146 | _ [ASSEMBLY 
Sweer Corn, that agricultural species in which a section shows 
only the chit and the corneous matter, this latter translucent and 
horny appearing. 
Flint kernels cannot always be recognized by their external ap- 
pearance. They may, through the thinness of the corneous matter 
at the summit, become dimpled through the shrinkage of the in- 
terior in ripening, and the bending in of the thin, corneous summit. 
They may also readily be confounded with the Softs, especially when 
both occur on the same ear. A cross-section, however, will always 
discriminate. 
Dent kernels often appear flinty, but in these cases the corneous - 
matter at the sides curves forward so as to nearly include the starchy 
interior, especially in the strongly arched terminal kernels of a cob, 
but in these cases a section will usually indicate a point at which 
the starchy interior approaches the surface.. Dent kernels may be 
of several kinds: in one the corneous matter at the face and back 
approach the summit so that the dent becomes a crease, the softer 
starchy interior shrinking within its hard boundary ; in the second 
kind the corneous matter is thinned on the front and back, and the 
dent becomes broadened ; in yet another the corneous matter may 
end at some distance from the snmmit, and thus produce a different 
sort of dent. | 
Soft corn kernels are of several types. ‘In the eight-rowed type a 
dent often appears, usually a crease, but sometimes a dimple. It is 
only by cross-section that the true type can be ascertained with cer- 
tainty. Another type of soft corn is the many-rowed, deep-kernelled, 
cone-formed. ‘The only samples of ears that I know of this type is 
the Mummy corn; the kernels of this resemble a dent, but are true 
softs. Other examples of this type may be found on ears of the 
Evergreen Sweet type as produced by cross-fertilization. 
Pop corns can only be certainly distinguished when they are of 
their true corneous type. At other times we must presume their 
recognition from the excess of corneous matter, and from their 
size. . : 
Sweet corn kernels admit of determination at sight. 
Of these types sweet and flint may appear occasionally in the 
same kernel, the division being distinctly marked as the front sweet, 
the back of the kernel flint. One instance of a soft on a flint ker- 
nel, the base of the kernel red flint, the tip capped with a white 
soft, the division line distinct ; and one case of a dent with the face 
sweet, the back dent, has been noted. 
It is often difficult to avoid error in describing kernels of current 
hybridization, as, not wishing to destroy the ears at once; we must 
judge of the character of the kernels by the eye, verifying by the 
use of the knife ina number of kernels, and if the verification is 
absolute in the tried instances, to assume that our judgment is cor- 
rect in the rest. With the best of care, however, some errors must 
occasionally occur from this source. 
A more frequent error is in comparing names rather than samples. 
