22 



INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON SWEET CORN. 



INFLUENCE OF RIPENESS ON SUGAR CONTENT AS JUDGED BY TASTE 

 AND BY CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 



Samples were taken of the corn when it was in the watery, milky, 

 and creamy stages of ripeness and a difference of 42 per cent was 

 found between the highest and lowest percentages of sugar. In the 

 watery stage a maximum of 54 per cent of sugar was found, and in 

 the advanced creamy stage as low as 12 per cent of sugar, calculated 

 to a water-free basis. As there is no absolute method of determin- 

 ing the state of ripeness of 'the corn, great care should be exercised 

 in selecting the ears, and it is necessary to gather a large number of 

 samples hi order to secure comparable results. To afford a com- 

 parison of each day's work, the following determinations were made: 



Moisture and sugar content of Stowell Evergreen corn on different dates. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



MARYLAND. 



Taking into consideration the fact that a great variation in sugar 

 content occurs even when the ears are in the same state of ripeness, 

 these figures show a very close average for the individual days, and 

 are indicative of satisfactory sampling. 



An effort was made to determine whether any relation exists 

 between the taste of the corn and the percentage of sugars present. 

 In order to accomplish this, ears which were pulled for analyses were 

 tasted by two men and were rated, using as a scale the numbers 

 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, the highest number being used for the sweetest 

 corn. The figures by the two tasters for each ear were averaged when 

 they disagreed and marked opposite the serial number assigned the 

 ear, and after completing the analyses it was possible to compare 

 the rating thus obtained with that secured by analysis. The aver- 

 ages are given in the following table: 



