144 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXII. No. 554 



period of the last eight years, or from 1884 to 1892, in- 

 clusive. 



The motive for undertaking it was furnished in the 

 fact that in the previous examination of this plant I had 

 noticed that it exhibited some remarkable peculiarities, 

 the exact nature and causes of which were unknown, and 

 to which no former investigation furnished any clue. 



When it began, I had samples of different varieties of 

 corn growing under different conditions as to soil and. 

 culture and planted at different times. In the course of 

 tests made in the fall of the year 1884, the results of 

 which were chiefly of a negative character, except as 

 proving that the exceptional richness in sugar, which, in 

 a few instances, had been noted before in some samples, 

 did not attach to any particular variety of corn, and that 

 the accumulation of sucrose or cane sugar in all sorts, 

 both of field and sweet corn, was uniformly progressive 

 with their growth after a certain period, and reached its 

 supposed maximum always, as had previously been noted, 

 just before the grain began to glaze or harden. In all 

 sorts, likewise, the fact was confirmed that after that period 

 had passed, vital activity in the j^lant almost immediately 

 ceased, and all the soluble organized materials lodged 

 within the cells of all parts of the structure, except the 

 grain, raj)idly ran down into lower forms successively, 

 and in a few days totally disappeared, leaving in the stalk 

 only a vapid watery juice, which in its turn as rapidly 

 evaporated out. Of course, only the dead, dry stalk re- 

 mained, in that condition a verj' type of worthlessness, 

 except as a feeble support to bear up for a time the 

 the ripened ear. 



But it was noticed that some plants of the same age 

 and sort as these shrivelled and dead ones, grown along- 

 side of them in the same plot, from which, however, the 

 immature ears had been plucked some time before, did 

 not share in that condition. Their stems and leaves, and 

 especially the leaves springing from the upper joints, 

 were yet green and vigorous, and when samples of them 

 were cut it was evident that they had not diminished in 

 weight as compared with other plants cut before the 

 grain had matured. Some of the juice was pressed out 

 for examination, and to my surprise it showed qualities 

 much superior to any previously noticed that season. 

 These indications were more than confirmed when the 

 sample was subjected to analysis. I give below the re- 

 sults of the tests to determine the relative percentages of 

 the sugars and other solids contained in this juice, as 

 taken from my note book at the date of this first exjaeri- 

 ment made upon maize in this condition, Sept. 10, 1884. 



The variety was the common yellow Dent corn usually 

 grown in this locality (western Pennsylvania). 



Sample Sept. lo, 1884, Sample Aug. 23, 1884. 



Specific gravity of juice, 1.071. Specific gravity, 1.048. 

 Cane sugar, - - 13.84 per cent 6. 70 per cent 



Glucose, - - 1.07 " " 2.50 " " 



Organic matter not 

 sugar and salts, 



2.39 



Total solids. 



17-30 



I have placed alongside of this for comparison, in the 

 second column (above), the average composition of the 

 juice of plants of the same variety, taken at the time when 

 the grain was yet soft and when the cane sugar percentage 

 was usually at its highest at that stage. 



The experiment was speedily repeated upon another 

 plant in the same condition and with almost precisely the 

 same results. An increase of sucrose was indicated ex- 

 ceeding by nearly 100 per cent the normal as found in 

 plants at the period of their life when it ordinarily has 

 reached its highest limit. 



This was a remarkable result in itself, but its chief sig_ 

 nificance seemed to rest in the fact that the high percent 

 age of sugar was in some way correlated to the condition 

 of arrested development of the grain. 



Attention was at once directed to some naturally sterile 

 plants, those upon which no ear had formed. These 

 were still alive, green and vigorous, and closely resem- 

 bled those from which the immature ears had for some 

 time before been removed. Experiment soon disclosed 

 an almost comj)lete identity between them in the chemical 

 composition of the juice. The only logical interpretation 

 of this, supjDosing the results to be constant, was that the 

 suppression of vital activity in the ear induces functional 

 changes in other parts of the structure, especially in the 

 stem in which the reserve products are chiefly lodged, 

 whereby the existence of the plant is prolonged and a . 

 new direction given to the unspent energy which would 

 otherwise have been consumed in the final development of 

 the seed. 



Taking only the totally abortive plants, abortive as to 

 the seed, into the account, an analogue to them seemed 

 to exist in the sugar cane, which jjroduces ordinarily no 

 seed at all. The relationship of the latter to Indian corn 

 is very close. Was it jjossible that the arrested develojD- 

 ment of the seed, however brought about, conditions the 

 more active building up and storage of the soluble carbo- 

 hydrates, and especially cane sugar, within the cells of 

 the stalk which seem so highly specialized for this end 

 in both ■? 



If so, it was hardly credible that such a circumstance 

 should have eluded observation heretofore. Tet to that 

 conclusion the facts so far gathered seemed to point. 



If it could be fully verified as a phj'siological trait, un- 

 der the specified conditions, it was easily seen that it 

 would result in an enormous gain in the productiveness 

 of the plant in two of)posite directions, two full crops in- 

 stead of one, the grain almost equal in amount and, 

 superior in nutritive value to the ordinary hard corn, and 

 instead of an almost worthless mass of dead fibre, 

 fully developed canes, in full life and vigor, richly charged 

 with true cane sugar. 



It thus began to be evident that a new principle in the 

 economy of the plant, unnoticed before, was in action, 

 controlling its activities under the changed conditions. 



The suggestion that the extraordinary accumulation of 

 sugar in the juice was apparent only, and not real, the 

 result simply of concentration by evaporation from the 

 stem, had to be dismissed at once, for it is well known 

 that true evaporation can take place only from dead cells, 

 the process involving the destruction of their organized 

 contents and not their accumulation, and is followed by 

 immediate loss of weight. 



Enough had now been learned certainly to stimulate to 

 further research, but not enough to establish the absolute 

 constancy of the new results reached under variously 

 modified influences, all of which could not manifest them- 

 selves during a single season of growth. But if a thor- 

 ough investigation during a series of years subsequent, 

 covering all important points, should be found to confirm 

 fully the outcome of these first experiments, it would be 

 regarded as decisive. Nothing less would dissipate the 

 incredulity with which a disclosure of the facts would be 

 received when four hundred years of accumulated experi- 

 ence of the jjlant in cultivation, in every quarter of the 

 world, had failed to bring it out. 



To the self-imposed task of doing this work, self- 

 imposed because neither inclination nor constraint seemed 

 to impel any one else to undertake it, much of my time 

 has been given during the past eight years. 



In brief, it may now be said that the outcome has not 

 only abundantly confirmed the conclusions first reached, 



