pop corn planted near any other variety 

 crosses with it (by cross polhnation and 

 consequent fertilization), and it becomes 

 absolutely worthless for popping pur- 

 poses. To prevent this, the farmer must 

 plant his pop corn in a separate field far 

 enough removed from other corn to pre- 

 vent crossing. The farmer selects and 

 perpetuates a desirable variety or quality 

 of corn by artificial selection. That is, 

 during the husking season he picks out 

 ears having the desirable qualities (large 

 ears with comparatively small cob and 

 deep kernels) and keeps these for "seed 

 corn." The scientist at the experiment 

 stations above referred to aids nature in 

 the production of new and desirable va- 

 rieties by artificial selection combined 

 with artificial pollination. That is, 

 the pollen of one variety of corn 

 is removed and deposited on the 

 ends of the silk of another variety, 

 performing what is known as arti- 

 ficial crossing. Northern states, for 

 example, could only cultivate an 

 early variety, that is, a variety which 

 would mature in a comparatively brief 

 season. There are also hardy varieties, 

 those which are less readily affected by 

 slight frosts.' Varieties comparatively 

 richer in proteids and others richer in 

 starch, etc. 



Since corn requires rich soil, manur- 

 ing and fertilizing of the soil is a very 

 important item. The old time use of 

 guano, manure and other chemical fer- 

 tilizers is laborious and expensive. Ex- 

 periments are now in progress to utilize 

 certain bacteria for this purpose, and 

 the results thus far obtained point to ul- 

 timate success. 



With perhaps the one exception of 

 rice, maize is the most extensively used 

 grain in the world. In fact, all parts 

 of the plant are used. The leaves, green 

 as well as dried, before fully ripened, 

 form an excellent fodder for horses and 

 cattle. The young, green, juicy plants 

 are greedily eaten by hogs and nearly all 

 the larger herbivorous animals. For fod- 

 der purposes com is often sown broad- 

 cast, when it will produce only a few 

 scrawny ears, cut while still green, dried 

 directly or first allowed to undergo a 

 form of fermentation (ensilage) and 

 then dried, and finally stored in the barn 

 or in the field in "shocks." More general- 



ly the ordinarily planted corn is cut be- 

 fore fully ripened, either by hand or by 

 a machine, shocked, and the ears removed 

 before feeding the stalks and leaves to 

 cattle. Sometimes the fodder, ears and 

 all, is chopped into small bits by means 

 of a special machine run by horse power 

 or steam power. The stalks are also 

 used in paper making, and in fertiliz- 

 ing the soil. At one time efforts were 

 made to use the juice of green stalks in 

 making corn molasses, sugar and glu- 

 cuse, but this enterprise proved a com- 

 mercial failure. The silk of the ear has 

 been and is still used medicinally. It is 

 official in the Pharmacopoeia of the Unit- 

 ed States, but will be excluded in the 

 forthcoming issue (1900). The husk is 

 used in mattresses and the finer, more 

 delicate bracts are used as a substitute 

 for cigarette paper. The poor farmer 

 occasionally smokes the silk as a sub- 

 stitute for tobacco, and it is occasionally 

 used as a filling for small pillows. 



The most valuable part of the corn is 

 the fruit, generally spoken of as the 

 grain, or kernel. Green corn, that is, 

 the ear before it is ripe, when boiled is 

 highly relished as an article of diet. Al- 

 though its food value is certainly over- 

 estimated, as it is" hard to digest, not in- 

 frequently causing serious bowel de- 

 rangements. It should be thoroughly 

 boiled and eaten with salt and butter. 

 For this purpose sweet corn is preferred. 

 Canning boiled corn removed from the 

 cob is a very important industry in the 

 United States. Canned corn mixed with 

 beans is known as succotash. Hominy, a 

 favorite dish of the more civilized tribes 

 of the American Indians, as well as the 

 white inhabitants, consists of the entire 

 grain from, which the hull (seed coat) 

 has been removed by special processes, 

 as soaking in some alkaline solution. 

 Corn is rich in proteids, starch and fat, 

 but does not make good bread. A mix- 

 ture of rye and corn meal makes an ex- 

 cellent coarse bread formerly much used 

 in the Altantic states and still extensively 

 used in parts of Portugal and Spain. 

 Mush consists of boiled corn meal, and is 

 eaten with milk and sugar and fried. 

 Corn bread, hoe cake, corn cake, are con- 

 siderably used, especially in the southern 

 states. Enormous quantities of shelled 

 corn are used as raw material in the man- 



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