29 



and rye are not cultivated on the college farm, and it is impossible 

 to extend the comparison to these crops. It will be noticed that corn 

 far surpasses either of the other crops in the total number of calories 

 produced per acre, while the cost of 10,000 calories is far lower than 

 with either of the other crops. 



But, besides excelling other crops in its capacity to store up power 

 received from the sun in the shape of light and heat, and in the cost 

 of a given amount of food, corn surpasses most other crops in other 

 important particulars. It is remarkably free from disease. Seldom 

 is any considerable proportion of the crop destroyed either by disease 

 or by insect enemies, and, while it is considerably affected by season, 

 it is without doubt one of the most certain among the various crops 

 we can cultivate. From every point of view, therefore, it would seem 

 that corn is a crop deserving of greater attention than it receives on 

 the part of Massachusetts farmers. 



Botanical Characteristics. 



Indian corn {Zea mays) is a native of the American continent, and 

 is believed to have descended from a wild form characterized by the 

 production of numerous very small ears on each of several joints. A 

 form discovered within comparatively recent times, to which the name 

 Zea canina was given, is believed by many to be the parent type. It 

 has sometimes been asserted that pod corn, the variety in which each 

 individual kernel is enclosed in a separate husk, is the parent form of 

 our cultivated varieties; but this theory is not now generally accepted. 

 Corn belongs to the great grass family, — the family which includes 

 all the important cereal grains, as well as the field and pasture grasses, 

 sugar cane, sorghum and broom corn. It differs from most grasses- 

 in having a solid, pithy stem, which, by the way, is one of the princi- 

 pal reasons why this crop is so much better fitted for i^reservation in 

 the silo than other grasses. 



The flowers of the grass plant are imperfect, male and female being 

 borne on different parts of the same plant, the former in the tassels, 

 the latter in that portion of the plant produced at one or more joints 

 which develops into the ear. If just before the corn plant comes into 

 tassel the stem be cut above either of the joints between about the 

 third and sixth, an embryo ear will be found. The ovules, arranged 

 in regular rows as the kernels will be later, can be distinctly recog- 

 nized. Connecting with the top of each of these is one of the fibers 

 which make up the silk which is later pushed up into the air. One 

 of these ovules with its connecting fiber of silk is a single female flower; 

 and, in order that the ovule may develop into a grain of corn, it is es- 

 sential that at least one grain of pollen shall fall upon the fiber of silk 

 connected with it and germinate there. To fit the silk the better for 

 catching and holding the pollen grains, the tips are somewhat feathery. 

 The yellow dust which falls so abundantly from the tassel is the pollen, 

 and this is freely carried by currents of air and the wind often to 

 considerable distances. As is well understood, cross-fertilization in 

 nature usually gives better results than self-fertilization, and so nature 

 has so contrived the corn plant that the pollen on any indi^^dual 

 is matured and shed before its pistils are receptive. It must therefore 

 be seen that the silk of any particular plant is pollinated from other 

 plants; and it is because of this peculiarity of the corn plant, and 

 because the pollen, made up of grains so minute and light, is carried 

 long distances by the wind, that different varieties of corn are likely 

 to mix more' or less, although comparatively widely separated. The 



