CORN 157 



the world's corn crop is grown in the United States. Nearly 

 half of the world's crop is grown in the seven states of 

 Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana and 

 Ohio. These are the corn-surplus states. It is these seven 

 states that furnish nearly all of the corn that is sold off 

 the farms on which it grows. Corn occupies one-third of 

 the area in crops of all kinds in the United States, other 

 than pasture. About one-third of the farms raise wheat, 

 but over four-fifths of them raise corn. 



''If the corn crop of the United States for 1906 had 

 been placed in wagons, 50 bushels per load, and allowed 

 20 feet of space for each wagon and team, the train of 

 corn would have reached nine times around the earth 

 at the equator." 1 



The United States has no rival in corn-production. 

 Argentina ranks second, but it produces only about one- 

 fifteenth as much as the United _States. Argentina still 

 has a considerable area of undeveloped land that is adapted 

 to corn, but it is not probable that its production will 

 ever equal that of the United States. 



151. Relation of Climate to Corn-production. As has 

 l)een stated in previous chapters, climate is a much more 

 important factor in crop-growth than is the soil. The 

 regions that have similar climates have similar plants the 

 world over. 



In order to produce the best yields of any crop, it is 

 necessary that the rainfall, temperature and sunshine all 

 be adapted to that crop. For its best growth, corn requires 

 a high temperature during the growing season, long days 

 of bright sunshine, and a large amount of rain during the 



*Cyclope<lia of American Agriculture, Vol. II, p. 403 



