158 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXII. No. 555 



ority of the corn grain when harvested at the time at 

 which it is necessary to arrest its development to secure 

 the sugar crop. Fifty years ago it might have been 

 necessary to argue that point, but within that time the 

 corn canning and drying industry has arisen, and im- 

 mense quantities of American "sugar" corn are now put 

 upon the markets both of this country and of the old 

 world in response to the demand for the immature grain, 

 and within the last decade the same product from "field" 

 corn, along with the green fodder, cured by the ensilage 

 system, has won an established value as the best form, 

 the most nutritive and most readily preserved without 

 loss, in which the whole plant can be utilized for stock 

 feeding. 



This plant is capable, then, of yielding its grain in one 

 of two widely different conditions, as widely different in 

 fact as if they were the product of two different species. 

 Eipeness may be affirmed of either, if by that is meant, 



It does not detract from the value of our ordinary field 

 corn in this connection that its immature grain can- 

 not be used to the same advantage for canning or drying 

 as that of the so-called sweet varieties. The peculiar 

 softness and sweetness of the grain of the latter has prac- 

 tically nothing to do with the amount or quality of the 

 saccharine secretion in the cells of the other parts of the 

 plant. In fact, the jjlants with the richest juice are the 

 tug-stemmed field sorts; the dwarf age of the varieties 

 grown by the truck gardener and for canning comes from 

 selection to jsroduce extra early ripening, and the small 

 size of most of these will exclude them from use where 

 sugar manufacture is the object. 



But the grain of field corn taken in this connection will 

 serve its highest purpose for stock feeding. As will pres- 

 ently be shown, it has a distinct and superior value to 

 the hard, full-ripened corn, for this purpose. Systematic 

 experiments made within the past few years at different 



showing approximately the composition of the solids in the juice (sucrose, dextrose and 

 organic matter not sugar and ash) during the life of the plant. — A. B. C. from planting 

 to final ripening of juice. — A. B. D. from planting to full ripening of grain. 



first, the possession by the grain of germinative power, 

 for both will grow, and, second, a developed condition of 

 the nutritive elements far enough advanced in the grain 

 at either stage to fit it in the best manner for certain 

 special uses as food. 



We can have either condition of the grain at will, and 

 our ability to secure either gives us a variety in the choice 

 of food from this single source not approached by the 

 products of any other plant. We have the option be- 

 tween two series of food products widely different, de- 

 rived simply from one kind of grain taken in two differ- 

 ent and successive stages of development. 



We elect to take it at the earlier stage, when we pro- 

 pose to produce sugar, and our taking it then is the one 

 condition upon which the proper juice-ripening in the 

 cells of the stalk depends. Two crops are thus secured 

 from the same plant, instead of one, the interval between 

 the maturing stages of each being long enough to enable 

 both to be properly cared for without loss. 



state agricultural stations in this country, and by prac- 

 tical farmers, stock growers and dairymen, not only prove 

 this conclusively, but indicate beyond question what is 

 the best means of curing and preparing it for use as ani- 

 mal food. I refer to the ensilage system, in the practice 

 of which Indian corn is almost exclusively used. 



As is well known, wherever it is grown for this purpose 

 to the most advantage the aim is to secure the most lux- 

 uriant growth, and the fullest development of the whole 

 plant up to the time when the grain is fully formed, but 

 still soft. Under such circumstances the ear composes a 

 large proportion of the 23i'epared silage, twenty-five to 

 thirty-five per cent. 



It is no part of my jsresent purpose to discuss a point 

 which just here demands special notice, namely, the 

 richer quality and higher value of corn silage attainable 

 by modifying the system so as to take advantage of the 

 full development of the food materials within the plant, 

 upon which, as already shown, its value in sugar produc- 



