SWEET CORN 215 



gardener plants a succession of varieties. The chief commercial 

 value of the crop, however, is as a product for the canning in- 

 dustry. In certain sections peculiarly favorable to the growth of 

 sweet corn, the cultivation of the crop for canneries is an impor- 

 tant business. The states at present producing the greatest pack 

 of sweet corn are : 



Illinois 1,619,897 cases 



Iowa 987, 3 8 



Ohio 893,054 



Maine ........ 792,185 " 



Maryland 772,828 " 



New York 771,475 " 



Indiana 520,401 " 



Wisconsin 306,999 



Minnesota 193,807 



Nebraska 169,910 " 



with a total output in 1909 of 7,451,265 cases for the whole 

 United States. 



Botany. According to the earlier botanists there is but one 

 species of corn, Zea mays. In fact, Zea is considered a mono- 

 typic genus. Sturtevant, however, who has given the subject more 

 careful investigation, finds seven well-defined species : 1 



Zea everta Pop corn 



Zea indurata Flint corn 



Zea indentata Dent corn 



Zea amylacea The soft corn 



Zea saccharata Sweet corn 



Zea amyleasaccharata Starchy-sweet corn 



Zea tunicata Pod corn 



Sweet corn is distinguished from other corns by its sweet taste 

 and high sugar content when in the early dough stage ; by its 

 wrinkled, semitranslucent kernels when dry ; and by the lack of 

 starchy matter in the split kernel, which, as a rule, shows only 

 chit and corneous matter. Figure 85 shows an ideal ear of 

 sweet corn. 



From a physiological standpoint sweet corn is an example of 

 arrested development, which results in the formation of protein 



1 New York Agricultural Experiment Station, 1886 (Geneva), p. 58. 



