—Lancaster Farming
6
Corn from Seven Nations Flourishes
On Hoffman Plots Near'Landisville
By ERNEST J. NEILL
Editor, Lancaster Farming
Corn of Italian, Uruguayan,
Mexican, Brazilian, Indian and
Canadian origin is flourishing
next to Yankee varieties in plots
on the Hoffman Seed Co leased
lands near' Landisville, Lancas
ter County.
Last week. Lancaster Farming
told of bamboo that grows pro
lifically on another farfn not too
far from Landisville. Here’s a
close cousin of bamboo that’s do
ing equally well, perhaps serv
ing agricultural industry and
agricultural science more.
Midget corn, dwarf corn,
corn from the tropics that will
not be able to mature fully
in Lancaster County climate
this season, grows in rows ad
joining more common rela
tives, U. S. hybrids.
There are ancient varieties
that grow with tomorrow’s
breeds; the knee-high flour corn
whose kernels never harden,
the Italian corn which some
time back passed maturity and
is ready for shucking on
your knees, almost, unless you
use a mechanical picker. Tower
ing over all, stretching perhaps
20 feet in the air, is the Mexi
can corn, just now in tassel,
just {iow silking, whose milk
stage kernels may never reach
maturity in Lancaster County’s
comparatively chilly clime.
These oddities or more
propertly ’round-the-world varie
ties are in plots of varying
height, a crazy stair-step pat
tern. The Italian' corn is a 65-
day variety that ranges from
Egg
Laying
Contest
Trophies
t Prizes Aw
To Win i
For Information:
-Ask Our Sal
Call Our Ofi
knee to shoulder height, ready
for cribbing right now. Corn
from Uruguay is still soft. The
sky-scraping Mexican variety* is
tassehng far behind the normal
U. S July 15-20 date, and its
auxiliary loots spring out two
feet above giound l
In the Mexican corn, the
relationship to bamboo is
more pronounced. Lester Hug,
manager of the hybrid seed
corn department of Hoffman
Seed Co., explains that in its
native land, the corn is cut,
ears taken from the felled
stalks, and when dry, stalks
are converted into building
materials, serving as a base
for mud plaster on native huts.
Here grows some Indian
corn. Calico corn as it has been
known for years, with kernels
on the same cob varying in
color from yellow through red
into purple' Grass corn, with
leaves as fine as ribbon grass;
pod corn, where each kernel is
encased in its own husk; corn
knee-high with -normal leaves
and ears, the dwarf varieties,
and the midget varieties, also
hip-high but bearing normal
size ears, all grow in a wonder
land of corn on Lancaster Coun
ty soil, alongside Suropean
varieties.
Well acquainted with the pro
gram is M. T (Pod) Kauffman,
born and laised on an adjoining
farm, who supervises the plots
Between him and Mr Hug, the
conversation may range from
Brachytic to cystoplasmic stern
lity Both are most willing to
explain ,the complicated process
Enroll Now In . . .
Eli M. Wolge
ELI M. * |W OLGEM UT H
R. D. IMANHEIM Ph. Landisville 3031
Friday Sept. 14, 1958
Among the many varieties of corn
grown in plots of the Hoffman Seed Co.
near Landisville is an ancient variety
where each kernel is encased in its own
p * t
which has .developed in corn
the same crossbreeding proces
ses that brought about the mule
in the cross between the jack
and hoise
In fact, there is a mule corn.
Not only are varieties test
ed and r«( tested here, but
maximum planting is sought
as well to produce the great
est amount of corn on the
smallest acreage. Rates of
I /
Each Kernel in a Husk
planting vary from 12,000 to
14,000 to 16,000 or 20,000 •
plants per acre. Rates of
growth are carefully checked
and yields figured by weight
and moisture test to produce
No. 2 grade.
“We are growing 200 varie
ties of corn here,” Mr. Hug told
in the Hoffman offices. “When
I came to Pennsylvania in 1936,
only one per cent of the corn
grown was hybrid. In' Illinois,
33 to 39 per cent was hybrid.
“Realizing there are several
corn zones, we have plots in New
York, New Jersey and Pennsyl
vania at altitudes of 900, 1600
and 2300 feet. Much research has
been done by State Agricultural
Colleges, like the Morrow Plots
at the University of Illinois and
CROP ROTATJON
PAYS
Successful farmers know that tak
ing too much out of the land tak'-'
plenty out of their pockets. Tlv*
realize the importance of a scien
tific crop rotation schedule.
This progressive bank favors
crop rotation and every other
sound farming principle that con
tributes to the permanent prosper
ity of this community.
use our convenient p ree Parking
Drive-In Window 25s queinst-swanpark
ing lO'-VN c & S QUEEN
OMF.HAUE Rl OOC from PENN STS STONF R PARKING LOT
SQUARE ON S. QUEEN ST. S.W. CORNER VINL & QUEEN
—Hear ot Main Bank STS
"Serving Lancaster from Center Squate since 1889”
MILLERSVILLE BRANCH
Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Maximum Insurance $lO,OOO per depositor
husk. Here M. T. (Pod) Kauffman, hybrid
corn department assistant, displays the
ear, and an individual husk-encased kei
nel. (Lancaster Farming Staff Photo).
* •
the plots at Pennsylvania Slate,
where ground has been ton
tmuously in corn 57 years
, “Any experimental vanoty
must go through at least thiee
years of test and observation
before seed is placed on the
market.” he continued.
There is a purpose in the
dwarf varieties. It may be pos
sible to lower the ear of com
six inches on a stalk within a
year or so, just by crossing
the normal 10 or 15-foot stalk
with a dwarf variety. Yet the
size of ear remains the same,
and the number of ears pei
stalk the same.
Now that seed corn has been
“sexed,” divided into male and
female, much of the earlier hand
S’
y *
> >
'■l
/SsHSt*.*
JWf **'
V*'-
« *
(Continued on page 7)
302 N. GEORGE ST
t