22 AGRICULTURE 



in the semi-arid regions of the Southwest. It is a good 

 substitute for corn in the ration of all farm animals. 



Flint corn. Flint corn is the prevailing type yet 

 raised in New England and in New York. It is to be rec- 

 ognized by the long slender ear, and by the hard flinty ker- 

 nel, which contains a large amount of horny starch. Flint 

 corn does not require so long a season as dent corn, and 

 hence is preferred in northern regions where there is dan- 

 ger of the crop being caught by the frost before it is ripe. 

 As earlier varieties of dent corn are being developed, they 

 are displacing flint corn in many regions. 



Dent corn. This is the principal corn raised in the 

 great corn producing regions of the United States. In 

 fact it supplies the greater part of the world's corn crop. 

 It is called dent corn because the soft starch of the crown 

 shrinks slightly in ripening, thus causing a depression in 

 the top of the kernel. It is the type grown almost ex- 

 clusively for feeding stock, and all the commercial corn 

 products, such as glucose, starch, sirup, etc., are made 

 from it. Dent corn has two varieties: (1) single ear, or 

 One ear to the stalk, as grown in the corn belt; and (2) 

 prolific, or many ears to the stalk, as grown in the South. 



Types and varieties. Each different type of corn may 

 have many varieties. As a matter of fact, however, the 

 types that are most grown have the largest number of vari- 

 eties, or strains. Varieties of corn are produced in three 

 different ways : ( 1 ) by selecting some exceptional or pe- 

 culiar ear, and using it for seed, picking out for seed each 

 year the ears most nearly like the original parent ear until 

 the variety is established; (2) by cross breeding; and (3) 

 by selecting each year for planting the best ears, the 

 earliest ears, the largest ears, the best shaped ears, or ears 

 that possess whatever quality is wanted in the new variety. 

 If this same quality is selected year after year, the variety 



