No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 311 



eliminate the nubbin in so far as it is due to heredity? We can 

 eliminate the sucker producer, the broken stalk, the stalk with 

 ears too high or too low, the stalk which puts too much vitality 

 into the production of stalk and leaves, the stalks that do not pro- 

 duce the right sort of shank, that ripen too late or too early under 

 the right kind of culture, soil and climate. With all these weak 

 nesses eliminated we should at least double the yield of corn iiv 

 Pennsylvania, and instead of having 31 bushels per acre we would 

 have 62, or instead of 52,000,000 bushels we should have 100,000,000, 

 which would mean $25,000,000 for the Pennsylvania farmer — quite 

 an advantage. Corn is as amenable to improvement in quality as 

 to increase in quantity. The grain of corn is composed of six prin- 

 cipal parts, namely: First, the tip cap covering the end of the kernel, 

 to protect the germ; second, the hull, which is the thin outer cover- 

 ing of the kernel; third, the horny gluten, or the hard horny part 

 immediately under the hull, and is the richest in potein of any part 

 of the corn kernel, but is not entirely protein; fourth, the hard or 

 horny starch next to the horny gluten, which can be seen to differ 

 both from it and the starch between which it lies, and also contains 

 a large proportion of protein; fifth, the starch occupying the crown 

 of the kernel and usually surrounds the germ, except in high pro- 

 tein corn; sixth, the germ occupying the center of the kernel and 

 ending at the tip and extending toward the crown one-half or two- 

 thirds of the length of the kernel, and contains .the embryo stem 

 and the embryo root. The germ contains from 80 to 85 per cent, 

 of all the oil in the kernel and the germ, the horny gluten and horny 

 starch contain 80 per cent, of the gluten found in the grains of 

 corn. 



I have here diagrams showing the component parts of a low and a 

 high protein grain of corn. The one has a nutritive ration of about 

 1-14, and the other of about 1-8, or in other words, one has one 

 part of protein, muscle, blood, bones and milk-producing substance, 

 to 14 of fat and heat-producing substance, while the other has one 

 part protein, muscle, blood, bone and milk-producing substance to 

 only 8 parts of fat and heat-producing substance — a very good fat- 

 tening ration. Why is this difference in the component parts of 

 the £rain of corn? Because just as there is a tendency in some 

 ears to produce barren stalks, nubbins, suckers and many other 

 defects, as well as in others to produce perfect ears, so there is a 

 tendency to change the chemical composition of the grain of corn, 

 and corn breeders throughout the West are taking advantage of this 

 and are producing varieties of corn adapted for the purpose it is 

 intended to serve. 



Immense quantities of corn are used in the manufacture of glu- 



