CHAPTER Xin. 



INDIAN CORN. 



Varieties. — The structure of the corn kernel is in 

 general like that of the wheat kernel. There is the 

 outer covering which corresponds to the pod of the 

 pea or edible part of the cherry. Inside there is the 

 testa or true seed coat, which contains the coloring 

 matter and gives the kernel its color. Inside the 

 testa is the row of irregular cubical cells, the so-called 

 embryonic envelope. These cells are not so large as 

 in the wheat. Inside this row of cells is the germ or 

 embryo and the endosperm. The endosperm consists 

 of thin walled cells of cellulose packed full of starch 

 grains and very little nitrogenous material. In 

 sweet corn, instead of the cells of the endosperm be- 

 ing packed full of starch grains, the latter are 

 changed to glucose, and the shrinking caused by the 

 transformation makes the sweet corn kernel wrinkled. 



Apart from pod corn, there are five types or classes 

 of Indian corn. The differences in these types are 

 variations in the shape of the kernel and in the ar- 

 rangement of the starch cells of the endosperm, ex- 

 cept in the sweet corn, where, as just explained, it is a 

 modification of structure. 



If a kernel of dent corn is split open through its 

 longest two diameters, the endosperm will be seen to 

 consist of two parts. In the central part, the 

 endosperm will appear white, while on each side it is 

 glossy. An examination with a microscope will show 

 the structure to be the same in both. The difference 



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