50 



CROPS 



ing from the original Indian types, which were very inferior 

 to those grown at the present time. Very little was done to 

 improve corn until the middle of the nineteenth century, but 

 .during the past sixty years improve- 

 ment has been very rapid and at 

 present there are hundreds of named 

 varieties. Some of these varieties 

 mature in 90 to 100 days and produce 

 small ears with shallow kernels, while 

 others require 140 or more days to 

 mature and produce large, deep- 

 kerneled ears. In color, corn kernels 

 may be yellow, white, red, black, blue, 

 or a mixture of several of these colors 

 and shades. The cobs are either 

 white or red. Most of these colors of 

 kernels and cobs may be found in 

 any of the important classes of corn. 



52. Classes or Types. All of the 

 more important varieties and types 

 of corn may be grouped into one of 

 the four following classes, viz: dent, 

 flint, sweet, and pop. Two other 

 classes, soft and pod, are of little or 

 no practical value in North America, 

 but the others have a very important 

 relation to the agriculture and com- 

 merce of the world. 



53. Dent Corn. Dent corn is a 

 type in which the hard or horny part 

 of the kernel is at the sides and does 



not extend over the crown as it does in flint and pop corn. 

 This arrangement causes the crown of the kernel to shrink 



Fig. 11. A good ear 

 of a small, early variety 

 of dent corn adapted to 

 the North. 



