EFFECT OF ROOT PRUNING ON CORN.

THREE YEARS' TESTS.
(Yields in bushels per acre.)

Plants not pruned..
Plants pruned two inches deep..
Plants pruned four inches deep..
Plants pruned six inches deep.

manner to the corn plants is the business of the grower, and will give the largest profitable A. D. SHAMEL,

It can be readily seen without further explanation that injury to the roots interferes in the plant's development and reduces the yield.

Depths and Systems of Cultivation.- The cultivation of the growing crop presents many problems differing according to the conditions of soil and climate. The general results of four years of tests of different methods of cultivation, indicating in a general way the effect of different systems in the corn belt, is epitomized in the following table. There was found in these experiments a close correlation between the theory of cultivation and the results obtained by following out the methods suggested by the foregoing discussion.

Of Illinois Experiment Station. Corn-cockle (Agrostemma githago), a genus of the pink family (Caryophyllacea). It is an annual pubescent often-branching herb, from one to three feet tall, distinguished by its large purple flowers. Though a native of Europe and western Asia, it is now found in almost all parts of the world, frequenting grain-fields and waste places. When its seeds become mixed with those of the grain, and are ground with them, it is said the effect is to render the grain unwholesome; thus it requires to be separated from the grain by a special kind of sieve. Germany the seed when ripe and dried is called schwartz-kümmel (black cumin), and is sold for medicinal and domestic purposes.

In

Corn-crake (that is, "corn crow," because of its cry), the common name in England of a small rail (Crex pratensis) which frequents meadow lands throughout Europe; also called landrail. The name crake is applied to various

84

88

85

89

92

The results of the above trials indicate that all competition with weeds must be prevented, from the fact that they live upon the same elements of fertility as the corn plants, and in this way reduce the yield of the corn crop. Deep cultivation injures the roots of the corn plant and reduces the yield. Shallow, frequent culti vation, removing the weeds, keeping a soil mulch on the surface of the soil, gives the best results. This conclusion agrees in general with the facts of ordinary practice in well-drained and fertile soils. In very weedy fields, undrained and in poor condition, it may be necessary to cultivate deeply in order to destroy the weeds, open the soil to the air and sunshine, and allow the excessive water to drain off.

In summing up the important facts of cultivation, the following points should be emphasized:

1. The preparation of the seed bed should be such as to best conserve soil moisture, and obtain the most favorable mechanical soil condition.

2. The cultivation of the growing crop should be such as to avoid all root injury, maintaining a loose surface soil mulch, and preventing the presence of all weeds or competing plants.

3. The method of planting and caring for the crop will depend upon local conditions to such an extent that it is necessary for every grower to make a thorough study of his peculiar conditions of soil and climate in relation to his methods of cultivation.

4. The conditions of growth for the corn crop are moisture, heat, light, and plant food. The

Corn Insect-pests. The principal enemies of corn are the boll-worm (q.v.), chinch-bug, cut-worms, and certain caterpillars which bore in the stalks. In the central and southern States, notably in Kentucky and in southern Illinois, the cotton-boll worm in certain years has attacked the corn in the ear, eating the silk and afterward devouring the terminal kernels, hiding within the husk. Whole fields have thus suffered in these States, where there are two broods of the worm, the early and also the late corn faring the worst.

Cut-worms. These caterpillars are the most insidious pests in fields when the young corn begins to sprout. One species out of many is called the corn cut-worm. It is the young of the Clandestine moth (Noctua clandestina). While the fully grown caterpillar has not been described, the young are more or less distinctly marked above with pale and dark stripes, and are uniformly paler below. When first hatched they feed on the corn, descending, when halfgrown, into the ground on the approach of severe frosts, and reappearing in the spring, and then beginning to grow again, attaining their full

size and pupating before the middle of July, often much earlier, so that in the New England States the moth is seen from the middle of June to the middle or end of August, during which time it lays its eggs. Remedies: before planting, the seed corn should be soaked in copperas water, and late in the autumn corn land should be plowed deeply, so as to turn up the half-grown worms, and expose them to the winter cold, and to the attacks of insect eating birds. Cut-worms may be trapped into holes made by a stake in corn-hills. Riley advised dropping between the rows of corn at nightfall bundles of fresh-cut grass or clover, etc., which had been sprinkled with the Parisgreen or London-purple solution.

The spindle-worm is a caterpillar nearly an inch long, smooth and naked, with the head and last segment of the body black. It bores into the stalk before the corn spindles and makes the leaves wither. The ravages of this worm begin while the cornstalk is young and before the spindle rises much above the tuft of leaves containing it. On examination a small hole may be seen in the side of the leafy stalk, near the ground, penetrating into the soft centre of the stalk. The obvious remedy is to cut open the stalk, and on finding the worm to pull up all the infested plants. The worm turns into an owlet-moth (Achatodes zea).

The stalk-borer is a caterpillar of a pale uvid hue, with light stripes along the body; it sometimes bores into the cob of growing corn. It occurs in the central and western States in June and July, the moth (Gortyna nitela) flying late in August and early in September. The young worm hatches about the first of July and immediately begins to bore into the stalk, but is not noticed till the plant is destroyed. It may be detected on a close examination about the first of July, its hole being at quite a distance from the ground.

