404 



MAIZE 



MAIZE 



Average Production of Corn Per Acre for Ten 

 Years, 1897-1906. Bushels 



Connecticut 36.00 



Massachusetts 85.55 



Maine 35.13 



Pennsylvania 35.04 



Ohio 34.91 



New Jersey 34.60 



Vermont 34.53 



Indiana 34.47 



Illinois 34.02 



Wisconsin 33.64 



New Hampshire 33.56 



Iowa 32.49 



Maryland 32.26 



Michigan 32.05 



Rhode Island 31.83 



New York 30.37 



California 29.72 



Minnesota 29.44 



Missouri 27.98 



Idaho 27.83* 



Nebraska . 27.71 



Delaware 27.63 



Indian Territory 27.21* 



South Dakota 26.55 



West Virginia 26.40 



Kentucky 25.98 



Wyoming 24.91 



Utah 24.53 



New Mexico 24.50 



Oregon 24.34 



Oklahoma 23.78* 



Arizona 23.48* 



Tennessee 22.48 



Kansas 22.08 



Montana 22.01 



North Dakota 21.87 



Virginia 21.30 



Washington 21.07 



Colorado 19.86 



Texas 19.08 



Arkansas 18.78 



Louisiana 16.76 



Mississippi 15.22 



North Carolina 13.70 



Alabama 12.99 



Georgia 10.56 



South Carolina 9.81 



Florida 9.43 



♦Average production of com for six years, 1901-1906, 



The following table of corn production in Canada 

 is taken from the Canada Year Book for 1905. It 

 is for the census year of 1901, being the crop of 

 1900. It is seen that very little corn is grown 

 except in the province of Ontario. Quebec stands 

 second, far behind Ontario, but much in the lead of 

 the other provinces, where corn is unimportant. 



1901 Acres Bushels in the ear 



Canada 360,758 25,875,919 



British Columbia . . 51 1,849 



Manitoba 62 1,944 



New Brunswick ... 259 12,509 



Nova Scotia .... 177 9,358 



Ontario 331,641 24,463,694 



Prince Edward Island ' 37 834 



Quebec 28,506 1,384,331 



The Territories ... 25 1,400 



From the statistics of the last four census years 

 it is seen that the production of corn is rapidly 

 increasing. The figures are for all Canada: 



1871 3,802,830 Y)us. 



1881 9,025,142 bus. 



1891 10,711,880 bus. 



1901 25,875,919 bus. 



History. 



In the early writings and history of both North 

 and South America, the importance of maize is 

 recognized and frequent mention is made of it. 

 However, these early writings 

 mention it as a well-known plant, 

 so that descriptions of it are few 

 and nothing positive appears re- 

 garding its origin or the char- 

 acter of the plant when it was 

 first utilized by the native in- 

 habitants of America. We know 

 that there were different kinds 

 of maize in America at the time 

 of its discovery. It is probable 

 that such different kinds of corn 

 as pod, flour, flint, dent, sweet, 

 and pop of various colors, ex- 

 isted at that time. It is certain 

 that by seed selection, preserva- 

 tion and cultivation the settlers 

 of America have improved these 

 different types. 



De Candolle states positively 

 as follows : "Maize is of Ameri- 

 can origin and has been intro- 

 duced into the Old World only 

 since the discovery of the New." 

 Edward Enfield, in his book on 

 Indian corn, published in 1866, 

 is positive that maize is of 

 American origin and states, "If 

 any further evidence were want- 

 ing on this point, it may be 

 found in the impossibility that 

 a grain so nutritious, prolific and valuable, so ad- 

 mirably adapted to the wants of man, could have 

 existed in the eastern world before the discovery of 

 America without coming into general use and mak- 

 ing itself universally known. Had this cereal ex- 

 isted there at that period, it would have made its 

 own record too clearly and positively to leave any 

 doubt on the subject.'' Harshberger states, "The 

 evidence of archeology, history, ethnology and 

 philology points to southern Mexico as the primal 

 habitat of this great New World cereal." [See pre- 

 ceding article.] 



The earliest explorers and settlers of all parts of 

 the New World found maize in a state of cultiva- 

 tion and the principal food of the Indians. Thus, in 

 Pickering's Chronological History of Plants this 

 statement is made : "About 1002 A. D., Thorwald, 

 brother of Leif, wintered in Vinland . . . and on 

 an island far westward saw a wooden crib for 

 corn." Columbus, in a letter to Ferdinand and Isa- 

 bella, dated May 30, 1498, speaking of his brother, 

 says, "During a Journey in the interior he found a 

 dense population entirely agricultural, and at one 

 place passed through eighteen miles of corn-fields." 



In Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, mention is 



Fig. 611. 



A well-formed ear 



of dent com. 



