The great difficulty in keeping popcorn from one season to another without having it destroyed by rats or mice is the chief reason why the business has gradually come into the hands of a small num. ber of growers, who are especially equipped for handling it successfully. Again, after a grower has supplied a certain trade for a few years with popcorn that will pop, the dealers come to have confidence in his corn and will hesitate to buy of a new man, which, of course, tends to discourage the new man. In some sections it is a common prac tice to hasten the curing of popcorn by kiln-drying in order to take advantage of the Christmas market the same season that it is harvested.
Yield.
A bushel of ears of popcorn when husked weighs 38 pounds, hut when cured one season the standard weight is 35 pounds. There are 7 pounds of cobs in each bushel of ears, so that two bushels of ears (70 pounds) make one bushel of shelled corn (56 pounds) after shelling and removing the 14 pounds of cobs. Sixty bushels of ears per acre is consid ered a good yield, although several growers have bred up their seed until with liberal feeding and careful cultivation they are able to get between eighty and ninety bushels per acre.
Enemies.
only serious disease that affects popcorn is the corn smut, which is caused by a fungus known as Ustilago Zem. The smut itself con sists of the brown spores of the fungus. It injures the crop in two ways : First, by destroying the ears, causing practically a total loss ; second, by absorbing the nutrient juices of the plant and thus preventing full growth, especially of the ears. The loss resulting from this one disease is esti mated as about two per cent of the corn crop of the entire country. There is no known remedy that is entirely satisfactory. [See page 414.] Virginia and other southern states, the corn worm (Heliothis armi ger) is a serious pest and makes the growing of popcorn in some sections an impossibility. Wireworms and corn root-worms sometimes affect the plant, but not more seriously than they do the ordinary field corn. [See pages 413, 414.] Marketing.
Popcorn is marketed in many different ways. The western grower usually raises it on contract at so much per pound shelled, or sells the entire crop to one of the several large dealers in the West who supply the wants of the trade throughout the country. In this case he ships it on the ear in barrels or shelled in bags, or packed in one-pound boxes for the retail grocer trade. At first the
small boxes were very popular, as there was no waste for the grocer who had it on his shelves, instead of in a basket on the floor ; it was soon learned, however, that it dried out too much in the boxes and would not pop so well as when left on the cob until wanted for popping. It seems that there is always moisture enough in the cob to keep the chit end of the kernel from becoming too dry and hard.
The eastern growers usually sell it to the gro cers in their near-by towns at about one dollar per bushel of ears, and the grocers retail it out in small lots at five to eight cents per pound. Some of the larger growers ship their entire crop in barrels to wholesale grocers and commission mer chants in the large cities, where it is sold on account.
Manufacture.
The bulk of that which goes to the large cities evzmtually finds its way to the confectionery manufacturers, where it is made into sugared pop corn balls, popcorn squares, prize packages and numerous other confections. There are several manufacturers whose entire output consists of pop corn confections. These are generally a mixture of popped corn and molasses, or sugar syrup, fla vored with one of the fruit syrups and pressed into bricks or squares. Frequently the popped corn is groura fine and mixed with freshly ground coco nut and sweetened with syrup, then pressed into small cakes and sold under different names, such as honey corn, fruit corncakes and the like.
The Breeding of Maize. Figs. 644-64S Corn improvement should embrace both quantity and quality. But, because of the great importance of increased yield per acre, all selection looking toward improvement should be based first on yield, this to be followed, so far as practicable, with efforts which aim toward higher standards of quality. It is with these ideas that the following methods for corn-breeding are arranged.
Physical selection of seed corn.
The most perfect ears obtainable of the variety of corn which is to be bred should be selected. In making the selection for desirable ears, as judged from the physical characteristics, the larger the number of ears examined the better can be the selection. If the breeder wishes to improve the quality (chemical composition) of the grain, as well as the yield and type of his corn, it is recom mended that he choose at least 200 ears of the desired physical type to be further examined as to quality.