PART II. 

 FEEDING STUFFS. 



CHAPTER IX. 



LEADING CEREALS AND THEIK BY-PKODUCTS. 

 I. INDIAN CORN AND ITS BY-PRODUCTS. 



Indian corn can be successfully grown in every state of the 

 Union, tho it flourishes best in that great middle region of our 

 country lying between the Appalachian Mountain chain on the 

 east and the Eocky Mountain Plateau on the west. In the South 

 the tropical corn stems, four or five 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 de- 

 veloped 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. Like the other leading cereals which grow en masse, 

 the corn plant must likewise 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. (16) This requirement of thoro tillage brings many ad- 

 vantages to the soil not forced upon us in growing the other 

 cereals. The corn grain is pre-eminently a carbohydrate bearer. 

 Taking carbon from the air and water from the soil, it locks 

 these together potentially thru the energy of the sun that shines 

 with tropical fervor wherever this plant flourishes, for corn must 

 have an average minimum temperature of at least 70 F. Starch 

 is the great carbohydrate of corn, there being nearly 75 Ibs. in 

 every 100 of grain. Add to this 5 Ibs. of oil, and we can under- 

 stand 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. Supreme in these qualities it is 



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