CORN 



CORX is by far the most important crop produced in the United 

 States. In acreage, bushels and value, it is supreme. Undoubt- 

 edly Indian corn originated in the western continent, as there appears 

 to be no authentic history showing that it was grown in the old world 

 previous to the discovery of this continent by Columbus. "Indian corn 

 was found as a common food when Europeans first landed in New York. 

 Extensive fields of this grain were cultivated and the grain preserved for 

 food. When Cartier visited Hochelage, now called Montreal, in 1535, 

 that town was situated in the midst of extensive corn fields. In 1620, 

 the Pilgrims found quite extensive plantings near Plymouth, Mass., and 

 Columbus found it on the West India islands about the end of the fif- 

 teenth century. The burial mounds of the natives of North America 

 who preceded those of our day, the tombs of the Incas, the catacombs 

 of Peru, contain ears or grains of corn, just as the monuments of ancient 

 Egypt contain grains of barley and wheat and millet seed. In Mexico, 

 a goddess who bore a name derived from that of maize (Cinteotl) an- 

 swered to the Ceres of the Greeks. At Cusco, the virgins of the iiun 

 offered sacrifices of bread made from corn." 



A most remarkable proof of the antiquity of corn has been discovered 

 by Darwin. He found ears of Indian corn and eighteen species of shells 

 of our epoch buried in the soil of the shore in Peru, now at least eighty- 

 five feet above the level of the sea. The Smithsonian Institute at 

 Washington has an ear of corn found deposited in an earthen vessel 

 eleven feet underground in a grave with a mummy near Ariquepe in 

 Peru. The grains are rather sharp-pointed, small and slightly indented 

 at the apex, lapping one over the other in thirteen rows. 



The Year Book issued by the Department of Agriculture gives a very 

 complete record of corn since 1866, and an incomplete record from 1849 

 to 1866. It appears that in 1849 there were 592,071,000 bushels grown, 

 and in 1859, 838,793,000 bushels were produced in the United States. 

 The acreage and yield per acre were not given. In the year 1866 there 

 were 34,307,000 acres of corn planted in the United States. The acre- 

 age has gradually increased year by year until at the present time it 

 amounts to approximately 109,000,000 acres. The total yield in 1866 

 was 867,946,000 bushels. The yield kept pace with the acreage until in 

 1915 when 3,054,535,000 bushels were produced. In 1866 the yield 

 per acre was 25.3 bushels. There has been little variation from that 

 time to the present, the highest yield being 30.8 bushels per acre in 1872, 

 and the lowest 16.7 bushels in 1901. 



The domestic exports in 1849 were 7,632,860 bushels. The greatest 

 amount exported during any one year was 213,123,412 bushels in 1899. 

 The least amount exported in one year was 2,140,487 bushels in 1869. 

 The price paid on the Chicago market ranges from 22^ cents in 1896 



