The book of corn

Front matter

Wy

Qass SSMI

Book A^aM^^

CHAPTER I Brief History of the Corn Plant .... 1-4

Its antiquity — Original form of the species not yet identified — Early names given it by Indians.

CHAPTER H

Outline of species groups, flint corns, soft corns, sweet corns, pop corns, etc — Development of the various strains — Varieties of dent corn carefully described — History of famous and well known kinds — Their characteristics described in detail.

CHAPTER HI

Principles of Corn Growth and Feeding . . 37-54 Necessary conditions for best plan^ growth — Forms of atmospheric food — Root system described and illustrated — Methods of obtaining nitrogen^ — Clover as a valuable nurse crop — Other leguminous crops, including best varieties of cowpeas.

CHAPTER IV

Breeding and Selection of Seed Corn . . . 55-69 Corn breeding a specialized industry — Its field very great — Approved methods of breeding — Influence of soil on development — The breeding field — Cross-pollinated corn — Best storehouse for seed corn — Selection of seed corn in the field.

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER V

Corn Judging 70-82

The types to be considered — Standards of perfection — An approved score card, with ex- , planation of points — Rules for judging — Variety standards and practical hints — How to study shape, uniformity, color, tip, butt, circumference, length, etc — Kernel uniformity and proportion of corn to cob.

CHAPTER VI

Preparing the Seedbed 8.3-91

Conditions of germination — Best depth of plowing — Fall or spring plowing — Disking and subsoiling — Proper conditions of soil for the plow.

CHAPTER VH

Soil characteristics a guide to needs of the plant — Character and functions of manures and fertilizers — Form to apply nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, etc — Guides in use of plant food — Approved fertilizer formulas — Fertilizers for silage corn — Manures for sweet corn.

CHAPTER Vni

Planting and Cultivating 111-123

Proper depth of planting — Hilling or drilling — Listing corn — Testing the germinating power of seed corn — Cultivation to conserve moisture — Root pruning — Approved implements in cultivating.

CHAPTER IX

Silos — Location, Construction and Filling . . 124-139 General classes of silos — Merits of the round silo and methods of construction — Various other forins — Table showing capacity of round silos — Putting corn into the silo — Loading and hauling — Cutting into proper lengths — Handling stalks uncut — Cost of nutting in silage — Preserving green crops without silo.

TABLE OF CONTENTS V

CHAPTER X

Best stages of development to observe — Water and dry matter at different periods- Cutting corn for fodder, and best time for this work — Shocking and binding — Use of shredder — Husking standing corn — Cribs to use — Shrinkage of ear corn.

CHAPTER XI Culture Outside the Corn Belt .... 163-187 Methods followed in the south and east — The Dunton system — The double row or ahernating method— New and old ways of harvesting in the south^One acre yields 255 bushels — Culture in eastern and New England states — Returning favor for field corn — Culture under irrigation — Proper time for flooding — Frequency of application — Amount of water to apply.

CHAPTER XH

Chemical composition in corn — Digestible nutrients — Corn the best single stock food — List of foods rich in protein — Foodstuffs for balancing corn — Feeding dairy cows and growing steers — Corn as a feed for swine and horses — In fattening poultry — Feeding value of corn stover — Experiments in fattening steers.

CHAPTER XIII

The splendid home demand — Methods of distribution in vogue — The line elevator system — Sale of corn on 'change — Speculative grain trade — Non-farm consumption—Foreign outlet — The best buyers of American corn — Country elevator system — Co-operative storing and handling^Inspection and grades.

CHAPTER XIV

A myriad of insect pests— The most vulnerable portions of the corn plan — Wireworms injure seed in the ground — Methods of combating—Injury by white grub— Cutworms attack stalks and leaves— Can be held in check by poisons — Arresting the march of the army worm — Approved methods of controlling chinch bug — Pests in bin and granary.

vi TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER XV

Exhaustive investigations recorded — Tabulated records of 4000 acres — Items entering into the cost — Deductions reached.

CHAPTER XVI

New Uses for Corn 312-317

Various classes of products — The corn milling industr3' — Glucose — Cornstalks in mechanic arts.

CHAPTER XVII

Sweet corn for canneries — Best conditions of soil and climate — For the family garden — Cultivation and harvest — Sweet corn fodder — Standard varieties of sweet corn — Cultivation of pop corn — Harvesting and marketing.

