Indian Corn, or Maize 99 



WHEN Columbus discovered America he found Indian corn 

 growing here. This corn was not known to European peoples 

 before that time. The corn mentioned in the Bible was wheat 

 or some of the other small grains. Indian corn has proved to 

 be a very valuable accession to the crops of the world. The 

 United States is the greatest producer. The yield in this 

 country in 1917, a record year, was 3,191,000,000 bushels, 

 which was about half the yield of all the grains we grew. In 

 other words, the United States grew that year about 6,000,- 

 000,000 bushels of grain, half of which was corn. 



The corn plant produces abundant feed for live-stock and a 

 very large quantity of human food in the form of hominy, corn- 

 meal, corn-sirup, and other products. It is the principal 

 crop for filling silos in the regions of winter dairying. In some 

 parts of the country much corn is eaten as human food. The 

 South has always been a large consumer of corn in this way. 

 Hominy will be found on the breakfast tables of most of the 

 families every morning, and corn-bread in some form is a steady 

 article of diet. The consumption of corn products by hu- 

 man beings is extending because of the Great War. Maize 

 is extensively grown in the eastern half of the United States. 

 The region extending from Nebraska to Ohio is specially ad- 

 vantageous for the crop, and it is known as the corn-belt. 

 Maize may be considered to be the characteristic North Ameri- 

 can crop. 



46. Corn-producing localities. Indian corn is one of the 

 most important of all crops. The world produces annually 

 from 3 1 to 4 billion bushels. Of this vast quantity North 

 America grows about 78 per cent, Europe 15 per cent, South 

 America 4 per cent, Africa 2 per cent, and Australia less than 

 1 per cent. The United States produces about 73 per cent 

 of the corn of the world, Austria-Hungary 5J per cent, Mexico 

 and Argentina each about 4 per cent, Italy about 2 per cent, 

 Rumania about 2 per cent, and Egypt and European Russia 

 each about 1 per cent. In the United States about three- 



