TROPICAL VARIETIES OF MAIZE 



Great Diversity of Types of Maize — Most Important Food Crop Cultivated by 



Natives of America at Time of Discovery — Plant 



Shows Wide Distribution^ 



G. N. Collins 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



MAIZE, or Indian Corn, was the 

 most widely distributed and by 

 far the most important food 

 plant cultivated by the natives 

 of America at the time of the discovery. 

 It is still the most important American 

 crop plant, and while much more pro- 

 ductive strains have been developed 

 than any grown by the aborigines, the 

 range of the species on the American 

 Continent has not been greatly ex- 

 tended. 



To be able to grow under the widely 

 different conditions that are found in 

 the region from central New England to 

 Argentina and Chile, there must be a 

 great diversity of types. How great 

 this diversity is and how inadequately 

 it has been utilized in developing strains 

 adapted to the needs of the different 

 agricultural communities it is the object 

 of the present paper to discuss. 



The Department of Agriculture here 

 at Washington has for a number of years 

 been collecting the types of maize from 

 the different parts of the world. These 

 varieties have been grown and their 

 characteristics studied with a view to 

 determining which of the characters 

 they possess may be utilized in develop- 

 ing varieties better adapted to the dif- 

 ferent parts of the country. 



It has not been possible to make an 

 adequate survey of the existing varieties 

 of any country and there are many 

 regions of which we have practically no 

 knowledge of the kinds of maize. 

 Agricultural expeditions that are sent 

 out are usually compelled to pass more 

 or less hurriedly through the countries 

 they visit and the explorers in charge are 

 alwavs charged with collecting a great 



variety of plants and data, so that little 

 more can be done than to snatch what is 

 exhibited in the markets or what is 

 found growing immediately along their 

 routes. Such collections have been 

 supplemented by seed secured from 

 consuls and correspondents. While 

 many valuable introductions have been 

 secured in this way, ignorance of the 

 normal behavior of the varieties and of 

 the cultural and climatic conditions 

 under which they have been grown 

 often stand in the way of making the 

 most of the peculiar qualities they may 

 possess. 



As a result of this rather haphazard 

 manner of securing material our collec- 

 tions are very uneven. In some few 

 places the series of varieties is compara- 

 tively complete, but there are whole 

 countries not represented in our collec- 

 tion by a single maize variety. Enough 

 has come to light, however, to show 

 that, especially in the countries of 

 tropical America, we have an immense 

 storehouse of valuable material that 

 awaits the utilization of the breeder. 



We have come to believe that the 

 search must be made for characteristics 

 rather than for varieties ready made, as 

 it were. It seldom happens that a 

 variety from one locality will be found 

 adapted to any other locality, but often 

 the most unpromising and insignificant 

 variet}^ grown perhaps by some back- 

 ward tribe of natives, will possess some 

 peculiarity or adaptation that needs 

 only to be combined with the desirable 

 equalities of other varieties to become of 

 great value. 



Instead, therefore, of attempting to 

 present any complete description of 



^ Paper presented before the Second Pan-American Scientific Congress, Washington, D. C , 

 December 27, 19 15- January 8, 1916. 



147 



