INDIAN CORN AS A FOOD FOR MAN. 

 L. H. Merrill. 



Among the benefits which accrued to civilized man through 

 the discovery of the New World, the acquisition of Indian corn 

 must be considered as one of the greatest. Its excellence seems 

 to have quickly impresed itself upon the early settlers, and the 

 history of the American Colonies was from the first closely 

 identified with this grain. Since corn is not only a native of 

 the Americas but has been cultivated by the Indians and natives 

 of Central and South America for 20 centuries or more, it is not 

 strange that it was found to be admirably adapted to the climate 

 and needs of this quarter of the globe. The alacrity with which 

 it was adopted by the settlers was in itself sufficient tribute to its 

 excellence. It seems to have been the only food plant cultivated 

 by the Indians, and so exclusively was it grown that the word 

 corn, which formerly signified any cereal food grain, soon lost 

 its original meaning and came to be applied exclusively to Indian 

 corn, although the wider use of the word is still retained in Eng- 

 land. It was a long time before this grain ceased to be the 

 most important of our food cereals ; indeed, it is scarcely a cen- 

 tury since wheat has assumed the leading place to which its 

 superior bread-making qualities entitle it. 



Although Indian corn now occupies the second place in 

 importance among the cereals which in this country serve as 

 food for man, it far exceeds wheat in the size and value of the 

 crop produced. In 161 1 the James River settlement had 30 

 acres of corn under cultivation. In 1621 the Massachusetts 

 Bay colony boasted 20 acres devoted to the same crop. In 1905 

 there were in the United States 94,000,000 acres in corn, and 

 the crop attained the almost incredible size of 2,707,993,540 

 bushels, with a value of $1,116,696,738. In the same year 

 47,854,079 acres were given up to wheat, and the crop was 

 692,979,489 bushels, worth $518,372,727. The acreage of corn 



