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 sea- 

 son 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 irrigation does 

 not wholly relieve. In the place of corn on the interior plains im- 

 proved varieties of sorghum are now largely grown both for the 

 grain and the forage. 



But while this is true there are regions in which magnificent 

 corn is grown. These are usually moist lowlands from the valleys 

 north of the bay of San Francisco southward 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 

 bottom of the interior valley, where the drought is less than on 

 the plains, and in the low moist lands of the foothill 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, ripening conditions are not essential, 

 and for these purposes the plant can be carried nearer to the coast 

 than for a grain crop, and in the warmer regions it can be planted 

 late for a longer succession than for grain if moisture enough is 

 provided. It is not uncommon, therefore, in the interior to have 

 good roasting ears at Thanksgiving or even in December at eleva- 

 tions or in other places where early frosts are seldom known. Thus 

 corn as a vegetable is California is a greater affair than corn as a 

 grain. It would have even a greater value as a garden plant were 

 it not for the ravages of the ear-worm, which takes its full share 

 of almost every ear at the times when its appetite is good. 



The Corn Ear-Worm. The ear-worm is the larva of a grayish 

 or brownish moth about an inch long (Chloridea obsoleta) and is 

 the same insect as the cotton boll-worm. If the ears get into con- 

 dition to receive the eggs when the moth is ready to lay them, there 

 is thorough infestation. Sometimes the ears get too far advanced 



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