126 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY 



portions of the grain a product known as ^naizena or cornflour 

 is obtained, largely used as a substitute for arrowroot and for 

 culinary purposes. 



Maize is a fine plant, attaining a height of from five to 

 twelve or fifteen feet. The male flower is borne at the top of 

 the stem in a feathery panicle, while the female flowers, of 

 which there are usually three or four spikes on each plant, 

 grow out from the axils of the leaves, enveloped in membranous 

 sheaths or spathes, the long pink styles hanging out from the 

 tops of the sheaths as silky tassels. The pollen from the male 

 flowers either drops or, more usually, perhaps, is carried by the 

 wind into contact with the styles (" tassels "), and fertilisation 

 is thus effected. Each spike of female flowers then becomes 

 an ear, consisting of a central fibrous woody core of conical 

 form, with the seeds arranged regularly around it, and the whole 

 enveloped in several spathes or husks. An enormous number 

 of varieties of maize have been produced. Great difierencesin 

 size, shape, colour and chemical composition, are presented by 

 the various varieties, also in the number of rows on the cob. 

 Thus the ear may be from an inch to sixteen inches in length, 

 and have six to forty rows of grains. In practice the varieties 

 may be classed into five types. 



(a) Dent Corn. — If a grain of this variety be split longi- 

 tudinally there will be seen the germ, horny or glossy starch 

 at the sides, and white, floury starch in the centre, extending to 

 the top of the grain. Owing to the shrinking of the white 

 starch on drying being much greater than that of the horny 

 starch, the grains have an indentation at the top, giving then 

 a supposed resemblance to a tooth ; hence the name dent. 



(6) Flint Corn. — In this type the horny starch entirely 

 surrounds the white, floury starch. The top of the grain, 

 therefore, remains smooth, hard, and convex. It has a trans- 

 lucent appearance. 



(c) Fop-corn, in which almost all the starch is glossy or 

 horny. 



{d) Soft f'orn, or ** bread mealie," in which all the starch is 



