LESSON XXIII 

 CORN 



Importance of corn. In acreage and value, corn is 

 the most important crop of the United States. Al- 

 though grown in every state, yet more than half of the 

 corn crop is raised in the seven states of Illinois, Iowa, 

 Missouri, Nebraska, Indiana, Kansas, and Ohio. The 

 United States produces about three times as much corn 

 as the rest of the world ; but corn is not an important 

 export of this country, for most of it is fed to cattle 

 and hogs. The meat of these animals, however, is one 

 of our leading exports. 



Soil and climate. - - The main geographic factors in 

 the growth of corn are soil and climate. Clay loams 

 and silt loams are good corn soils. The silt loams 1 of 

 river bottoms are especially adapted to corn growing. 

 Corn requires a large amount of humus, which is added 

 to the soil by stable manure and legume crops. The 

 summers must be hot, with warm nights, much sunshine, 

 and of sufficient length that the corn may ripen before 

 frost. The most common cause of low yields of corn 

 is a shortage of rain during the growing season. A crop 

 needs from ten to fifteen inches of rain pretty evenly 

 distributed through the season. The moist soil of 



