FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 545 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



COMMERCIAL GRADING OF CORN, 



Geo. A. Wells y Secretary Iowa Grain Dealers' Association, Before the 

 State Farmers' Institute, Dece'}nber 14, 1904. 



It is often and truthfully said that "Corn is King" in Iowa. The saying 

 is prompted, no doubt, by the fact that more acres of Iowa land are annu- 

 ally planted to corn than any other grain, the comparative acreage planted 

 being about as follows, to wit: Corn, nine millions; oats, four millions; 

 barley, one-half million; wheat, three-fourths of a million; rye, one hun- 

 dred thousand. 



A king is supposed, however, to have the blue blood of aristocracy 

 coursing through his veins. His personality should consist of quality as well 

 as quantity, and there are, no doubt, many who do not appreciate the won- 

 derful qualities and numerous constituent elements possessed by "King Corn." 



' 'King Corn" was perhaps the first civilized inhabitant of this country. 

 Columbus found him being cultivated by the Indians, and his original 

 existence in a wild state is said to be unknown. 



This basin formed by the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, a territory in- 

 cluding the States of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana, was 

 probably the native home of ' 'King Corn", and certain it is that within this 

 territory, about nine hundred miles long by six hundred miles wide, corn has 

 reached its highest type of development and within this limited area is pro- 

 duced about three-fourths of the corn crop of the United States, and one- 

 half of the crop of the world. 



There are few plants of which the uses are more various, and few of 

 greater importance to man. Corn is said to furnish food to a larger part 

 of the human race than any other grain except rice. 



There are many varieties of corn which diflfer more among themselves 

 than any other cereal, and it has a remarkable tendency to mix and the 

 different varieties pass into each other by every form of gradation, while the 

 gr.iin from all is similar in chemical composition and thus it is that it re- 

 sponds most promptly to intelligent breeding, and by the process of scientific 

 breeding corn may yet become adapted to climates where now it does not 

 grow, and also be bred to produce an increased quantity of a particular 

 element such as starch, oil or sugar. 



The wonderful character of corn is shown by the fact that there are 

 about one hundred and fifty different by-products of the Glucose factories 

 and distilleries, several of which are staple commodities, such as sugar, 

 starch, oil, rubber, etc., and experiments have demonstrated that corn may 

 be bred to increase or decrease a particular element such as oil, of which 

 corn contains more than any other grain, varying from three and one-half 

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