CHAPTER XXII 



SWEET CORN OR SUGAR CORN 



By Albert E. Wilkinson 



Sweet corn is grown chiefly as a vegetable for table 

 use, although the stover is usually harvested as forage for 

 stock. Sometimes sweet corn is planted as a silage or 

 forage crop. The development of sweet corn has been dis- 

 cussed in another place (page 79). 



VARIETIES AND TYPES 



186. Sweet corn may be divided into about the same 

 general classes and types as field corn. The height of 

 the stalk varies from three to ten feet and the number of 

 rows on the ear from eight to twenty. Practically all 

 common colors are found. The time from planting to 

 maturity varies from 65 to 110 days. 



187. As mentioned before (page 23) sweet corn is any 

 one of the starch corns (flint, dent, or flour corn) that has 

 lost its faculty of coverting sugars into starches ; hence, 

 a large part of its carbohydrate material remains in the 

 form of sugar, although some starch may be developed. 



Sweet corn culture is most extensive in the vicinity of 

 large cities, where it is grown as a market-garden and 

 truck crop, and in regions where it is grown as a can- 

 ning crop. 



188. According to the latest census, 1910, the number 

 of farms reported as growing sweet corn in the United 



259 



