84 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE 



less powder ; alcohol for commercial purposes ; corn down, the 

 brown outer coating next the cob, used in the manufacture 

 of mattresses. 



The cob. Even the cob, besides the emergency use as 

 corks, is utilized in the manufacture of pipes, and as a fuel 

 in the great corn belt. The ashes of cobs are easily con- 

 vertible into a commercial potash. 



NOTEBOOK QUESTIONS 



1. Why is corn sometimes called Indian corn or maize? 



2. How does corn rank in acreage, production, and value 

 with other farm crops of the United States? 



3. The corn crop for the last five years in the United 

 States has been over 2.500,000,000 bushels a year. How much 

 is that for each person in the United States? 



4. How much corn was grown in the state last year? 

 What was the average yield per acre? (See the Year Book 

 of the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. The 

 school may obtain a copy through the congressman of the 

 district.) 



5. What are the parts of a kernel of corn? 



6. What are the conditions for the germination of seed 

 corn? 



7. Where does the corn plant bear its blossoms? 



8. A plot of ground at the University of Illinois has been 

 in corn for thirty-five years. The yield is now about twenty- 

 five bushels per acre. What does this show? 



9. What do the farmers in your locality do to fertilize 

 their corn ground? 



10. In a system of crop rotation, including corn, oats, 

 wheat, and clover, a farmer desiring to establish permanent 



