PART II 

 FEEDING STUFFS 



CHAPTER IX 



LEADING CEREALS AND THEIR BY-PRODUCTS 



I. INDIAN CORN AND ITS BY-PRODUCTS 



The prime importance of Indian corn, or maize, Zea mays, as a grain 

 crop in the United States is evident from the fact that in 1921, about 

 103,850,000 acres were grown, producing 3,080,372 bushels of grain, 

 worth $1,302,670,000. Before the World War increased the raising of 

 bread grains in the United States, our corn crop exceeded in acreage, in 

 production, and in value of grain, that of wheat, oats, barley, rye, kafir, 

 milo, emmer, buckwheat, and rice, all combined. Indian corn can be 

 successfully grown in every state of the Union, tho it flourishes best in 

 the great region between the Appalachians and the Rocky Mountain 

 Plateau. In the South the tropical corn stems, 4 or 5 months from 

 planting, carry great ears burdened with grain so high that a man can 

 only touch them by reaching high above his head. At the other extreme, 

 the Mandan Indian in the country of the Red River of the North developed 

 a race of corn which reached only to the shoulders of the squaw, with 

 tiny ears borne scarcely a foot from the ground on pigmy stalks. Corn 

 is a heat-loving plant, and will not thrive in regions having cool nights 

 during the growing season. 



Like the other leading cereals which grow en masse, the corn plant 

 must grow with others of its kind, but it requires more space, air, and 

 sunlight. Because it requires thoro tillage and makes most of its growth 

 during late summer and early fall, Indian corn stands in a class by itself 

 among the cereals. (23) This requirement of thoro tillage brings many 

 advantages to the soil not forced upon us in growing the other cereals. 

 The corn grain is pre-eminently a carbohydrate bearer, every 100 Ibs. 

 containing nearly 70 Ibs. of starch, which is its chief carbohydrate. Add 

 to this 5 Ibs. of oil, and we can understand why Indian corn among the 

 cereal grains may be likened to anthracite coal among the fuels. 



Corn is the great energizing, heat-giving, fat-furnishing food for the 

 animals of the farm. No other cereal yields, on a given space and with 

 a given expenditure of labor, so much animal food in both grain and for- 

 age. On millions of farms successful animal husbandry rests upon this 

 imperial grain and forage plant. (475, 575, 732-7, 843-6, 938-42) A pos- 



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