318 



Sweet Corn. Okra. Martynia 



The larvje feed on the ground in the vicinity of manure piles. 

 Hand-picking is tlie only effective method of control known. 



Stink-bugs (Euschistus rariolarius and E. euschistoides) . — 

 These two dull grayish brown stink-bugs, about % in. long, 

 often attack corn by puncturing the kernels through the husk 

 and sucking out the juices. The bugs are most abundant in 

 waste land grown up to weeds. Clean farming will greatly 

 reduce their numbers. 



As a garden or horticultural crop, sweet corn or sugar 

 corn is the only kind of maize that need be considered here. 

 It is grown for the immature ears, which are eaten when 

 the grains are yet soft. Although practically unknown in 

 other parts of the world, it is a very important product in 

 I^orth America. Its importance has greatly increased in 

 recent time because it is extensively canned. Sweet corn 



the cob seems to be an American enterprise. " Green 

 corn " is a characteristic and highl}^ desirable food prod- 

 uct, and nothing seems to connect one closer with the soil 

 and the open. Figs. 194, 195, 196 illustrate it. 



The cultivation of sweet corn is not unlike that of field 

 corn, with the exception that greater attention is paid to 

 earliness and to the development of each individual plant. 

 It is therefore given, if possible, an earlier and warmer 

 soil, with quickly available fertilizers, and it is usually 

 grown in hills rather than in continuous drills. The idea 



194. Kernels of a sweet corn 

 (X about 2). 



is not grown in the Southern 

 States ; or if it is, the seed is 

 renewed every year. It holds 

 its peculiar attributes in the 

 short sharp seasons of the 

 Northern States and parts of 

 Canada. Eating corn from 



