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half inch deep, three-eighths inch wide by one-eighth inch thick. One hundred grains commonly weigh from twenty to twentyseven grams, or from 1,700 to 2,800 grains per pound. The plant is reported to vary in height from two to ten feet; usually from five to eight feet, and not infrequently bears more than one ear. There is considerable tendency to sucker. The ears vary in length from four to eleven inches; usually from six to

Sweet maize: variety, Stowell Evergreen. Ear and cross section one

third natural size; grain natural

size.

eight inches, and in diameter from one and one-fourth to two and onefourth inches; usually from one and one-half to one and three-fourths inches. The rows vary from eight to twenty-four, the greater number of varieties being twelve-rowed. Stowell Evergreen, the variety most extensively grown for canning purposes, is somewhat larger: ear seven to nine and one-half inches long, diameter two and one-fourth inches; twelve to twenty-rowed.

The weight of ear varies largely with variety, those of early varieties being much smaller than late varieties. Selected ears have been found to vary from seven and a half pounds to seventy-five pounds per hundred,

the most common weight being from twenty-five to forty pounds per hundred for selected ears.

The time required to bring sweet maize into edible condition varies with variety, climate and season from fifty-four to 115 days; usually from sixty to ninety days. From the earliest to the latest varieties there is a difference in from three to four weeks. Sweet maize is extensively raised for cooking and eating while in the milk stage. It forms the basis

any one season of

of a large canning industry in the North Atlantic and North Central States. It is less generally grown in the Southern States. It is believed to improve in quality as it proceeds northward, Maine grown sweet maize being especially prized.

"The first sweet corn recorded in American cultivation was the Papoon corn, an eight-rowed variety with red cob, introduced into the region about Plymouth, Mass., from the Indians of the Susquehanna in 1779."1

Eleven stations have recommended lists of varieties of sweet maize. The following list has been recommended by three or more stations: Early: Cory, Marblehead, Crosby, Chicago Market, Early Landreth; Medium: Squantum, Maule's XX, Stabler's Early; Late: Ne Plus Ultra, Stowell Evergreen, Country Gentleman.

248. Number of Varieties.-The distinct names given to varieties of maize are almost innumerable, and no complete study of them has ever been made. Sturtevant describes 507 varieties and 266 synonyms classified by types as follows:

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It is stated that some of the varieties would upon further study be found to be synonyms of other varieties.

249. Varieties for Silage. The dent type is used almost exclusively for silage on account of its greater total yield of forage. Experiments made at the Maine Station, where dent varieties have the least adaptation of any State for ordinary field pur

1 U. S. Dept. of Agr., O. E. S. Bul. 57, p. 18.

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2 Varieties of Corn. U. S. Dept. of Agr.. O. E. S. Bul. 57.

3 Me. Rpt. 1891, p. 44.

pose, show the following results for three years 1889 to 1891 inclusive:

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During five years the average yield of dry matter has been for the dent variety 5,036 pounds and for the flint variety 4,224 pounds. The Pennsylvania Station 2 found that the dent fodder yielded forty-five per cent more dry matter than flint fodder. The flint variety contained a considerably larger percentage of protein and smaller percentage of crude fiber. At Cornell Station Sibley's Pride of the North yielded ten per cent more dry matter than an eight-rowed flint. Ontario Agricultural College compared the feeding value of dent maize and sweet maize silage and found the latter slightly superior in feeding value-believed to be due to greater palatability in this casebut the increased yield of dent maize more than compensated for the decrease in feeding value.*

Varieties originating in the South Atlantic and South Central States are frequently sold in the North Atlantic and North Central States as silage maize. The season of growth being longer than northern grown varieties, they continue to grow later in the season, thus often producing a greater yield of silage per acre than those varieties grown principally for their grain. These so-called silage varieties do not produce as large a proportion of ears to stalk and leaves, and in many cases the per cent of water is higher, thus requiring the handling and storing of more tons of silage for an equal amount of dry matter and of food value. When silage is put up too green its keeping quality and 1 Southern variety.

2 Penn. Rpt. 1891, p. 30.

8 Cornell Bul. 4, p. 51.

4 Ont. Agr. Col. and Expt. Farms Rpt. 1897, p. 83.

food value are lessened. (353) For silage, it is generally de sirable to plant a variety which will develop a normal proportion of ears and that will get as mature as it is possible for maize to be when put in the silo. (349)

250. Comparative Yield of Dent and Flint Maizę.-Almost all of the field maize of the United States, comparatively speaking, is of the dent type. Flint maize requires a smaller number of days to mature a crop; hence it is used in the more northern latitudes and at higher altitudes. It is the common field crop of New England. Each of these types has its place, but wherever the common varieties of dent maize will ripen flint maize usually is not desirable. For example, at the Pennsylvania Station eleven varieties of flint maize and fifteen varieties of dent maize have been tested from one to three years. The altitude is 1,200 feet; the season, therefore, is comparatively cool and short, and not especially adapted to the growth of dent varieties. The following table gives the yield of dry matter in pounds from ears and stover:

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XI.

MAIZE.

IMPROVEMENT OF VARIETIES.

251. Pollination.-Maize is said to be wind-fertilized, since the extremely abundant pollen is carried long distances by the wind and often deposited upon silks of ears quite remote from the tassel bearing the pollen. Notwithstanding the large amount of observation and experiment, the extent to which maize is cross-fertilized and to what extent it is self-fertilized in actual practice has not been clearly established. It is believed by many, however, that since the pollen appears to develop slightly in advance of the silks of the same plant, and since the tendency of the currents of air would be to carry the pollen away from the plant producing it, that cross-fertilization is the rule and self-fertilization the exception. It has been clearly established, however, that both cross-fertilization and self-fertilization can readily be effected. Artificial or hand pollination usually does not produce as good results as when pollination takes place in the natural way.

The ovules are fertilized in order of sequence from butt to tip. Since the tip grains develop last, the tip of the ear is the most variable, due to variations in soil, cultural or seasonal conditions. It is probable that the filling out at the tip of the ear should be looked upon as the result of environment more than as an hereditary or variety characteristic. (243)

252. Influence of Current Cross.-The influence of pollen upon the grain or fruit which immediately develops, called xenia, has received considerable study especially in maize. That the character of the male pollen may affect the endosperm of the

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