Evening star., 1951-11-23
Corn Gene Bunk' Set Up
By Research Council
Seed Of All Varieties of Groin
To Be AvoiIubIe to Growers

Seed of All Varieties of Groin
To Be AvuiIubIe to Growers
By Thomos R. Henry
The National Research Council is set
ting up corn gene bank"
The object Of this project. which Is
shared with the Agriculture Department
and the Technical Cooperation Admin
make available to corn growers through
out the Western Hemisphere seed Of all
the varieties Of the American grain fer
use in experiments.
It is expected that more than 1000
types Of corn will be involved In the pro-
gram, although maize Is only q single
species Of plant. Hence any Of these
types can be crossed to incorporate their
peculiar qualities in their progeny. They
will be collected all over the two Ameri-
can continents. Many Of the types are
known but now are unavailable to plant
breeders. They will : be perpetuated
through periodic planting to replace old
seed
The origin of the grain around which
great civilizations arose in the New
World before Columbus and which has
been major source Of wealth ever since
remains somewhat in doubt. When white
men first arrived it already had long
past and the present species was fully
established through the Americas.
Varieties Differ Widely.
But the varieties differed widely ac-
cording to climate, altitude, humidity,
local preference and many other fac
tors. From the first it was grown to the
farthest limits of New World agriculture.
It ranged from the lower st. Lawrence
to the southernmost tip of South Amer
lea.
Geographical separation. differences
in time Of Towering and the idiosyn-
cracies Of local cultivators have resulted
in an extraordinary variety of forms
hardly equalled in the plant kingdom.
Search still is under way for wild
ancestor, which well may be extinct. The
present suggestion is that this probably
was of the popcorn variety. 1t prob
ably originated sufficiently far away
from the Equator to have a well-marked
contrast between a warm, rainy sum-
mer and dry, cool fall-but no cold
winter. Northward it is difficult to To-
cate an area suitable as to climate and
soil much short of Guatemala. South
ward, however, such a condition exists
in the large eastern valleys of the
Peruvian Andes.
Present evidence points to dissemi-
nation in all directions of the early
forms from an unknown center, and es-
pecially their successful specialization
in the upper parts of the temperate and
the lower part of the cold zones In the
northern migration new group Of
forms developed in Guatemala, Mexico
and parts of the Southwest.
These new forms then were distrib-
uted southwark as well as northward.
One development was a grain suited to
most tropical lowlands. 1t gradually
penetrated from Guatemala to the West
Indies but apparently did not pass to
the adjacent mainland of the present
United States. 1t became, in many va
rieties, the chief grain of Brazil
''The original home of maize" says a
recent report of the Smithsonian Insti-
tuition, is greater puzzle at present,
with genetic studies continually enlarg-
ing the picture, than ever before. It
was probably not tropical nor did it
come from land deficient in rain. But
we cannot say that it began in either
the Northern or Southern Hemisphere.
nor can it be attributed with certainty
to the New World 1t is probable, how
ever, that the origin will be discovered
in the fairly near future"
IL, F.2 h r. Hsr= ee --re
r French explorers now are penetrating
the mysterious hinterland of Adelieland
with dog teams and tractors. a
This Is the pie-shaped section of the
Antarctic continent discovered by the
French explorer Dumont-D'U 'Urville more
than century ago, ownership of which
has been asserted by the French Re-
public ever since.
The claim now is being made good by
one Of the essential requirements
permanent occupation. A party of elev-
en-. according to Director Paul F. Victor.
now has been relieved after a year of
occupation. They passed the six-month.
long winter night in gale-proof barracks
brought from France. Adelieland is one
OF the windiest spots on earth and the
wild gales blowing constantly from the
South Pole have constituted one Of the
major hardships. Two members Of the
first occupation party, however, are re-
manning for another year, together with
the requirements.
The French are carrying on extensive
researches in meteorology and oceanog-
raphy. They are devoting constantly
more and more attention, however, to
the interior. which theoretically extends
to the South Pole
Nine on Greenland Cap.
Meanwhile. at the other end Of the
world, nine other members of the French
expeditions are camped in the center of
the Greenland icecap. Here, at a CEN
trail icecap research station, at an alti-
tude of $500 feet, they are carrying out
extensive weather and ice observations.
Temperatures range through great part
Of the year between-65 and-80 Fahren-
heit. For 10 continuous months the sta.
tion has taken four daily weather obser-
vations which now are incorporated in
the International Weather network.
There is considerable reason to believe
that the great icecap is responsible for
a good deal of the winter weather Of
much of the Northern Hemisphere.