CHAPTER VI 

 CORN — RACES AND VARIETIES 



Maize has varied into almost numberless forms, ranging 

 from the tall corn of the Southern States to the dwarf of 

 high latitudes, and has given rise to many shapes and sizes 

 and colors of kernel and ear. Some corn is very early, 

 some late ; some kinds have flinty kernels and others 

 have very soft grains. 



102. Races of corn. — Corn is divided into at least six 

 gi-eat divisions, or races, which cross freely with each 



other. These races are 

 (1) dent, (2) flint. 



Fig. 64. — Sections across Grains of \o) SWeet, (■i) pop. 

 Corn, showing Arkancement of ('5') goft and (6) pod 

 Horny (Shaded) and Floury (Dotted) ^m 



Layer in Each. corn. These races are 



From left to right, dent, flint, pop, sweet, distinguished by differ- 



and soft corn. pj^pp^ Jj^ ^J^g structure 



of the grains (Figs. 6i and 65), as well as by other dis- 

 tinctive characters. 



Dent corn comprises all the varieties commonly grown in 

 the fields in the Southern States. Indeed, the bulk of the 

 American corn crop belongs to this race. 



(1) In dent corn a cross-section of the grain shows that the 

 floury or soft part, consisting chiefly of loosely arranged 

 starch grains, comes quite to the top of the grain. The 

 shrinkage of this soft loose .starch during ripening causes the 



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