Sept, i, 1921 
Reliability of the Nail Test for Green Sweetcorn 
819 
Table II .—Percentage composition of sweetcorn at different stages of ripening as indi¬ 
cated by the nail test. Late crop 
Nail test. 
Premilk. 
Milk. 
Early dough 
Number of tests. 
{ Maximum 
Minimum, 
Average... 
{ Maximum 
Minimum. 
Average... 
{ Maximum 
Minimum. 
Average... 
Ioisture. 
Total 
sugars. 
Starch. 
9 °. 58 
6. 78 
3 - 5 <> 
8 5 - 51 
5 - 2 i 
2. 14 
88.75 
5 - 7<3 
2. 71 
85. 40 
6. 68 
8 - 73 
80. 56 
5. 02 
3 - 89 
8 3 - 54 
5. 81 
5 - 5 1 
82. 56 
4 - 93 
12. 66 
74 - 13 
1. 58 
10. 19 
77 - 95 
3 - 38 
11. 24 
Ratio of 
sugar to 
starch. 
2. 126 
I. 054 
. 300 
Table III- Average percentages of Tables I and II calculated to dry basis 
Crop. 
Premilk stage. 
Milk stage. 
Early dough stage. 
Dough stage. 
Total 
sugar. 
Starch. 
Total 
sugar. 
Starch. 
Total 
sugar. 
Starch. 
Total 
sugar. 
Starch 
Early. 
Late. 
42. 013 
51. 200 
22. 080 
24. 080 
29.183 
35 - 297 
38.911 
33 - 475 
!3- 515 
I 5 - 328 
56- 519 
5 °- 975 
& 786 
59- 922 
EAREY CROP 
1 he percentages of moisture, total sugar, and starch were fairly uni¬ 
form in the kernels from the ears of the early crop classified by the nail 
test as being in the premilk stage. The same was true of the ears picked 
in the early dough stage. The ears picked when the nail test indicated 
the typical milk stage showed, however, a considerable range in the per¬ 
centages of the foregoing constituents, indicating extensive carbohydrate 
transformation in the kernels during the milk stage. The ratios of total 
sugar to starch ranged from 1.428 to 0.387. 
During the period when the com gave the typical dough test the per¬ 
centages of starch gradually increased. The percentages of total sugar 
were somewhat irregular but uniformly low. The dough stage covered 
the period from the end of the early dough stage until the moisture in 
the kernels was reduced to about 60 per cent. At this point the carbo¬ 
hydrate transformations had practically reached equilibrium positions, 
and thereafter the percentages of sugars and starch increased only as 
water was lost by evaporation. Calculated on wet basis, the percentages 
of total sugar for each stage of ripening showed less variation than the 
percentages of starch. 
EATE crop 
The percentage composition of the kernels for each stage of the late 
crop was much more uniform than the corresponding stage of the early 
crop. The percentages of starch in both the milk and early dough stages 