CHAPTER XVIII

The crop of the world — Our chief competitors — Corn culture in Europe and Argentina — Slow expansion in area.

Appendix .... 341-364 Tables showing crop and movement — Exports from United States — Prices for a series of years — Record crops in the American Agricufturist contest — Manurial value of feeding stuffs — Average composition of maize.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Root Development . . . .

Uniform Ears, Boone County White Uniform Sample, Boone County White .

Reid's Yellow Dent

Length of Ear, Boone County White Circumference of Ear, Boone County White

Leaming Corn

Boone County White Corn

Shape of Ears, Boone County White

Kernel Indentation, Boone County White

Large, Medium and Small Cob, Boone County

Maturity, Boone County White

Space Between Rows .

Samples of Clover

Attractive Field of Cowpeas

Good Specimen Soy Bean Plant

Corn Silk

Effect of Inbreeding .

Effect of Three Years' Inbreeding

Effect of Four Years' Inbreeding

Young Ear of Corn Before Silking

Pollen Grains on Silk

Proper and Improper Shapes of Kernel

Pollen Grains ....

Homemade Land Roller

Direction of Rows of Kernels, Boone

Corn Crib on Scales .

Modern Corn Crib

Corn Marker for Hand Planting

Homemade Corn Planter .

Effects of Listing

Root Development of Corn in Field

Distribution of Hoops on Stave Silo

Construction of Studding Silo .

Cheap Stave Silo

Silo Attached to Barn

Low Wagon for Handling Silage Corn .

Placing Bundles in Square and Round Silo

Filling the Silo

County White

White

Page Frontispiece

3 II i6

19 21

68 73 78 85 88 lOI

112 114

Vlll

ILLUSTRATIONS

Simple Corn Cutter

Corn Ready to Cut for Fodder .

Corn Binder at Work in Field

Filling Silo with Blower

Latest Corn Husking Machine .

Kail Corn Cribs ....

Rat- Proof Corn Crib .

Wagon Box Attachment

Root Development of a Corn Plant

Characteristics of Kernel of Corn

California Silo Made with Studding

Rack for Fodder ....

Leaming Corn Variety

What King Corn Can Accomplish

Effects of Root Pruning

Butts and Tips of Boone County White

Grain Warehouse at Liverpool .

Floating Grain Elevator

Typical Modern Grain Warehouse

Forms of Wireworms .

Parent of Wire worm .

Seed Corn Injured by Seed Corn Maggot

Adult of White Grub

White Grub ....

Adult Click Beetle

Pale Striped Flea Beetle .

Southern Corn Root Worm

Beetle of Southern Corn Root Worm

Army Worm ....

Army Worm Moth

Larger Cornstalk Borer

Smaller Cornstalk Borer

Corn Root Showing Northern Corn Root Worm W

Various Stages of Chinch Bug

Winged Female of Corn Root Aphi

Grain Moth ....

Grain Weevils

Indian Meal Moth

Common Grain and Flour Beetle

Two Ears f)f Snmtted Corn

Smut Affecting the Tassels

Smut Affecting the Joints of Stem

Corn Smut Spores

Seed Corn Maggot

Corn Worm

Com Root Aphis

Mediterranean Flour Moth

Adult Moth and Cutworm ilhin

Page 141

145 149

274 276

277 279 281 283 290 292

293 296 209 301

ILLUSTRATIONS IX

Page

Work of Larger Cornstalk Borer 303

Beetle of Northern Corn Root Worm .... 305

Ear of Corn Riddled by the Grain Moth . . . 306

Saw-toothed Grain Beetle 307

Cornstalk Showing Work of Smaller Cornstalk Borer . 309

Use of Cellulose in Warships 313

Ear of Smutted Corn 315

Specimen Ears of Early Sweet Corn .... 321

Varieties of Popcorn 325

Corn Crib which Holds 20,000 Bushels .... 333

Small Corn Crib in Feed Lot ...... 335

Corn in Old Style Rail Cribs 337

PUBLISHERS' PREFACE

^/ N announcing the names of those who have had a ^1 part in writing this book, the pubHshers are sure viF the work of these trained experts will at once command the attention and confidence of readers. This is the day of specialists — in medicine, in teaching, in mechanic arts, in commerce and the varied industries. So large a subject as the king of all American crops, maize, requires equally thorough consideration in a comprehensive w^ork of this character. The authors, therefore, have left their impress on the various chapters of The Book of Corn, which are woven into a compact whole, covering the various phases of history, development, production and distribution.

