8. Cut a kernel of pop-corn and a kernel of field corn across and compare the texture of the two. What has this texture to do with causing the kernel to "pop?" 9. How many foods do you know made from the grain of the corn? 10. How many products do you know made from stalks of the corn? 11. Do you know of any part of the corn that is used in constructing battleships? 12. What is the corn crop of New York State worth in dollars a year? (See U. S. Census Bulletin, No. 179.) 13. How many bushels of shelled corn are usually produced on an acre of well cultivated land? 14. Could the corn plant itself without the agency of man? If you are able to draw, please make a sketch of a kernel of sweet corn and a kernel of field corn. Break an ear of corn in two and sketch the broken end, showing shape of the cob and its relation to the kernels. NOTE ON THE NEW CORN BREEDING.[58] [58] Extracted from an article by L. H. Bailey in Country Life in America, July, 1903. The particular materials that give the corn kernel most of its value are the oil, the protein and the starch. For the production of corn oil--for which the demand is large--a corn that has a high oil content is, of course, particularly valuable; while for the production of starch or for the feeding of bacon hogs, a relatively higher percentage of other materials is desirable. It is apparent, therefore, that races of corn should be bred for a particular content, depending on the disposition to be made of the grain. Equal economic results cannot be attained, however, in increasing the content of any of the three leading ingredients, since a pound of gluten is worth one cent, a pound of starch one and one-half cents, and a pound of oil five cents. The amounts of these ingredients in the corn kernel are amenable to increase or diminution by means of selection,--by choosing for seed the kernels of ears that are rich or poor in one or the other of these materials. Fortunately, the oil and starch and protein of the corn kernel occupy rather distinct zones. Next the outside hull is a dark and horny layer that is very rich in protein; in the center is the large germ, very rich in oil; between the two is a white layer of starch. It is found that the kernels on any ear are remarkably uniform in their content; the dissection of a few kernels, therefore, enables the breeder to determine the ears that are rich in any one of the substances. Experiment stations in the corn-growing States are already making great headway in this new breeding of corn, and one private concern in Illinois is taking it up as a commercial enterprise. All this recalls the remarkable breeding experiments of the Vilmorins in France, whereby the sugar-content of the beet was raised several points. It is impossible to overestimate the value of any concerted corn-breeding work of this general type. The grain alone of the corn crop is worth about one billion dollars annually. It is possible to increase this efficiency several