INTRODUCTION 



On the completion of the work connected with the study of the 

 effect of environment on the sugar content of the beet, a it was deemed 

 advisable in the interests of economy and efficiency to collaborate in 

 other studies of this kind with the Bureau of Plant Industry. The 

 i IK -reasing volume of executive work in the Bureau of Chemistry 

 rendered it impossible for the Chief of the Bureau to give as much of 

 his personal attention to the study as he had previously done. Ac- 

 cordingly an arrangement was made with the Bureau of Plant Indus- 

 try \\ he re by the Bureau of Chemistry would assist the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry in its work of improvement by selection of sweet 

 Indian corn, and the Bureau of Plant Industry undertook to grow 

 the crops and give this Bureau full opportunities for studying the 

 ('fleet of environment on the composition of the sweet corn, both 

 in its succulent state as used upon the table and after maturing. 



Messrs. Straughn and Church, the latter having worked with the 

 Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry in studying the effects of environ- 

 ment on the sugar content of beets, were accordingly detailed to 

 perform the chemical part of the collaborative work. The general 

 plan pursued in the former studies was followed in those which are 

 reported here. 



The factors which are most effective in influencing the composition 

 of the crop are length of day, with its concomitants, the amount 

 and distribution of sunshine, the altitude, the temperature, and the 

 amount and distribution of rainfall. As in the previous studies, 

 \\e are indebted to the Weather Bureau for the meteorological data, 

 to the Coast and Geodetic Survey for the computation of the length 

 of day and the altitude and latitude of the stations, and to the 

 agricultural experiment stations in the various States where the 

 crops were grown, and the preliminary analyses made. It is only 

 by such collaboration that problems of this kind which necessarily 

 extend over wide areas can be successfully studied. 



The data which have been collected have been secured principally 

 along the Atlantic coast, extending from Maine to Florida. Similar 

 data are desirable for conditions in different longitudes, as well as in 

 different latitudes, since the conditions which obtain in the interior 



U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Chemistry, Bui. Nos. 64, 74, 78, 95, and 96. 



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