LESSONS ON CORN. 7 



Exercises. — Find out from the farmers in the district whether 

 corn has any serious pests, such as birds, insects, or diseases. If 

 possible, have the pupils collect and preserve for the school exhibit 

 local corn diseases and insect pests. 



References.— Farmers' Bulletins 54*, pp. 18-23, 29, 30; 78*, p. 27; 

 537, pp. 15, 16 ; 634* ; 733 ; 739. 



LESSON XI. 



Subject. — The food value of corn. 



Topics for study. — Is most of the corn in your State fed or 

 shipped ? Which is cheaper, to ship the corn or to ship an animal 

 that was fed on it ? About how many bushels of corn are required to 

 feed a 250-pound hog? How much would it cost to ship the corn to 

 the nearest large stock market— Chicago, Omaha, Kansas City, or 

 Buffalo? To ship the hog? In addition to its value as feed for 

 stock, corn is largely used as human food. In what ways is it used 

 as a food? What products are manufactured from corn? What 

 ones have you seen? What samples of them do you have in your 

 school museum ? 



Exercises. — When you sell $10 worth of corn from the farm you 

 sell $3.78 worth of fertilizer; when you sell $10 worth of cattle you 

 sell $1.18 worth of fertilizer. Which would be more profitable — to 

 sell corn or to feed it to cattle ar\d sell the cattle ? Which method of 

 farming would keep the land in good condition longer? Have the 

 pupils study and recite on Fanners' Bulletins 56, 65, 97, and 122. All 

 these deal with some phase of feeding corn to farm animals. The 

 girls in the class will be interested in studying the value of corn as a 

 food for human beings, as discussed particularly in Farmers' Bulletin 

 565. 



References. — Farmers' Bulletins 97*, pp. 9-12; 249; 281*, pp. 

 18-22; 298; 553; 554; 559; 565. 



LESSON XII. 



Subject. — The botany of corn. 



Topics for study.— Corn flowers: Does the corn have flowers like 

 wheat? Where are the stamens in corn? Where are the pistils? 

 What is the yellow powder that one sees on the ground just as the 

 silks begin to show ? Why so much of it ? Why is dry weather par- 

 ticularly bad for corn at this time? "When a cornstalk grows in a 

 place by itself what kind of an ear does it have ? Why is this? Open 

 an ear of corn that has just " silked out." Follow the threads of 

 silk. Where are they attached to the kernels? 



(The corn stamens are normally borne in the tassel. The silks and 

 the kernels to which they are attached are the pistils. The pollen 

 must fall or be blown from the tassel to the silk in order to fertilize 



