412 



MAIZE 



MAIZE 



two-row corn-planters. When so planted, each pair 

 of rows is at every point the same distance apart, 

 so that a man can cultivate two rows as easily as 

 one. For cultivating listed corn, three-row disk- 

 cultivators are sometimes used, which completely 

 cultivate three rows each time the field is crossed, 

 four horses being used. These cultivators are pro- 

 vided with sufficient play so that the disks of the 

 cultivator are guided by the ridges made at the 

 time the corn was planted. 



Corn-huskers and shredders are now growing in 

 favor, which strip the husks from the ears and at 

 the same time tear or chop the fodder into very 

 fine particles. In this condition the fodder is fed 

 with less waste. Corn-picking and husking ma- 

 chines designed to gather the ears from the stand- 

 ing stalks, husk them and deliver them into 

 wagons driven by the side of the machine, are used 



of com oil, valued at $1,467,493 ; the next year 

 the exportation amounted to 3,222,875 gallons, 

 valued at $998,613 ; in 1905, 3,108,91.7 gallons, 

 valued at $890,973 ; for 1906 the exports of this 

 product reached a value of $1,172,206. 



Some of the leading products made from the 

 grain of maize other than those mentioned are 

 glucose, dextrine or American gum, alcohol and 

 whiskey, starches, both edible and laundry, grits, 

 hominies and a great variety of table products. 



Enemies. 



While this crop is preyed on by numerous ene- 

 mies, such as rodents, crows, insects and fungous 

 diseases, there are but few that sometimes destroy 

 the whole crop. 



Root-worm. — The corn root-worm is one of the 

 most injurious corn pests. At times its depreda- 



Fig. 630. Com harvest scene in tlie middle West. Preparing for wheat. 



to some extent and will probably be improved so 

 that they will be more generally employed. 



Corn prod/ilds. 



To a very slight extent compared with the 

 amount of com grown, the parts of the corn plant 

 other than the grain are used in making various 

 manufactured products. The silks are used as a 

 filter, husks for the making of mattresses, the pith 

 of the stalk for the packing of coifer-dams of battle- 

 ships, the outer "part of the stalks for the making 

 of pyroxylin varnish and paper, cobs for the mak- 

 ing of corn-cob pipes. The leaves and husks are 

 ground finely and mixed with corn oil-cake to form 

 a feed for chickens and cattle. So varied are the 

 products obtained from different parts of this plant 

 that one factory alone manufactures forty -two 

 distinct products. 



Corn oil as extracted from the germs, usually by 

 hydraulic pressure, is one of the most valuable 

 products obtained from corn. It is used for culi- 

 nary purposes and is vulcanized as a substitute for 

 India rubber. About 75 or 80 per cent of the corn 

 oil manufactured in this country is exported. In 

 1903 the United States exported 3,778,935 gallons 



tions become very apparent and entire fields are 

 destroyed, but generally its injuries are moderate 

 and widely distributed, so that the corn crop is cut 

 short by millions of bushels and the cause not 

 known or realized. The larva of the corn root-worm 

 that does injury in the southern states is a slender, 

 thread-like, yellowish white worm with a brownish 

 head. It is about one-half inch long. Plants injured 

 by this root-worm usually show one or more small 

 round worm-holes just below the surface of the soil 

 near the upper whorl of roots. Because it often 

 begins its destruction as soon as the young plants 

 begin their growth, it is commonly called the "bud- 

 worm." 



The corn root-worm of the leading corn-produc- 

 ing states differs slightly from the southern corn 

 root-worm. The larva is smaller, four-tenths of an 

 inch long. The eggs hatch in the soil and the 

 worms mine longitudinally either up or down 

 through the corn roots. The adult does not possess 

 the twelve black spots of the southern root-worm 

 but is of a uniform grass-green color, and feeds 

 mostly on the pollen and silks of the corn plant. 

 While the green beetles do some damage by gnaw- 

 ing on the silks, it is in the larval stage that this 



