348 CEREALS. 



which they originated, and though making enormous yields 

 there, carried to a warmer or colder climate, they do not 

 fulfill the promise that seemed so fair. I have seen the finest, 

 largest, premium corn brought from the prairies of Illi- 

 nois, and planted in rich land in this State, with the expec- 

 tation of good crops, yet the yield so far from being good, 

 was astonishingly small. It may be set down as a rule that 

 the best plan is to select the good corn of the State or coun- 

 ty and improve on that by cultivation. For instance a 

 farmer in Rutherford, many years ago, began with the white 

 cob gourd seed corn, that had from twelve to fourteen rows 

 of grains, and by prudent selections and close attention, in 

 a few years he brought it up to 34 and 36 rows of 

 grains to the ear, with a cob three inches in diameter, and 

 this specimen will shell out a bushel of grain to fifty ears. 



As a general thing, the names of the different varieties 

 are taken from the originator or some fancied resemblance, 

 and so that in two sections the same corn will be 

 known by different names. Some that have acquired a gen- 

 eral reputation have a name common to the whole country, 

 and to these we shall have to confine our remarks. The col- 

 ors of corn are often taken as a distinction, and they depend 

 on the epidermis generally, though sometimes on the oil of 

 the grain, if, however, the epidermis be transparent the 

 color will depend either upon the oil or the combined parti- 

 cles of which the grain is composed. If the hull is opaque 

 of course the color depends entirely on the epidermis. 

 Some corn is rich in a yellow oil, and the hull being trans- 

 parent, the grain takes the color from the oil. Others have 

 a yellow hull or epidermis, and the grain is white within, 

 yet it receives its color from the external coloring matter. 



It is thus with the Golden Sioux, which has a yellow oil 

 all through the grain but a transparent hull, and the White 

 Flint, each taking its color from its oil and starch. But 

 there are others, red, yellow, blue, and white varieties, that 

 are colored by the epidermis alone. As an explanation of 



