ible. The plains of Argentina
now yield a notable quantity--about one hundred million bushels--and the
amount may be increased. Moreover, a large product may be obtained from
both Uruguay and Paraguay, and southern Brazil, neither one of which
produces a considerable quantity. At the present rate of the increase in
consumption, all of the available land, yielding its maximum, will not
produce a sufficient crop at the end of the twentieth century.

=Corn.=--Maize or Indian corn is the seed of a plant, _Zea mays_, a member
of the grass family. It is not known to exist in a wild state. The
species now cultivated are undoubtedly derived from the American
continent, but evidence is not wanting to show that it was known in
China and the islands of Asia before the discovery of America.[29] The
commercial history of corn begins with the discovery of America. Next to
meat it was the chief food of the native American; next to wheat it is
the chief food-stuff in the American continent to-day.

Corn requires a rich soil and is not so hardy as wheat. It thrives best
in regions having long summers and warm nights. The growing crop is
easily injured by too much rain. It is an abundant crop in the central
Mississippi Valley, but not near the coast; it is very prolific in
Nebraska, but not in Dakota; it thrives in Italy, Austria, and the
Balkan Peninsula, but not in the British Isles and Germany. It is a very
important crop in Australia, and is the staple grain of Mexico. It is
the crop of fourteen-hour days and warm nights.

[Illustration: CORN]

The United States is the chief producer of corn, and from an area of
80,000,000 acres--about that of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
combined--more than two billion bushels, or four-fifths of the world's
crop, are produced. In the past few years the area planted with corn has
not materially increased, and it is likely to be lessened rather than
increased in the future. From the same acreage, however, the annual
yield, now about twenty-five or thirty bushels per acre, can be more
than doubled by the use of more skilful methods of cultivation.

Corn contains more fatty substance, or natural oil, than wheat, and
therefore has a greater heating power. For this reason it is better than
wheat for out-of-door workers, and it is almost the only cereal
food-stuff consumed in Spanish America. It is also a staple food-stuff
in Egypt. Corn has been used as a bread-stuff in the United States,
Italy, and R