154 ANNUAL REPOETS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



prime condition for table use is practically constant for all yarieties 

 tried. In utilizing this discovery, ears are marked w itli dated tags on 

 the day the silks appear. Sixteen days later these ears will be in 

 prime condition and can be harvested rapidly without the necessity 

 of opening the husks to judge the maturity. It is believed that this 

 simple expedient will prevent losses that now result from the harvest- 

 ing of immature and overmature ears. For home consumption the 

 method also affords a means of gratifying individual preferences in 

 the degree of maturity. 



SWEET CORN RESISTANT TO THE CORN AVOEM. 



Experiments directed toward securing a variety of corn combining 

 the advantages of the well-protected ears of southern varieties of 

 field corn with those of the sweet seeds of table varieties have been 

 successful. The resulting worm-proof sweet varieties have now been 

 tested for two seasons in comparison with other sweet varieties and 

 have been found to possess a satisfactory degree of worm resistance. 

 The utilization of these worm-resistant strains should bring about 

 the extension of the production of sweet corn in the South, where at 

 present the ravages of the corn worm practically prevent its culti- 

 vation. The results of these experiments have been submitted for 

 publication. 



CORN MEAL. 



Various makes of small mills and hand sieves have been tested for 

 grinding new corn into meal. Meals of exceptionally good qualities 

 and of various degrees of granulation have been readily made by 

 means of mills and sieves costing less than $5. The greatest advan- 

 tage from home grinding lies in the ability to select new, clean corn 

 and grind, cook, and eat it while it possesses its fresh, rich oil and 

 nutty flavor. 



COTTON STALKS. 



Because of the enormous aggregate tonnage of crop waste in the 

 form of cotton stalks, the extravagant and continual claims as to 

 their value as paper stock, and the demand for reliable information 

 in regard to their possible paper-making value, considerable pre- 

 liminary investigation has been made of this material and the follow- 

 ing tentative conclusions have been reached : 



In the first place, present methods of assembling this crop waste 

 are too expensive to be practicable for commercial purposes. The 

 economical assembling of the material at a cost which will be com- 

 mercially profitable is beset with difficulties which have not as yet 

 been removed. 



The development of a process for pulping the material also in- 

 volves real problems. The material is a mixture of plant structures 

 differing considerably in physical and chemical characteristics, and 

 the sizes or masses of the different components vary to a great degree. 

 A blanket process for the pulping of the entire mass therefore be- 

 comes a difficult matter. 



It has been determined that the caustic-soda process of pulping 

 would not be justified by the quantity and quality of paper pulp 