Prepared under the careful direction of Herbert Myrick, president and editor of Orange Judd Company, the authors include the following:

A. D. Shamel, in charge of corn work, Illinois experiment station.

Henry J. Waters, director Missouri experiment station, and specialist in feeding live stock.

Levi Stockbridge, ex-president Massachusetts agricultural college.

Edward B, Voorhees, director New Jersey experiment station.

Hugh N. Starnes, Georgia agricultural college.

Clarence A. Shamel, associate editor Orange Judd

XU PUBLISHERS PREFACE

Farmer, Chicaj^o.

Luther Foster, director New Mexico •experiment station.

Willis G. Johnson, late state entomologist of Maryland, associate editor American Aij;riculfnrist.

C. S. Phelps recently of Connecticut agricultural college.

Dr F. M. Hexanier of the American institute, and editor emeritus American Agriculturist.

E. C. Powell, associate editor Neiv England Homestead.

B. W. Snow, statistician Orange Judd Farmer.

Orange Judd Company.

Introduction

M

Y chief regret in not visiting America is that I

shall die without beholding what I conceive to

be the most superb crop that grows, as it is, in

itself, the most valuable," was the tribute to

American maize, paid to the author by Sir John B.

Lawes, the great Englishman, who did so much for

scientific agriculture.

Impressed with this view of the corn plant, eminent specialists in the scientific and practical aspects of the maize industry have co-operated with singular enthusiasm in the preparation of the present work. The careful reader will marvel at the close co-operation of science with practice in the evolution of the corn plant and of the industries dependent upon it. There is no more fascinating or important chapter in American agriculture.

To the practical farmer, feeder or corn grower, much that the following pages contain must come as a revelation. The man whose knowledge of this subject is reallv comprehensive will be first to recognize the value and correctness of the mass of well-digested data herein set forth. And even the farmer who is wedded to the view that one hundred bushels of maize never have been and never can be grown on one acre, will perhaps obtain from this book a wider horizon and a larger inspiration as to the possibilities of corn culture. When two hundred and fifty-five bushels of shelled corn, containing two hundred and thirty-five bushels of crib-cured or dry grain, are raised on one

XIV INTRODUCTION

acre — nearly ten times the average crop of the United States — the marvels of the corn plant must be recognized. When forty-five crops all over the country average ninety bushels of corn per acre, when improvement also in the chemical composition of the grain itself is demonstrated, and when the uses of the plant are becoming so manifold, it is full time to grasp what maize may mean to the world in general and to America in particular.

For the United States possesses practically a monopoly of the corn crop. Other countries produce from one-fifth to one-fourth of the world's supply, yet while this foreign production is capable of much expansion, the possibilities of corn culture in the United States are practically unlimited. This is in marked contrast to wheat, the production of which in Canada and Siberia, as well as in other regions, is destined to increase the already keen competition felt by American wheat in the world's market. It is evident, also, that new markets and new uses for the corn crop, both at home and abroad, are likely to keep pace with increased production. The larger exportation of corn from this country to Europe is but a foretaste of what is to come, while the possibilities of the Orient as a market for corn have hardly been touched upon. Of course this crop, both the corn and the fodder, should be very largely sold on the hoof or in the form of butter, milk or cheese, in order to maintain the highest agricultural prosperity.

The financial importance of corn to national prosperity is further emphasized by the fact that every cent that can be added to the price of a bushel of com means an increased profit to the American farmer of twenty-five million dollars annually, a figure that will be doubled, when the United States produces five thousand

INTRODUCTION XV

million bushels of corn in a single year, or twice the maximum grown up to this time. Such a doubling of the crop is by no means impossible, since yields of from fifty to one hundred bushels per acre, and even more, are becoming increasingly common. Moreover, corn readily adapts itself in various varieties to the soil and climate of all sections, it is easy of cultivation, and its value, both as a human food and a feed or forage for animals, encourages a wide growth. The superiority of the corn plant over other crops in these respects invites carelessness in its cultivation, and this accounts for the apparently low average yield per acre, which, however, is generous in comparison with the small grains.

