall to get
your meaning. He grows the same
plant with its grain-studded cobs but
Il is 'mealies' to him. So around the
world you will find what we know as
corn growing under half dozen
aliases, while in other English-speak-
ing countries corn means something
entirely different.
acorn is an English word of long
standing. OF DID, it meant any small.
hard granule. 'Pepper-corn' is one
survival, while 'corned' beef is, sur
prisingly. another 'Corned meat gets
It's name from the fact that it was first
prepared with coarse grains of salt
balt-corns.' Even acorn has had
misspelling legitimatized because early
Englishmen naturally mistook Its der
ivation to be from 'oak-corn.'
Corn and Lawn Grasses Are Cousins
"From It's very general meaning
corn used alone, came In time to
mean the small grains of the cereal
plants such as barley, wheat, oats,
etc. and finally, in England and some
Of the colonies 1t usually meant wheat
Corn meant the cereals In general
at the time of the colonization of
America, and since Indian corn was
the predominant grain crop in the New
world, 1t soon monopollzed the name.
botany the classification Of corn, often
reaching a height of 20 feet, as
grass, Is a bit surprising. It is, how
ever, Just as truly grass as the tiny
plants that carpet golf green's, the sue
eulent foliage that covers pastures, the
cereals, wheat, oats, rice, and the like,
or its closer kinsmen. the sugar-canes
and the sorghums. Corn Is often
called giant grass 1t Is rather a
conservative giant, though, beside Its
cousin, bamboo, the grass that grows
into the sky Bamboo attains height
OF 125 feet and more.
"The confusion in regard to corn Is
snersases a. -. The existence of still 9th
or 'corns.' .Kaflir corn also a grass,
and cousin of Indian corn, Is one Of
the grain sorghums. 1t carries It's
round seeds not ON ears but in an
upright plume at the very top of its
stalk where Indian corn has its grain
less tassel. 1t did not reach America
until after $780,
Jerusalem corn is somewhat like
kaffir corn and the other grain sor-
ghums emilio, maize, durra, etc. but
Its seed-clusters hang downward, the
ends of the stalk being bent over. It.
too, Is an immigrant.
Broom corn Is the queerest of the
cousins that bear commonly the corn
surname, and incidentally 1t Is the old
est Of the nonsugar-bearing sorghums
to be cultivated In the United States
Brooms were made commercially In
America from locally grown broom
corn as early as 1893. and the plant
was grown for home broom making
some years earlier. The seeds are
Of little value in broom-corn but the
stems of the clusters, are ad-
mirably suited to use in making
brooms.
Corn That Turns inside Out
Popcorn is merely sort of dwarf
Indian corn bearing small ears stud
ded with small, hard kernels. The lat
ter have the property. however. of puff
flng or popping when heat Is applied
The hard outer shell bursts and the
grain puffs out so violently that 1t
turns itself inside out Millions of
dollars in nickels and dimes have
changed hands on American street cor
ners because of the contortions of pop
corn grains.
1T is generally accepted that Amer
lea gave Indian corn to the world
A few students have supported the
theory that the plant came from Asia
to Europe and from America to Eu-
rope at about the same time, soon af
er the discovery Of America. There
are no generally accepted records Of
corn's existence In Asia before the
beginning of the Sixteenth century,
however, while 1t Is known to have
been cultivated In America for many
centuries before the arrival Of Co
lumbus.
"Since the Fifteenth century corn
has spread all over the world and Is
now an important crop in parts Of all
the continents as well as in New Yea
land and other islands. 1t Is one of
the most important food grains In por-
Yugo- Slavia, and Rumania In Burma
the corn grain is a sort of by-product
The type grown there has fine, silky
shucks or husks inclosing the ear.
This is the highly-prized product II
is used to wrap the 'whackin white
eheroots' smoked by Burmese men
women aud babies"