THIRTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV 129 



I understaiul that, including the by-products of the manufacturers, 

 there are upwards of 200 different products of corn. Thus, containing so 

 many different elements, the general character of corn is naturally com- 

 plex, and sensitive, and that, as we know by experience, is demonstrated 

 by the manner in which it responds to good breeding and cultivation in 

 the growing by increased yields and improved quality, and as readily 

 succumbs to deterioration and the processes of decay if submitted to 

 improper treatment and care during the curing process or while in store. 



Since the time of its first use by civilized people, corn has devel- 

 oped into numerous types and varieties, and its character has been 

 changed more or less at the hands of the growers and professional 

 breeders. In fact, it has been found practical to breed corn with the 

 idea of increasing the comparative quantity of a particular food ele- 

 ment, such as protein, fat, starch and sugar, etc., and I believe that, un- 

 consciously perhaps, corn growers and breeders have developed types 

 and varieties of corn that naturally and inherently contain an unreason- 

 able proportion of water, that is one of the dominating elements con- 

 tained in the grain, and Avhich is of no intrinsic value, but does great 

 harm in effecting a deteriorating and decaying condition if excessive 

 in quantity, that rapidly depreciates its value, oftentimes disastrously, 

 and results in financial loss to the possessor of the corn, whether it be 

 the farmer, the grain merchant, or the transportation company. 



It is only a few years since Secretary Wilson, of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, began to investigate the moisture content of 

 corn and its effect on the keeping qualities of the grain. 



The investigations developed the fact that the minimum moisture 

 content of corn is about 12 per cent, the same as contained in the air, 

 and that it may run as high as 30 per cent, and even more. 



Some fifteen or eighteen years ago, I had an experience in connec- 

 tion with the purchase of about a million bushels of ear corn that was 

 bought during the fall and stored in well-built, ventilated cribs, and held 

 until the next summer, when it was shipped to market. An accurate 

 record of the weight of this corn as purchased from the farmers was 

 kept, and also the weight on which it was sold, and the result was an 

 actual loss or shrinkage of 16 per cent in the weight of this lot of corn, 

 figured on a shelled corn basis. 



It has been demonstrated that the extremely large yields of corn 

 are apt to show the lowest comparative percentage of dry matter con- 

 tent. In other words, the extremely large yield seemed to show a great- 

 er increase of the moisture content than of the dry matter content com- 

 paratively. And it would seem that there is a tendency on the part of 

 the corn growers to obtain large yields, regardless of quality, and the 

 dry matter content, that in fact constitutes the entire intrinsic value 

 of the corn, as the water certainly has no intrinsic value either for feeding 

 purposes or manufacturing. 



I desire also to call your attention to the fact that the agricultural 

 colleges, and the agriculturists, of which in these days there are many, 

 have given their attention almost entirely to the matter of improving 

 9 



