AMERICA'S CHIEF CROP 321 



suited in the development of a variety of corn 

 that has the curious distinction of bearing leaves 

 that are striped with various and sundry colors 

 of the rainbow. 



The parent form from which this new race 

 was developed I secured in 1908 from Germany. 

 It was called the quadricolored corn. Among 

 the plants raised in the first season there were 

 two stalks, and two only, that justified the name, 

 their leaves being striped with yellow, white, 

 crimson, and green. 



The other plants of the lot bore green leaves 

 like those of other corn plants, and the seeds of 

 even these two best ones reverted. 



I surmised that the corn was really a hybrid 

 between the common green-leaved dwarf corn 

 and the old Japanese variegated corn, some- 

 times spoken of botanically as Zea mais 

 variegata. The fact that it was a hybrid 

 stock gave the plant additional interest, how- 

 ever, and I determined to experiment further 

 with it. 



The ears of corn themselves gave further 

 evidence of their crossbred origin. Some of 

 them were red both as to cob and kernel, and 

 others bore yellow kernels and white cobs. The 

 stalks varied in height from tw r o and a half to 

 six feet. 



11 Vol. 5 Bur. 



