524 MAN CONTROLS HIS ENVIRONMENT FOR WEALTH 



nations have advanced in power, their dependence upon the cereal 

 crops has become greater and greater. 



" Maize, Indian corn, has played a most important part in the 

 history of the New World, as regards both the red men and the white 

 men. It could be planted without clearing or ploughing the soil. 

 There was no need of threshing or winnowing. Sown in tilled land, 



it yields more than twice as 

 much food per acre as any 

 other kind of grain. This 

 was of incalculable advan- 

 tage to the English settlers 

 in New England, who would 

 have found it much harder 

 to gain a secure foothold 

 upon the soil if they had 

 had to begin by preparing 

 it for wheat or rye," says 

 John Fiske. {The Discovery 

 of America. Houghton 

 Mifflin Co.) 



Today, in spite of the 

 great wealth which comes 

 from our mineral resources, 

 live stock, and manufac- 

 tured products, a very 

 good index of our country's 

 prosperity is the size of the corn and wheat crop. According to a 

 recent report, the value of farm property in the United States is 

 more than $57,000,000,000, a sum greater than that invested in all 

 manufactures in the United States. 



Corn. Over 2,000,000,000 bushels of corn were raised in the 

 United States during the year 1929. This figure is so enormous 

 that it has but little meaning to us. Iowa and Illinois are the great- 

 est corn-producing states in this country, each having a yearly 

 record of over 300,000,000 bushels. The figure on page 525 shows 

 the principal corn-producing areas in the United States. 



Indian corn has many uses. It is a valuable food. It has a 

 large proportion of starch, from which corn syrup, starch, and 



Wright Pierce 

 What part of the cauliflower is used for food ? 



