CHAPTER II 

 CORN 



History. The importance of this cereal rightfully gives 

 it first place in the consideration of farm crops. No other 

 single forage plant has exerted so beneficial an influence on 

 American agriculture and no other plant is of greater intrin- 

 sic value. While authors differ as to the original home of 

 the corn plant, yet there is little doubt that it is of American 

 origin. 



Columbus found corn growing on the islands that he 

 discovered on his first voyage to America, and later other 

 explorers found it on the mainland. The Indians used it 

 as a food ; and samp, succotash, and parched corn have 

 been handed down to present times. Corn, cultivated by 

 the colonists, followed the early settlers westward and 

 played an important part in our rapid agricultural de- 

 velopment. 



Classification. Corn belongs to the grass family and 

 to that division known as Zea mays. The small grains, 

 rye, wheat, barley, and oats, in European and Asiatic 

 countries were known as corn; and Columbus, to distin- 

 guish corn from the grains of Europe, called it Indian corn, 

 a name that is still applied to it in some sections of the 

 country. However, it is generally known as corn. The 

 corn family is divided into six different groups : pod corn, 

 soft corn, pop corn, sweet corn, flint corn, and dent corn. 

 The first group is of no commercial importance and is 



M. AND H. PLANT PROD. 2 IJ 



