September 15, 1893.] 



SCIENCE. 



143 



SCIENCE: 



Published by N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, New York. 



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COEN CANE.* 



BY F. L. STEWART, MTTBEYSVtLLE. PA. 



It is the object of this paj)er to show from facts recent- 

 ly established that about one-half of the available food 

 products of Indian corn are now wholly lost to us, — lost 

 because unused and hitherto unknown to exist. 



If it can be proved that what is thus lost can now be 

 readily recovered, and not only so, but that it is recov- 

 erable as a new product from this plant, giving it an en- 

 tirely new value, such attainable results will clearly be 

 seen to be of great economic importance. 



This consideration is entii'ely aside from the fact that 

 much waste, which might be avoided, is often incurred in 

 the production of our ordinary corn crop. Although 

 great strides have been made within the past twenty-five 

 years toward better farming in this country, by the adop- 

 tion of improved implements and more systematic methods, 

 it cannot be disguised that our treatment of maize, as an 

 agricultural plant, is yet very defective, chiefly, as it 

 seems, because its true nature and requirements are but 

 imperfectly understood. 



The tropical luxuriance of an American corn field, in 

 the full tide of its summer growth, is something to 

 awaken admiration; but the indulgence of such sentiment 

 is commonly left to the artists and poets and the few 

 students of vegetable physiology among us who have 

 noted carefully the marvellous mechanical structure of 

 the plant, its wonderful vigor and the perfect symmetry 

 of its growth. 



But all this goes for nothing at the harvest, when, in 

 point of value, the dry, skeleton stalks are brought in 

 contrast with the rich golden corn; and therefore the 

 steady aim in cultivation has been to repress stem growth 

 and increase the yield of grain. 



No good reason is perceived why nature should so 

 stubbornly persist in mounting the magnificent ears, 

 which alone we set store by, upon solid culms twelve and 

 fourteen feet high. And so, we have come to regard the 

 huge stalks as the embodiment of much valuable con- 

 structive energy which might otherwise have been more 

 profitably employed. True, this theory does not pass 

 without protest; but it is satisfactory as shifting upon 

 nature the responsibility for a condition of things which 

 justifies the recent criticism of a surprised visitor out 

 west, and complacently accepts it as true, that "Indian 



♦An account of the results of an investigation concerning the value of In- 

 dian com as a sugar-producing plant under new conditions of growth and 

 development. 



corn growing is the only business in which a man can 

 waste forty-five per cent of his capital and yet make a 

 living." 



Certainly our appreciation of this plant and our treat- 

 ment of it would be different if we knew it better. Our 

 acquaintance with it is not yet of that intimate kind that 

 we have with the cereals and forage plants that migrated 

 with man from the cradle of the human race. It is true 

 that maize has been known to civilized man, more or less, 

 for about 400 years. Its grain is by far our most import- 

 ant food staple. Its production now equals about 2,000 

 millions of bushels annually in this country alone, in 

 value, about 700 millions of dollars. Our agricultural 

 system is, in a measure, shaped by the requirements of 

 the successful growth of this crop, and we are credited 

 abroad with knowing all that is worth knowing about it. 



It has been introduced, also, into aU regions of the 

 earth where it can profitably be grown. In its already 

 recognized relations to the welfare of man, no acquisition 

 from the vegetable kingdom has ever been found to equal 

 it in value. Yet the obligation thereby implied to inves- 

 tigate thoroughly its nature and properties has most un- 

 reasonably been avoided by those competent to do it. 



It has been taken for granted, apparently, that this 

 plant has no uses beyond those already known. In this 

 country, at least, its established rank among the cereals 

 is so unique and unrivalled, and its capacity to supply 

 all reasonable wants within what we have come to regard 

 as its proper sphere, have seemed so complete as to awaken 

 no desire for further investigation looking toward the 

 discovery of any possible new uses of the plant or its 

 growth and development under any other than the usual 

 conditions. 



Some ten years ago the writer of this shared with some 

 others in the belief that both maize and the then newly 

 introduced sugar miUets or sorghums were entitled to a 

 prominent place among sugar-producing plants for those 

 regions of the temperate zones which are characterized by 

 a sub-tropical summer climate. The experiments which 

 seemed to justify such an opinion, however, were neces- 

 sarily very incomplete, and covered a period of only about 

 two years. 



In the popular estimate of the comparative value of 

 these plants the Cape millets or African varieties of sor- 

 ghum were given the preference. This was also the view 

 taken at the Department of Agriculture at Washington, 

 to which, by special invitation of the Commissioner, the 

 methods and results of some preliminary tests of mine 

 were submitted for examination and rejjort. It is outside 

 of my present purpose to refer to those first experiments 

 further than to say that they were repeated very success- 

 fully at the department by the chemist in charge and by 

 others competent to do the work elsewhere, and the re- 

 ports show that the conclusions first reached were abun- 

 dantly confirmed. 



In the years following experiments in sugar manufac- 

 ture from sorghum began to be prosecuted under the 

 patronage of the general government, — and of some of the 

 State governments likewise, — and they have been contin- 

 ued with very variable results in different localities, but 

 with the promise of permanent success, chiefly under the 

 favorable climatic conditions prevailing in our southwest- 

 ern States, es]pecially Kansas and the Indian Territory. 



The experiments iDeing thus limited to sorghum alone, 

 the value of maize in this connection was left entirely an 

 open question. Practically, its claims were completely 

 ignored. 



What follows is simply a brief narration of work per- 

 formed and of results reached in the course of an investi- 

 gation begun and conducted throughout by myself in a 

 private way to determine this question. It covers a 



