CHAPTER X. 



GRAIN CROPS. 



The principal grain crops of America are Indian Corn, Wheat, 

 Rye, Oats, Barley, and Buckwheat. The chief of these is the 

 king of the cereals. 



INDIAN CORN. 



This is by far the most important product of American agri- 

 culture, and it feeds more human beings than any other grain 

 except rice. It takes, in a great measure, the place of the turnip 

 crop of England, and, both as a source of food and as a means for 

 placing the soil in a good condition for the cultivation of other 

 crops, it is the very backbone of our system of farming. 



Its range of cultivation is almost co-extensive with the bounda- 

 ries of the nation, as it grows to perfection from the great lakes to 

 the Gulf of Mexico. 



The varieties of corn are numerous. In fact, they are con- 

 stantly increasing in consequence of the ease with which the plant 

 hybridizes ; — two sorts growing in the same field usually produ- 

 cing' many crosses, having each more or less of the qualities of one 

 or the other of the original sorts. There seems to be two dis- 

 tinct classes of corn, one peculiar to the North, and the other to 

 the South. 



The Northern corn, of which the Dutton is the type, has a 

 round, smooth seed, which is entirely coated with a hard, horny 

 substance. This contains less starch and more oil and gluten than 

 does the Southern, or gourd-seed corn, in which the starch occu- 

 pies the center of the grain quite to its upper end ; — the oil and 



