406 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXVIII, No. 5 
This work, so well begun at the Maryland State Experiment Station, has been 
continued and during the last few years several papers have appeared which 
have gone further into the subject and added materially to the solution of the 
corn canning problem. Thus, Appleman and Arthur (2) have reported upon 
carbohydrate metabolism in green sweet corn during storage at different tempera¬ 
tures. These workers followed the rate of loss of sugars and found that the loss 
was doubled for every increase of 10° up to 30° C., until it reached 50 per cent 
of the initial total sugar and 60 per cent of the sucrose. The rate of loss was 
slower beyond that point. They found this loss in sugar to be effected in small 
part by respiration but primarily by its condensation into polysaccharides, 
chiefly starch. The importance of respiration which causes the inside heating 
of large piles of corn as being responsible for losses of sugar was emphasized. 
Similar results were obtained by Stevens and Higgins (62) who conducted studies 
upon sweet corn grown in both Maryland and Maine. In 1921 Appleman and 
Eaton (3) published upon the evaluation of climatic temperature efficiency for 
the ripening processes in sweet corn, recording considerable analytical data 
showing changes in the composition of corn during the ripening period, and pre¬ 
dicting the average expectations as to the time between premilk and best edible 
milk stage, and the length of time in the best edible stage for different ripening 
seasons in various Eastern States. This valuable work would have been much 
more so if the exact age of the ears at the various sampling dates had been known. 
The same year Appleman ( 1 ) recorded experiments designed to determine the 
reliability of the nail test for predicting the chemical composition of green sweet 
corn. It was found that the reliability of the test was influenced by the rate of 
ripening and the rate of water loss by evaporation, the test being most reliable 
when applied to crops which ripen slowly in the cool autumn. 
This brief survey of the literature is not intended as a complete discussion of 
all the valuable work that has been done upon corn but rather as showing the 
nature and scope of it. It is impossible in a paper of this size to discuss in 
detail the work of more than a few writers. It is believed, however, that the 
work cited fairly represents the nature and quality of what has been done along 
these lines. More specific reference will be made to these and other papers in 
the discussion of results of the present investigations. In reviewing these 
papers it is seen that the taxonomy of sweet corns has received considerable 
attention, the behavior of the different varieties under field conditions has been 
widely studied, and the selection and breeding of improved varieties have reached 
a point of scientific accuracy. The organic and mineral constituents of the kernel 
have been investigated by numerous workers, and an attempt made to follow 
through chemically the life history of the corn. The relation of temperature and 
other factors to the ripening of the corn, and the effects of storage upon table 
qualities have been the subject of careful research, A comprehensive study of 
sweet corn varieties from the standpoint of their desirability for canning pur¬ 
poses, however, seems never to have been attempted, and several matters of 
fundamental importance to corn canning have not yet been fully investigated. 
No basis seems to have been worked out for determining the relative merits of 
different varieties, and just what constitutes quality is but vaguely understood. 
The fundamental differences between field and sweet varieties as affecting 
canning quality, though perhaps appreciated, have never been submitted to 
careful investigation. Much still remains to be done upon the history of the 
chemical transformations undergone during the development of the ear and no 
more accurate field method for the determination of maturity of the corn has 
yet been devised than the actual “rule of thumb” method known as the nail 
test. The relation of meteorological and other climatic or regional factors, 
while recognized, have not been sufficiently investigated. 
These and related considerations have led to the present investigations, and 
these data are presented in the hope that they may be of assistance in solving 
some of the problems of corn canning. 
