330 THE BOOK OF CORN 



Queen's Golden is another large-growing variety 

 with yellow or orange-colored kernels. The ears are 

 six and one-half to eight and one-half inches long and 

 the stalks from six to eight feet tall. Silver Lace has 

 ears five to six inches long and stalks six to seven feet 

 tall. Mapledale Prolific is a very tall growing kind, 

 sometimes attaining a hight of twelve feet. The stalks 

 set several ears, varying from six to eight inches long. 

 The kernels of these three varieties are smooth and 

 rounded at butt. The Pearl is another popular, tall- 

 growing variety with smooth, rounded kernels but with 

 smaller ears than the above. The California Golden is 

 a dwarf variety growing from three to four feet tall 

 and ears from two to three and one-half inches long.. 

 The kernels are beaked like the Rice corns and of an 

 amber color. 



There is great variation in different ears of the 

 same variety grown in the same field, and it is only by 

 long and careful selection that a strain can be obtained 

 which will prove fairly uniform. From a strain not 

 carefully bred, all shapes, sizes, and shades of color of 

 ear and kernel will be produced, some with good pop- 

 ping qualities, and others lacking greatly in this re- 

 spect. The yield, which is always estimated in pounds, 

 varies from one thousand to two thousand pounds per 

 acre and may run even higher in some varieties. A 

 yield of fifteen hundred pounds per acre of Rice corn 

 on the ear is considered a good, profitable acreage, but 

 with less than one thousand pounds there is little profit 

 in it. The price varies greatly, as the market for pop- 

 corn is limited, and it takes only a comparatively small 

 quantity to overstock it. Prices in a wholesale way 

 vary from one to four cents per pound. 



