Corn is a universal:rop i 71 the United States and is grown on may dill erent kinds of soil, but for its best growths well drained, rich, sandy loam, which doe, not bake during drought, is required. In preparig the ?, soil for corn it is plowed deeper than fo any ether cereal crop, the object being to obtains deep e and well pulverized seed-bed. In the nortbrn p ortion of the Missis sippi Valley, where th bull of the world's corn crop is produced andwhere it matures in about five mouths, it is plated about May 1st to the 20th. In other atittu• es planting is done late enough to escape ate frosts. It is most commonly sown in hills in drills by • means of a corn-plante, but it is • sometimes also sown broadcast. The ills are a?.bout three and one-half feet apart cadf way, three or four stalks are produced per Ell; but v'then planted in drills single plants are •rown • about one foot apart in the row. Fromthe t hue of planting until the young plants apear above ground the soil is harrowed for the lir! dose of keeping the surface in a pulverized cone..tion and preventing the growth of weeds. The plants are cultivated with the horse hoe or corn cultivator after they have attained sufficient height and until they are too large to admit of further cultivation without injury to the plants. In the principal corn producing States of the United States cultivation usually commences about the first of June, and lasts for about six weeks. Where corn is grown in hills, or cheeks, the direction of each culti vation is given at right angles to the preced ing direction. so that the whole of the surface soil may be stirred. Planted in drills it can be cultivated in one direction only.
The practice of listing corn consists in making alternate ridges and furrows and drilling the corn into the furrows instead of plowing the land. This is done by means of the lister, an implement I which ridges the soil and drills the corn at the same time. In cultivating listed corn the soil is thrown from the ridges toward the growing plants, so that by the time cultivation is finished the surface of the land has become level. The practice of listing is not general.
The time of harvesting depends somewhat on the use to be made of the crop. When grown for fodder corn is cut when the kernels begin to glaze and the lower leaves begin to dry. The cut stalks are put up in shocks and left to cure in the field. When dry the ears are removed and the stalks (fodder or stover) are used directly for feeding purposes or shredded and then fed. Shredding consists in passing the stalks and , leaves through a machine which cuts and tears them into fine pieces. A machine known as the shredder and husker removes the ears and shreds the stalks and leaves. Corn grown for the grain is harvested when it is fully ripe and dry. The ears are gathered, husked, and stored in slat cribs, through which the air passes freely, thus drying the corn and preventing attacks of mold. This method of harvesting corn is known as husk ing, picking, or shucking, the first being perhaps the most common. The term 'snapping' corn refers to gathering the ears with most of the husks attached, which is sometimes done when ripe corn is fed directly from the field. Before
it is fed or sold corn is usually shelled by passing the }tuskless ears through hand, horse, or steam power eorn-shellers.
The most common disease to which corn is subject is smut (q.v.), against which methods of prevention are not well understood. lInst does no material injury to corn. The bacterial disease of sometimes does considerable damage. The princi ci insect enemy is the cut-worn, which destrors the young plants. Extensive injury is frequently done by ground squirrels, which] feed on the planted seed. These animals are usually poisoned about planting time with poisoned corn and pumpkin seeds.
The maize crop of the world is estimated at from 2.500 to 3000 million bushels annually. The annual corn production of the United States amounts to about 2000 million bushels. The great corn-producing States are Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska. Missouri. and Indiana. In 1899 these States produced 1,256,162,321 bushels, or nearly three-fifths of the entire crop of the United States. About fifty bushels per acre is considered a good yield. hut the average yield per acre for the whole United States is only about twenty-five bushels. The largest yield of corn on record. 231 bushels per acre, was pro duced in South Carolina.
Corn is utilized in the preparation of more than one hundred different articles. Its chief value is as food for man and domestic animals. For feeding purposes the entire plant is used either as it comes from the field or prepared in various ways to make it more palatable and to minimize the amount of waste in feeding (see below). The husks are used in making mat tresses, especially in the c-orn-growing regions. The outer portion of the stalk is used in paper manufacture, and the pith is employed in mak ing pyroxylin varnishes, guncotton. and other high explosives. Owing to its great resilience. porosity, and absorptive power, the pith is also used in the construction of war vessels, com pressed blocks of it being packed behind the outer armor plate to absorb the water and close the apertnre in case the plate is pierced by a projectile. The cobs are often ground up for feed, hat they are generally used for fuel and are also employed to a considerable extent in the manufacture of tobacco pipes. The principal and most common product of the grain is the flour, or cornmeal, which is either white or yel low, according to the variety of corn from which it is made. Nearly all the starch and large quantities of glucose, whisky, and alcohol manu factured in the United States are made from corn. In connection with the manufacture of these various substances a number of by-products are obtained which are generally used for feeding purposes. (See GLUTEN AND GLUTEN FEED). Maize or corn oil is obtained from the germ which is extracted from the kernel in the manufacture of starch, glucose (q.v.). and some kinds of meal. The oil expressed from the germ is a light, clear, amber-colored fluid, which may be used for culi nary. mechanical. and lighting purposes. It is used to some extent in the manufacture of soap and of a substitute for rubber.