ORIGIN AND SIGNIFICANCE OF CORN BELT MAIZE 125 



the distant future, but our understanding of Corn Belt dent corns is already 

 more complete than we had originally hoped. Since our evidence is detailed 

 and of various kinds, it may make the presentation somewhat easier to follow 

 if we give a brief description of the pre-hybrid commercial yellow dents of 

 the United States Corn Belt, review their history in broad outline, and then 

 proceed to an examination of the various kinds of evidence on which these 

 generalizations have been built. 



Corn Belt dents, the commercial varieties which dominated the chief 

 centers of corn production in the United States for over half a century pre- 

 ceding the advent of hybrid corn, were variable open-pollinated varieties. 

 They varied from plant to plant, from field to field of the same variety, and 

 from variety to variety. Figure 8.1, based upon an examination of a field of 

 Golden Queen, one of the lesser known of these varieties, will indicate the 

 kind of variation which characterized the fields of that day. 



In spite of this variation, or one might almost say, impressed on top of it, 

 was a remarkably persistent combination of generally prevalent characters. 

 Considered from plant to plant or from field to field, as individuals, these 

 varieties seemed ephemeral and unimportant. Seen as populations, as col- 

 lections of inter-breeding individuals, the Corn Belt dents as a whole were a 

 well-marked and definite entity, particularly when contrasted with maize 

 in other parts of the world. They tended to have one well-developed ear, fre- 

 quently accompanied by a small ear at the node below this primary one. 

 The ears had large, nearly cylindrical cobs with red or reddish glumes. The 

 usually golden yellow kernels, pronouncedly dented at the tip, had a peri- 

 carp frequently roughened by tiny wrinkles. They were set in from 14 to 22 

 straight rows with little external indication of the fact that the rows were in 

 pairs. The mathematical perfection of the ear was frequently lessened by a 

 slight tendency for the whole ear to taper toward the apex, and for the row- 

 ing of the kernels and the diameter of the cob to be somewhat differentiated 

 in its lowermost quarter. 



Characteristically, the plant on which this ear was borne had a single, up- 

 right stem, leaves with tight sheaths and strong, arching blades, and a 

 heavy, many -branched tassel. Kernel color was remarkably standardized, 

 a faint flush of coppery red in the pericarp and a yellow endosperm, combin- 

 ing to give varying shades of deep, golden color. Epidermal color was ap- 

 parent on the culm and leaves at the base of the plant, but seldom or never 

 were there to be found the brilliant reds, dark purples, and other foliage 

 colors which are so characteristic of maize in various parts of Latin America. 

 While there was some variation in anther color and silk color, pinks and dull 

 reds were commonest though greens and bright reds were not unknown. 



As we have shown elsewhere (Anderson and Brown, 1950) there cannot 

 be the slightest doubt that these widespread and standardized Corn Belt 

 varieties were the creation of the nineteenth century. They came in large part 



