302 The Plant World. 



influence is carried in the seed. The com packers of Maine in- 

 sist that green corn grown in the north from northern -grown 

 seed is superior to that which can be produced from seed grown 

 farther south. The ^Maryland packers insist that they can get 

 not only more but sweeter and more tender corn from seed grown 

 in their own locality. In both cases the superior results obtained 

 from local-grown seed may be accounted for by the fact that seed 

 grown in any localit}' for a number of generations has been found 

 by experimentation to give better results in that locality than 

 seed of the same stock equally well grown elsewhere. 



If we carefully select ears grown from eastern and from 

 western seed-Avhich are in exactly the same stage of maturity 

 chemical analysis fails to detect any constant difference in sugar 

 content. There is, however, a slight but discernible difference 

 in the size of the chit, or germ, and in a general way the green 

 com from western seed is slightly coarser in texture and less 

 tender than that from eastern seed. The difference in quality 

 may be accounted for as follows: 



The climatic conditions in the western corn -growing sections 

 especially during the season when the corn is earing, are often 

 such as to induce a marvellously rapid development — much more 

 rapid than is usually seen in the East. In the West it is some- 

 times difficult to find ears of sweet com green enough to be in 

 prime boiling condition in fields where it was equally difficult to 

 find ears which were mature enough to be palatable forty-eight 

 to seventy-two hours earlier. Seed grown under such conditions 

 would often transmit the rapid-maturing habit of the plants that 

 produce it. The quality of green com, particularly as to tender- 

 ness and sweetness, is very dependent upon the stage of maturity 

 at which it is cooked, sometimes the growth of only a few hours 

 affecting the discemible sugar content. If the com in a field 

 from western seed in which the rapid-maturing habit was trans- 

 mitted was gathered for canning when most of the ears were in 

 prime green -com condition, some of the ears would be so mature 

 as to lower the average quality, but it would be impracticable 

 to reject such slightly over-mature ears, and the resulting poor 

 quality of the pack would be charged to generally inferior stock 

 rather than to the effect of the few older ears. 



The mixture of varieties through cross-pollination is one of 

 the most serious obstacles with which the grower has to contend. 



