CHAPTER XX. 

 CORN. 



Sweet Corn. Zea mays. 



French, mais sucre; German, mais; Dutch, Turksche 

 tarwe; Italian, grano turco; Spanish, maiz; Portuguese, 

 milho. 



California cannot claim to be a large producer of corn, 

 though it does grow large corn and has a long green corn 

 season. Of the summer grains corn is produced in least 

 amount, because the others can make winter growth and 

 corn cannot, and they mature at about the time when corn 

 can be safely planted. They pass the dry season in the 

 sack while corn has to endure it in the field and does not 

 take kindly to it. Dry heat puts it in distress which irri- 

 gation does not wholly relieve. In the place of corn on the 

 interior plains improved varieties of sorghum are now 

 largely grown both for the grain and the forage. 



But while this is true there are regions in which mag- 

 nificent corn is grown. These are usually moist lowlands 

 from the valleys north of the bay of San Francisco south- 

 ward to San Diego; near enough to the coast to catch 

 something of atmospheric humidity from the ocean, and 

 still with summer heat enough to suit this warmth-loving 

 plant. There are also great corn lands in the river bot- 

 toms of the interior valley, where the drought is less than 

 on the plains, and in the low moist lands of the foot-hill 

 and mountain valleys as well. In all these places and 

 where similar conditions are produced by irrigation, corn 

 reaches great dimensions. 



Of course, corn as a vegetable is somewhat different 

 from corn as a grain. So also is corn as a green forage 

 plant. For "roasting ears" and for green forage, ripen- 



