344 



ELEMENTARY STUDIES IN BOTANY 



last year for which returns from all countries are available), 

 the United States produced nearly three-fourths of the corn 



of the world, a 

 ratio which prob- 

 ably still holds. 



The greatest 

 corn-producing 

 state is Illinois 

 (about 335 mil- 

 lion bushels in 

 1911), and the 

 record for Iowa 

 is almost as large 

 (about 305 mil- 

 lion bushels in 

 1911). No other 

 states were re- 

 ported as pro- 

 ducing more 

 than 200 million 

 bushels in 1911, 

 the order of the 

 larger records 

 being Missouri, 

 Indiana, Ne- 

 braska, Ohio, 

 and Kansas. In 

 the government 

 statistics re- 

 ferred to, 18 states are included as corn-producing states, the 

 remaining 11, in the order of amount of production, being 

 Kentucky, Tennessee, Minnesota, Texas, Pennsylvania, 

 Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Mississippi, Alabama, and 

 South Dakota. This enumeration of states emphasizes the 

 fact that "the com lands occur in the central and southern 



FIG. 18. Corn : the plant at the right shows the stami- 

 nate flowers forming the terminal "tassel" ; the plant to 

 the left shows the "ear" (a close cluster of pistillate 

 flowers) in the axil of a leaf and enclosed by the "husk," 

 at the end of which the long styles ("silk") are exposed. 

 After 



