CORN 55 



Thus it appears that in acreage, production, and value, 

 on December 1 the corn crop of 1910 was greater than all of 

 the other cereal grains, including also buckwheat and 

 potatoes. 



II. TYPES OF CORN 



Dent and flint. In speaking of .the several types and 

 varieties of corn, most of us use the terms rather loosely. 

 Shoesmith in his ''Study of Corn" describes six types: the 

 dent, the flint, soft corn, pod corn, sweet corn, and popcorn. 

 The types with which farmers of the corn belt have most to 

 deal are the dent and the flint corn. There are many varie- 

 ties of both dent and flint types. The difference in appear- 

 ance of the several types of corn is due in part to differ- 

 ences in structure, and in part to differences in composition. 

 In the dent type the soft endosperm appears white and starchy 

 at the center and near the crown of the kernel. As the grain 

 ripens this soft endosperm shrinks more rapidly than the 

 horny endosperm which is located chiefly at the edges of the 

 kernel, and the result is the folded or wrinkled appearance 

 of the tops of the grains of dent corn. In the flint corn the 

 soft endosperm in the center of the grain is surrounded by 

 the horny endosperm, so that the ripening grain shrinks 

 almost uniformly, leaving a smooth, shining surface. 



Varieties. Some standard varieties in the corn belt are : 

 Boone County White, Funk's Yellow Dent, Learning, Minne- 

 sota No. 13, Reid's Yellow Dent, Silver Mine, Silver King 

 (Wisconsin No. 7), and Johnson County White. Descrip- 

 tions of these and other varieties are fully given in Shoe- 



