GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 69 



5. Of all the factors of the environment which affect the edible 

 quality of green Indian corn it appears that the amount and distri- 

 hution of rainfall are the most important. A moderate and well- 

 distributed rainfall, especially during the growing season, is necessary 

 to produce a crop having the best qualities. Excessive rainfall in 

 the latter part of the growing season or a great deficiency during the 

 gt -i -i i limit ing and growing period equally interferes with the excellence 

 of the crop. Naturally, a larger rainfall is needed in the Southern 

 than in the Northern States, and in fact it seems to be more impor- 

 tant that it be evenly distributed there. This idea leads to the sug- 



<>n that the very best results in the growing of sweet Indian 

 mm 1W consumption in the green state may be looked for in the irri- 



d regions, where the supply and distribution of water are under 



'lute control. The cost of land, however, in such localities is so 

 ..; M to render farming more expensive, and hence the great areas 

 devoted to the production of green Indian corn will probably continue 

 to be found in the northern portions of our country where usually the 

 rainfall during the growing period is distributed in such a manner as 

 produces the best crop. The great areas of sweet corn will, there- 



. >till !>' found on the Atlantic coast from Maryland north and in 

 the northern parts of the States bordering the Ohio River, and even 

 touching, in some places, the Canadian frontier. 



6. From the data which have been recorded and from the general 

 MI m ma iv it i> evident that the graphic representations of the influ- 

 enoefl !' environment in the case of green Indian corn are not so 

 valuable as was the case with the sugar beet. The curves showing 

 variations in temperature, latitude, and altitude, the amount of sun- 

 shine, and the quantity and distribution of the rainfall, can not be 



adily compared with the lines showing the sugar content as in 

 the case of the sugar beet. The graphic charts, however, are of use 

 in >howing the general relations which exist, especially between the 

 content of sugar and the rainfall and temperature, but they can only 

 be properly studied in connection with the careful reading of the text. 



