272 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 



April, 1922. 



ing methods are limiting factors that of- 

 ten more than compensate for the advan- 

 tage of a long growing season. For in- 

 stance Florida with a long season has an 

 average yield of little over 10 bushels 

 per acre, while Canada, hundreds of miles 

 farther north, lias an avera'^e yield five 

 times as great. The eor)i ■ rop often suf- 

 fers from lack of water, en in districts 

 where the annual precij station is high, 

 because the water is not available at the 

 time when it is most needed. Texas has 

 a fair annual rainfall but many of their 

 rains are extremely lieavy, with the result 

 that much water is lost in run-off. It 

 re(|uires from 15 to 20 tons of water, 

 availal)le to the plant, to produce one 

 bushel of corn. The transpiration and 

 evaporation hy the crop of this amount 

 of water shows the importance of tillage 

 to prevent lioth run-off and evaporation 

 from the soil, thereby modifying the ef- 

 fect of the rainfall to a consideral)le ex- 

 tent. 



Corn requires a soil with plenty of ni- 

 trogen, in fact it will give large yields 

 of grain on soils so rich that other cereals 

 would produce rank straw with very little 

 grain. Corn seems able to utilize the ni- 

 trogen of coarse organic matter long be- 

 fore it has reached the advanced state of 

 decomposition required l)y oats and wheat. 

 Nitrifying l)acteria are the agencies which 

 make organic matter available and as these 

 recjuire plenty of air for their work, it is 

 necessary to have drainage to prevent a 

 cold Avater-logged condition of the soil. 



In the corn belt the ears are often the 

 only part of tlie plant that is harvested. 

 These are liusked and stored in slatted 

 cribs to partially dry, after which they 

 are shelled and the corn marketed. A huge 

 amount of grain finds its way to the big 

 terminal elevators at Chicago and other 

 large cities, where it is stored until re- 

 quired for either the local or export trade. 



Nearly nine tentlis of the coi-n crop is 

 used for feeding stock, the remainder be- 

 ing used for manufacturing stai-ch, hom- 

 iny, glucose, corn oil, alcohol, l)reakfast 

 foods, corn meal, corn flour and hominy 

 feed. A small amount of husks is used 

 in matting, some stalks and pitli in pack- 

 ing while a small percentage of cobs find 

 a use in the old fashioned tobacco pipes. 

 Southerners of both races are fond of 



corn meal and hominy and with them 

 corn in one form or another takes the 

 place of wheat as a cereal food. 

 Milling Corn. 



In the south many small mills are equip- 

 ped to grind the corn with stones. In this 

 way evei\vthing but a small amount of 

 chaff removed by a fan remains in the 

 meal so that it has practically the same 

 composition as the whole grain. It is said 

 that the cooks always pass tTie meal 

 through a sifter and remove a portion' 

 of the bran which has escaped the grind- 

 ing process. Owing to the presence of the 

 germ the meal has a peculiar rich oily 

 flavor and when once a taste for this lias 

 been acquired, the degerminated meal with 

 its low fat content does not satisfy. How- 

 ever it is necessary to consume the whole 

 corn meal shortly after making, as in hot 

 weather it rapidly- deteriorates, develops 

 excessive acidity and often becomes ran- 

 cid and musty. Owing to the poor keep- 

 ing qualities of Avhole corn meal, the stone 

 grinding method has been replaced to a 

 great extent by the roller process, a pro- 

 cess very similar to that used in making 

 flour. 



In the mill with which the writer is 

 associated the process is as follows: — The 

 shelled corn is received in car lots and 

 carried on a belt conveyor to a separator 

 where the dust broken cobs and verj- 

 light grains are removed after which it is 

 stored in concrete silos. As the corn is 

 required it is removed from the bottom by 

 means of a screw conveyor, taken to a 

 small separator where all the dust, chaff 

 etc., which escaped the first separator, as 

 well as the small, very large and foreign 

 kernels are removed. The cleaned corn 

 next passes over a powerful magnet to re- 

 move any nails or bits of metal, after 

 which it is conveyed to the mixing bin. 

 From there the corn is fed into a tempei-- 

 ing device, consisting of two metal tanks, 

 one above the other, where water or steam 

 or both can be added in the desired quan- 

 tities to thoroughly loosen the bran and 

 germ. ' The amount of moisture added, 

 varies from 3.0 to 6.0 p.c. depending lar- 

 gely on the amount of water in the raw 

 corn. The nature of the corn determines 

 whether most of the water shall be ailded 

 as the (*oi'n goes into the first large tank 

 where it will stand several hours, or as 