Special emphasis should also be placed upon the corn plant as a renovating crop, whereas wheat and other small grains have relatively an exhaustive efifect upon the soil. Unlike wheat, the production of which depends upon an ample supply of available nitrogen in or to the soil, maize possesses wonderful ability to gather in and assimilate nitrogen in many forms, as well as other elements of nutrition. To what degree the corn plant actually takes nitrogen from the air, either of the atmosphere or of the soil, experience shows that, if the land contains an abundance of phosphoric acid and potash, the more expensive nitrogen need not be largely applied in order to produce large and profitable crops of corn. Herein lies the explanation of the great yields produced under years of successive cropping in the American corn belt. This fact also demonstrates the fundamental value of corn in crop rotation, and its restorative effect upon the soil's fertility.

The various chapters which follow tell their own story, but a wealth of valuable data is also given in the Appendix — notably, the results in the now historic

XVI INTRODUCTION

corn contest conducted by American A^ricnltnrist. The book is presented in the confidence that, in spite of its imperfections, it may prove effective in promoting that larp^e improvement and vast development of the maize industry in America which is so confidently expected by the enthusiastic growers of Zca Mays.

Herbert Myrick.

r/^^ BOOK o/ CORN

CHAPTER I

Srirf l^tfltnrij of tijp i£am plant

^i NDIAN corn is undoubtedly native to America, ^1 although for a long time some writers claimed vi/ it was of Asiatic origin. But as corn was not known in the old world until after it was found in the new, there can be hardly any doubt as to its original habitat. At present botanists almost unanimously concede that corn originated in America, and it is probable that it is indigenous to Mexico, although some of the South American tablelands present equally favorable conditions for the origination of a species of this character.

At the time of the discovery of the new continent corn was one of the staples of agriculture from the La Plata valley northward to the United States. It has names in all the languages. The natives planted it around their temporary dwellings where they did not form a fixed population. Indian corn was found as a common food when Europeans first landed in New York. Extensive fields of this grain were cultivated and the grain preserved for food. When Cartier visited Hochelaga, now called Montreal, in 1535, that town was situated in the midst of extensive cornfields.

In 1620 the Pilgrims found quite extensive plantings near Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Columbus found it on the West India islands about the end of the fifteenth century. The burial mounds of the natives of North America who preceded those of our day, the tombs of the Incas, the catacombs of Peru, contain ears or grains of corn, just as the monuments of ancient Egypt contain grains of barley and wheat and millet seed. In IMexico, a goddess who bore a name derived from that of maize (Cinteotl) answered to the Ceres of the Greeks. At Cusco the virgins of the sun ofifered sacrifices of bread made from com.

The Antiquity of Corn — Nothing is better calculated to show the antiquity and generality of the cultivation of a plant than this intimate connection with the religious rites of the ancient inhabitants. A most remarkable proof of the antiquity of corn has been discovered by Darwin. He found ears of Indian corn and eighteen species of shells of our epoch buried in the soil of the shore in Peru, now at least eighty-five feet above the level of the sea. The Smithsonian institution at Washington has. an ear of corn found deposited in an earthen vessel eleven feet under ground, in a grave with a mummy near Ariquepc in Peru. The grains are rather sharp pointed, small, and slightly indented at the apex, lapping one over the other in thirteen rows.

Although nearly all parts of tropical and subtropical America have been explored by a great number of bcitanists. none has found corn in the condition of a wild plant, and the original form of the species is not identified as yet. Probably it may be a composite species of which no single form can be taken as the type. Some botanists consider that Indian corn originated from teosinte (Euclilacna Mcxicana), an annual fodder grass, similar to corn in general appearance

HISTORY OF THE CORN PLANT 3

and in the structure of the flowers, but differing- in not forming an ear. This is extensively grown in Mexico and as experiments in crossing teosinte and corn have resulted in producing cornlike plants, the very close affinity of the two plants is clearly proven.

In sumniiiig up the conditions of Indian corn and its habitation in America before it was cultivated, the famous French botanist, A. de Candolle, savs : "We

Fig 2— Uniform Ears of Boone County White

have nothing but conjectural knowledge. Maize is a plant singularly unprovided with means of dispersion and protection. The grains are hard to detach from the ear, which is itself enveloped. They have no tuft or wings to catch the wind, and when the ear is not gathered by man the grains fall still fixed in the receptacle, and then rodents and other animals must destroy them in quantities, and all the more that they are not sufficiently hard to pass intact through the digestive organs. Prohably so unprotected a species was becoming more and more rare in some limited regions, and was on the point of becoming extinct, when a wandering tribe of savages, having perceived its nutritious qualities, saved it from destruction by cultivating it. I am the more disposed to believe that its natural area was small, that the species is unique ; that is to say, that it constitutes what is called a single-typed genus. The genera which contain few species, and especially the monotypes, have as a rule more restricted areas than others. Paleontology will perhaps one day show whether there ever existed in America several species of Zea, or similar gramineae, of which maize is the last survivor. Now, the genus Zca is not only a monotype, but stands almost alone in its family."

