214 SWEET CORN AND OTHER CROPS 



variegated corns are salable, but at a discount. They are grown 

 to some extent for home use. 



The requirements for the production of a good crop of pop 

 com are essentially the same as for field or sweet corn, and the 

 crop is grown more or less throughout the entire corn belt. Some 

 growers make a specialty of it and plant as much as a hundred 

 acres each year. The average yield per acre is about one ton 

 (fifty bushels), though yields of two tons per acre are occasionally 

 obtained. Under the same conditions of soil, weather and culti- 

 vation, pop corn will usually yield as many bushels per acre as 

 field corn and sometimes slightly more. 



Planting. — In planting pop corn care should be taken to avoid 

 getting it too thick. The kernels are so small that if they are 

 planted with a check rower carrying the plate ordinarily used for 

 field corn, too many will be dropped in a place. A special plate 

 should be procured if necessary, so that the pop corn may be 

 properl}^ planted. It does best when about three stalks are grown 

 per hill. 



Harvesting. — It is tiresome work gathering a crop of pop corn, 

 because the ears are so small as compared with field corn, and they 

 must be husked clean. Two men will gather only forty-five or 

 fifty bushels in a day, so that the expense of harvesting the crop 

 is considerably greater than for field corn. However, the pop 

 corn is ready to husk earlier than field corn, so that it may be 

 gotten out of the way before the latter crop demands attention. 

 It is therefore a crop which the general farmer can grow without 

 hiring extra hands at husking time. 



Curing. — Considerable care is necessary in the curing and 

 storage of a crop of pop corn. It must be kept under cover, in a 

 place neither too damp not too dry. Until it has reached a certain 

 degree of dryness it will not pop. If allowed to become too dry, 

 it loses forever its popping qualities, and is practically worthless. 

 It is not considered good feed for farm animals, with the exception 

 of turkeys. 



To cure the pop corn some growers arrange a series of floors 

 in their corn cribs, one above the other, and place the ears only 

 a foot deep on each floor. This arrangement is particularly de- 

 sirable if the corn is husked a little green, since it will prevent 

 heating and will insure thorough curing. After the corn is well 

 cured, there is sometimes danger of its becoming too dry if left 

 spread out in thin layers, though it has been known to keep 



