404 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXVIII, No. 5 
The establishment of the State agricultural experiment stations in 1887 seems 
to have greatly stimulated studies upon corn, and during the next 10 or 12 years 
numerous papers were issued from different States dealing with various phases 
of the subject. These had to do with field observations upon the physical 
'characteristics of the plants, earliness and lateness in maturing, yields, etc., with 
the taxonomy and description of varieties, the character and proportions of the 
various chemical constituents of the grain, the transformations in chemical 
composition during growth, breeding experiments, etc. It is manifestly im¬ 
possible at this time to review all this work in detail and references to the liter¬ 
ature will be confined, for the most part, to those papers dealing primarily with 
sweet corn. 
Among those who have made more or less careful field studies upon sweet 
corn varieties may be mentioned Burrill and McCluer ( 12, IS), Butz and Baldwin 
(16), Latta (36), Taft, Coryell, and Gladden (67), Munson and Gould (43), Butz 
(16), Taft, Gladden, and Hedrick (68), Gould (26, 27), Bane (48) and Price and 
Drinkard (47). A brief taxonomic grouping of sweet corn varieties based upon 
careful field observations was made in 1890 by Burrill and McCluer (IS) and in 
1899 Sturtevant (66) prepared a monograph dealing with some 800 varieties 
in which an attempt was made to place the nomenclature upon a sound scientific 
basis. This monograph is regarded as the best treatment of the subject ever 
undertaken and is recognized as a standard work. 
The literature bearing upon the breeding of sweet corn for the last 30 years 
has been confined largely to the genetics of the subject. Little has been written 
concerning the improvement of strains and the production of new varieties. 
However, this does not mean that such work has not been done but rather that 
the investigators have failed to record their results. Advance in this work has 
been made along three lines, namely, the development of superior varieties by 
hybridization, improvement by careful selection of existing strains, and the 
development of first-year hybrids from pure self-fertilized strains. The first 
has resulted in new types with respect to color, arrangement and size of grains, 
improved yields, etc.; the second, by use of the ear-to-row or “remanent” 
method, has yielded superior strains with respect to size and number of ears, etc. ; 
and the third promises much in the way of uniformity of ears and yields. 
For many years the practical breeding and selection of improved varieties of 
sweet corn have been largely in the hands of commercial seedsmen, though several 
of the State agricultural experiment stations are continuing work along this line. 3 
Among those who by their early studies contributed materially to the success 
of later workers in this field may be mentioned Beal (6, 7, 8, 9), Ingersoll (82), 
Sanborn (65), McCluer (38), Morrow and Gardner (40, 41 ), Williams (72), 
Shull (58, 59) and East (21). The late Dr. W. W. Tracy, sr., of this office, whose 
breeding studies were never put into printed form, was likewise a potent factor 
in the development of improved strains. Reference to papers upon more recent 
investigations will be made in the discussion of results of the present study. 
The chemistry of corn is a subject that has engaged the attention of many 
workers. Gorham (25), as far back as 1821, during his studies upon the com¬ 
position of corn, discovered zein as one of the chemical constituents of the kernel, 
and Bizio (10) discovered the presence of oil. Boussingault (11) made determina¬ 
tions of the nitrogen content and pointed out the possibility of variations in the 
chemical constituents of the grain as being due to climatic factors. Horsford 
(81) reported complete ultimate analyses. Salisbury (54) whose comprehensive 
study has already been cited, was followed by a number of European workers, 
8 Work upon sweet corn improvement is being done at stations in Georgia, Wisconsin, Maine, Ohio, 
Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Indiana, Louisiana, New York, and other States. 