Whether the true origin of Indian corn, one of the most important cereals of the world, will ever be ascertained, is doubtful. But so much is certain, that the white settlers of America early learned from the native Indians the use of corn as an article of food. Several Indian names for certain preparations, such as samp, hominy, succotash, have passed into the language of the American people.

Since these early days, when cultivation was very crude, the grain has been improved so that it is now adapted to almost any climatic condition in the United States. The Indians planted their corn with sticks. Floods and drouths wrought havoc with the corn plants. Lack of cultivation and the constant struggle for existence prevented large development of the kernel. The early samples of corn were diminutive compared with those of to-day.

CHAPTER II Untaug anJi Barirtipa

^i NDIAN corn belongs to the gramineae or grass • ^1 family. Botanically i* is known as Zea Mays. ^U' This botanical name has a double meaning. Zea is probably derived from two Greek words meaning "I live" and "spelt," a grain with which the Greeks were familiar. The word maize is derived from the Haytian word "mahiz," which Columbus adopted when in Hayti. The word corn as commonly used the world over means any kind of grain used for food by man and animals. In the United States, it is applied to maize alone. When Europeans first landed in America and found this kind of corn they used the prefix Indian to distinguish it from the corn with which they were familiar in the old world. The corn plants vary greatly in hight, ranging from three to as high as sixteen or seventeen feet, but the standard hight is from five to eight feet. One main central stem bears the ears and long, broad, tapering leaves.

The plant is monoecious, that is, the male and female flowers are borne separately. The male flowers are borne on the tassels at the top of the stalk and produce the pollen. The pollen grains are produced about the time the silks^ or female flowers, develop. The pollen is present in very great abundance, and it is estimated that each plant produces as many as eighteen million grains of pollen. The silks receive and retain pollen until the grains are fertilized. Originally, embryonic ears were probably produced at the juncture of each leaf with the stalk. Selection and development has resulted in only one or two large and well- formed ears on each stalk. These ears bear developed kernels in from six to twenty-four rows.

The leaf is succulent and is divided into sheath and blade. The sheath surrounds the stalk, then the blade extends upward for some distance, and droops at the tip. The stalks have a hard shell or covering. The plant is semi-tropical, with very dark, green, luxuriant foliage. Wild corn must have seeds that can be readily disseminated, consequently the grains of the original corn were much smaller than those of the corn of to-day. Cultivated maize would soon disappear if the seeds were not preserved and planted each year. The grains of wild corn were large and wholesome enough to attract birds and wild beasts, which aided in the dissemination of the plant. In its original southern home some authorities believe Indian corn propagated itself by suckers grown from near the base.

The roots are of two classes. Those growing underground are fibrous and transmit plant food and water to the growing plant. The secondary roots arise from joints just above the ground and simply act as braces for the plant. These grow downward for some distance into the ground. The stem is divided into sections technically called internodes. These are furrowed on one side, the furrows alternating with each joint.

OUTLINE OF SPECIES GROUPS

While the genus Zca has but one species, there a'"e almost innumerable forms and variations. The most extended study of these has been made by Dr E. L. Sturtcvant, who has examined more than seven hundred and seventy varieties and synonyms, witli a view of placing the nomenclature upon a sound scientific basis. He has divided the polymorphic species (Zea Mays) into a number of groups which, on account of their well defined and persistent characters, may be considered as representing specific agricultural claims, and may properly receive specific nomenclature. The grouping that he has adopted is founded upon the internal structure of the kernel for our cultivated varieties and the presence of a husk to the kernel in the assumed aboriginal form. Arguments in favor of the specific claims for these groups are based primarily on the convenience thus attained, secondarily on the absence or rarity of intermediate or connecting forms, so far as our present data extend, and also on the antiquity of separation. Each race is characterized by numerous varieties, and these freely cross-fertilize. The relative dififerences between the races are clearly seen by splitting the kernels. These species groups as established by Dr Sturtevant are :

Zea timicata, the pod corns. In this group each kernel is inclosed in a pod or husk, and the ear thus formed is inclosed in husks.

