THE OLD AND THE NEW IN CORN CULTURE. 



By H. Howard Biggae, 

 Office of Com Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry. 



CORN THE GREAT AMERICAN CEREAL. 



CORN, the greatest of American cereals, is distinctively an 

 American product. All evidence points to the fact that 

 it was unknown in Europe until after the discovery of 

 America. Its culture at an early period in this country is 

 shown by the accounts of early explorers. Columbus, in 

 writing to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1498, 

 mentions cornfields in America 18 miles in length. Cartier, 

 in the account of his explorations, states that the village of 

 Hochelega, which later (in 1535) became Montreal, was 

 situated in the midst of large cornfields. De Soto found 

 large fields in Florida in 1675, and five years later La Salle 

 noted large supplies in what is now the State of Illinois. 

 That it was grown rather extensively is also indicated by 

 the fact that in 1685 1,200,000 acres of corn belonging to 

 the Seneca Indians were destroyed by the English in New 

 York. In 1696 Frontenac, who invaded the Onondaga 

 country in New York State, spent three days in destroying 

 growing fields. 



CORN AND THE EARLY COLONIES. 



The value of corn to the early colonists of the United 

 States can hardly be overestimated. The Indians, through 

 many years of experience, had learned the kinds of corn 

 best suited to withstand varying conditions, and also some 

 successful methods of corn culture. These facts were com- 

 municated to the colonists, who soon began growing corn. 

 Corn was preferred to other cereal crops because it was 

 easily cultivated, brought large returns in proportion to the 

 amount of seed planted, and was an ideal feed for the pro- 

 duction of hogs and cattle. Every man of John Smith's 

 colony was given an acre of land and instructed to plant 

 corn on it. Corn soon became a medium of exchange among 

 the colonists. Taxes, rents, and debts were paid in corn, and 



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