426 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXVIII, No. 5 
DISCUSSION OF ANALYTICAL DATA 
MOISTURE CONTENT 
It will be seen from the tables that in all varieties the moisture content de¬ 
creases throughout the growing and ripening period of the ear. In the early 
stages the moisture content is fairly uniform for all varieties, but later on con¬ 
siderable differences are observed. These differences seem to be more or less 
closely correlated with the rate of maturing of the varieties. Golden Bantam, 
Dreer’s Golden Giant, and Crosby are among those maturing most rapidly, and 
their moisture content is low during the later stages. StowelTs Evergreen, 
Mammoth Sugar and Old Colony are among the slow-maturing varieties and 
their moisture content during the later stages is seen to be somewhat higher. 
Fig. 9.—Curves showing the variations and changes in moisture content of the kernels of 15 
varieties of sweet corn and 2 varieties of field corn during the development of the ears 
Other varieties which are intermediate in rate of maturing are also more or 
less intermediate with respect to their moisture content. The two dent corns 
were even slower in development than StowelTs Evergreen and had correspond¬ 
ingly high percentages of moisture. It should be stated here, however, that the 
differences in the rate of development of the ear among the sweet corn varieties 
were much less than anticipated, and even at the 20-day stage are seen to be 
comparatively small. The principal difference between early and late-maturing 
corns lies in the length of time the plants require to come into flower rather than 
in the rate of development of their respective ears. Variations in the moisture 
content of the different varieties of corn at the various stages of^their develop¬ 
ment are shown in the curves of figure 9. 