Zea everta, the pop corns. This species group is characterized by the excessive proportion of the corneous endosperm and the small size of the kernels and ear. The best varieties have a corneous endosperm throughout. This gives the property of popping.

Zea indiirata, the flint corns. A species group readily recognized by the occurrence of a starchy endosperm inclosed in a corneous endosperm at the sides of the kernel, the starchy endosperm extending to the summit. By the drying and shrinkage of the starchy matter the summit of the kernel is drawn in or together and indented in various forms. In different varieties the corneous endosperm varies in length and thickness, thus determining the character of the indented surface.

Zea amylacea, the soft corns. This species group is at once recognized by the absence of corneous endosperm. Through the uniformity of the shrinkage in ripening there is usually no indentation, yet in some varieties an indentation may more or less frequently appear, but splitting the kernel infallibly determines this class. This group includes the Cuzco, the largest kemeled variety as yet known.

Zea saccharata, the sweet corns. A well defined species group characterized by the translucent, horny appearance of the kernels and their more or less crinkled, wrinkled, or shriveled condition.

Zea aniylea-saccharata, the starchy-sweet corns. This species is founded upon the varieties found in the San Padro Indian collection of Dr Palmer. The external appearance of the kernel is that of a sweet, but examination shows that the lower half of the kernel is starchy, the upper half horny and translucent. These varieties have all a white cob, the kernels deeper than broad.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF DENT CORN

Zea Mays (Indian corn) is separated into six general groups,* representing different species. These groups are as follows :

I — Zea ttmicata, the pod corns.

Sub-group A, kernel broader than deep. Sub-group B, kernel as deep as broad. Sub-group C, kernel deeper than broad.

II — Zea evert a, the pop corns.

Sub-groups A, B and C as above.

Ill — Zea indurata, the flint corns. Sub-groups A, B and C as above.

♦Bulletin No 57, Sturlfvant, United States de])artiiient of agriculture.

IV — Zea indentafa, the dent corns. Sub-groups A, B and C as above.

V — Zea amylacca, the soft corns.

Sub-groups A, B and C as above.

VI — Zea sac char at a.

Sub-groups A, B and C as above.

These divisions are the result of growing corn in different cHmates and for different purposes. The division which is of supreme importance commercially is the dent, Zea indentata, and its characteristics will be taken up in detail. The dent varieties have been developed in the central United States as a result of a corn which will give the largest yield of shelled grain adapted for general purposes. Naturally a corn of such general and wide importance has been the subject of great care in development. Unconsciously the corn growers of the past have selected a corn which would mature in the length of season natural to the climate in which it was grown. The character of a corn under such a system of selection slowly changed in response to the effect of climatic and soil conditions.

As a matter of fact, the history of the development of most of the strains of dent corn now grown is very brief. With few exceptions no record has been kept of the various crosses, and but few varieties have been selected toward a particular type for a special purpose for any considerable length of time. There have been but few systematic attempts at improvement, and the result is that as a rule mongrel or scrub varieties are grown. A few varieties, however, have been carefully selected in accordance with definite ideas as to improvement for about a quarter of a century, and have developed certain characteristics distinguishing them from other varieties. In such instances it has been found that if the corn has been selected toward a uniform type, the yield has been increased because of the production of uniformly better ears. The yields of varieties tested at the Illinois experiment station, 1888-1900 inclusive, show this result. Also, enou.c:h has been accomplished to prove that almost any characteristic desired in a variety can be fixed by persistent selection, and these characteristics can be continually improved by further selection.

The development of su.s^ar in the sug^ar beet furnishes a splendid illustration of the possibilities of plant breeding. Starting with the ordinary beets with about four per cent of sugar, the French and German seed growers by selection have increased the sugar content to an average of twelve to sixteen per cent, making it possible to profitably manufacture sugar from this source. There are probably as great or greater possibilities in the corn plant, and these possibilities can be developed as easily as the sugar content of the beet. The development of the present breeds of cattle and other live stock plainly shows how careful, systematic and intelligent selection has improved these animals. The dairy and beef types have been developed from the same source ; the light and draft horses, the bacon and lard hogs, etc.