2l8 GARDEN FARMING 



in the early sorts than in the late-maturing ones, but there is a 

 wide difference in the behavior of different sorts. 



" The difference in quality may be accounted for as follows : 



" The climatic conditions in the Western corn-growing sections, 

 especially during the season when corn is earing, are often such as 

 to induce a marvelously rapid development much more rapid 

 than is often seen in the East. In the West it is sometimes diffi- 

 cult to find ears of sweet corn green enough to be in prime boiling 

 condition in fields where it was equally difficult to find ears which 

 were mature enough to be palatable forty-eight to seventy-two 

 hours earlier. Seed grown under such conditions would often trans- 

 mit the rapid-maturing habit of the plants that produce it. The 

 quality of green corn, particularly as to tenderness and sweetness, 

 is very dependent upon the stage of maturity at which it is cooked, 

 sometimes the growth of only a few hours affecting the discernible 

 sugar content. If the corn in a field from Western seed in which 

 the rapid-maturing habit was transmitted was gathered for canning 

 when most of the ears were in prime green-corn condition, some 

 of the ears would be so mature as to lower the average quality of 

 the pack, but it would be impracticable to reject such slightly over- 

 mature ears, and the resulting poor quality of the pack would be 

 charged to generally inferior stock rather than to the effect of the 

 few older ears. 



" One indication that rapid development, with the consequent 

 short period of prime canning condition, is an important, if not the 

 chief, objection to Western-grown seed is the fact that experienced 

 canners who insist upon Eastern-grown seed of the earlier sorts, 

 like Crosby, do not seriously object to well-grown Western seed of 

 the later- and slower-maturing sorts, like Evergreen and Country 

 Gentleman. 



" Whatever may be the facts as to the relative merits of Eastern- 

 and Western-grown seed, the writer believes that it is always true 

 that the character of green corn is more or less affected by that of 

 the soil on which the seed was grown. Seed grown in moderately 

 rich but warm, well-drained, gravelly soils, like those common in 

 Connecticut, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and some 

 sections of Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota, will give better and 

 sweeter corn than seed grown on very rich mucky or prairie soils 



