250 MAINS AGRicuivTURAi, i;xpe;rime;nt station. 1910. 



Wisconsin 343,000 



Indiana 301,000 



Minnesota . 124,000 



Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kansas, 

 Missouri, Delaware, Pennsyl- 

 vania and Michigan together 246,000 

 All other states 291,000 



Total 6,779,000 



From these figures it appears that Maine stood third among 

 all the states in the amount of sweet corn packed in 1908. The 

 figures given are for cases of 2 dozen cans each. On this basis 

 the Maine sweet corn pack for the year 1908 amounted, in 

 round numbers, to the enormous total of 23,280,000 cans ! 



While the sweet corn packing industry has grown to the 

 magnitude indicated in the figures given, it still remains a 

 somewhat hazardous and precarious business, in which both 

 the farmer and the packer are at times compelled to take great 

 risks, and too often to bear heavy losses. The climatic condi- 

 tions in Maine are the chief source of risk in the business. The 

 growing season to be expected at best is dangerously close to 

 the minimum time necessary to grow good corn. When to this 

 are added the risks arising from the occurrence of late spring 

 and early fall frosts, together with an uncertain distribution of 

 rainfall during the growing season it is evident that there must 

 always be a considerable element of uncertainty as to whether, 

 on the one hand, the farmer who plants sweet corn will get 

 enough out of his crop to pay for seed and fertilizer, and, on 

 the other hand, the packer will be able to produce the number 

 of cans required to fill his contracts. 



In view of these considerations it seemed desirable for the 

 Experiment Station to undertake a study of some of the prob- 

 lems connected with the sweet corn industry, with a view to 

 the possibility of being able to help both the farmer and the 

 packer. After looking over the whole field it appeared that 

 the seed problem was one particularly needing attention. The 

 major portion of all the sweet corn grown in Maine is from 

 seed produced outside the state, chiefly in Massachusetts and 

 Connecticut. The seed is for the most part not specially se- 



