Rural Heritage April/May 2026

Reprinted from Farm Knowledge Vol II: Soils and Crops, 1919. By Professor C.B. Hutchison, Department of Plant Breeding, New York State College of Agriculture, who was born and reared on a Missouri farm in the development of which he is still interested. As a student in the Missouri College of Agriculture, he took an active part in organizing the Corn Growers’ Association of that state, of which later on, he was Secretary for six years. After graduating, he joined the instructing staff of the College becoming head of the Department of Farm Crops in 1914. In addition to his work in Missouri, Professor Hutchison has studied at Cornell and Harvard Universities working along plant-breeding lines — the same in which he is at present engaged. — Editor The Corn Crops

T he corn crops include those plants of agricultural value derived from the Indian corn or maize species, called by botanists Zea Mays, and the common sorghum and Kafir series (Andropogon Sorghum). All of these plants are large, rank-growing, annuals, semi-tropical in nature and adapted to regions with fairly long, hot summers. Corn is above all an American crop, and its production constitutes the greatest single industry of this nation. The annual production of the United States closely approaches 3 billion bushels and exceeds in value that of all the other grain crops combined. Sorghum has been developed chiefly in the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly in southern Asia and Africa, and constitutes the chief food crop of those countries. It has but recently become an important crop in the United States, where, except for its use in syrup and broom making, it is grown almost entirely as a stock and poultry feed. During the last 20 years, the culture of the grain types has spread very rapidly in southwestern United States where it has extended the corn-growing area into regions too dry for maize and has added considerably to the agricultural wealth of the country. MAIZE, “INDIAN CORN” OR “CORN” The origin of corn, like that of most of our cultivated crops, is not fully known or easy to trace. It is closely related to and readily crosses with teosinte, a rank growing, tropical grass of Mexico and southern United States. It is probable that the development

of both these plants has been along similar lines. In all probability, corn was first cultivated in central Mexico. From there it spread into North and South America and at the time of the discovery of the new world was widely distributed throughout both continents. Columbus and other early explorers introduced it into several European countries, from which it has spread into many parts of the world; but only in the Western Hemisphere has it become an important crop.

Ears and kernels of the different members of the corn family: a) teosinte; b) pod corn; c) pop corn; d) flint corn; e) dent corn; f) soft corn; g) sweet corn.

Rural Heritage

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