The corn-weevil (Sphenophorus zea) punctures large holes in young corn near the base of the stalk, before it has spindled, and sometimes destroys whole fields of young corn. This weevil has been destructive in Tioga County, N. Y. It pierces the young corn in numerous places, so that each blade has from one to eight holes, the size of a pin or larger; when very numerous every stalk is killed. The weevils occur about an inch under ground, hanging to the young stalks with much tenacity. This weevil (q.v.) or snout-beetle is a rather large insect, its body long, narrow, nearly cylindrical, black, with coarse gray dots or punctures; its beak is nearly a third as long as the body, curved down, the tip triangular.

The corn-maggot is the larva of a fly (Anthomyia zea) which gnaws seed corn after it is planted; the maggot is like the onion-maggot, a footless, white, cylindrical worm, the head ending in two black hooks, the jaws. This insect sometimes so abounds as to nearly ruin entire fields of corn, gnawing into the seed and causing it to rot. When fully fed and ready to transform it contracts, forming a barrel-shaped brown pupacase within which lies the pupa or chrysalis; the fly, similar to the house-fly, but smaller, appears a week after. The seed should be soaked, before planting, in gas-tar or copperas water.

They are hard to eradicate, but may be caught by placing slices of potato, turnip, or apple in the beds, and examining the undersides every morning. Another insect destructive to corn is the chinch-bug (q.v.) which punctures the leaves, sucking the sap. It appears early in June, and there is a summer and winter brood, the adults hibernating in the stubble. (See WHEAT-INSECT PESTS.) Several caterpillars live at the expense of corn, among them being the larva of the io moth, a great green worm, with poisonous spines, also the fuzzy larva of a moth (Arctia arge). A. S. PACKARD,

Late Professor Zoology, Brown University.

Corn-laws, regulations of the grain trade. The best means of securing a sufficient and steady supply of breadstuffs has been a subject of great diversity of opinion, and the practice of governments has varied much at different times. The theory urged by Adam Smith, and now adopted in Great Britain, is that government should do absolutely nothing in the matter, on the ground that farmers and merchants, if unchecked, will always form correct views of their own interest, and that their interest will coincide with that of the community. This theory is supported by a large view of the facts. In ancient times famines were much more frequent than they are now, because commerce was more restricted, less regular and extensive, and subject to more frequent obstructions. A free communication between different countries, by which the abundance of the one may be brought to supply the want of the other, has proved the best security against the want of necessaries, and even of comforts and luxuries.

The Athenians had laws prohibiting the exportation of corn, and requiring merchants who loaded their vessels with it in foreign ports to bring their cargoes to Athens. The public provision and distribution of corn was an important branch of administration at Rome, and very intimately connected with the public tranquillity. trade in the article have been a fruitful subject The regulation of the supply of corn and the of legislation in modern Europe. But it is to be observed that the public solicitude and current of legislation take this direction only in populous countries, or at least those in which the population presses hard upon the means of domestic production of bread-stuffs; for a country of needs to take no measures for securing a supply. which, like Poland, the staple export is corn, In agricultural countries the object of solicitude is to supply the want of arts and manufactures, as in populous and highly improved countries it is to supply the want of food.

But the laws directed to this object have been very various, and some of them contradictory; for as in Athens so in England, at one period the laws prohibited the exportation of corn; whereas at another period, and for a very long one in the latter country, a bounty was given on the exportation; and both these laws had the same object, namely, the adequate and steady supply of the article.

of which are natives. The plant is an humble annual weed, which is used as a spring salad, especially in France and Germany. The commonest species is V. olitoria, which is aaturalized in the United States, and often called fetticus, white pot-herb, and milk-grass. It is found in waste places and moist ground from April to July. Corn-salad is cultivated in much the same way as spinach, and is much used for the same purpose as ergot (q.v.).

Corn-smut, a parasitic fungus (Ustilago maydis), affecting the corn. As an agricultural Scourge corn smut has an unsavory reputation. In medicine it has been used for much the same purpose as ergot (q.v.).

Corn-snake (Calopeltis, or Coluber, guttatus), a snake of the family Colubrida (q.v.), common in the southern United States. It reaches a length of four feet, and is reddish brown above, with a series of dark-bordered red blotches, and only a few of the most dorsal rows of scales keeled.

The southern variety of the house snake is also known under the name of corn-snake. It is readily distinguished by the entire anal plate, which is in two pieces in Calopeltis, the complete absence of keeled scales, and the series of confluent black and yellow rings on each side. Cornaceæ, kôr-na'sē-ẽ, the dogwood family, a natural order of plants containing about 16 genera and 85 species, chiefly natives of the north temperate zone. Some species produce edible fruits; some are valuable for the medicinal virtues of their bark, and others are cultivated as ornamental plants. See DOGWOOD;

TUPELO.

Cornaro, Ludovico, loo-dō-vē kō kōr-nä'rō, Venetian nobleman: b. 1467; d. Padua 1566. From the 25th to the 40th year of his age he was afflicted with a disordered stomach, with the gout, and with slow fevers, till at length he gave up the use of medicine and accustomed himself to extreme frugality in his diet. The beneficial effects of this he relates in his book entitled, 'Discorsi della vita Sobria' ('The Advantages of a Temperate Life') (1558, the English translation of which has passed through over 30 editions). Cornaro's precepts are not applicable in their full extent to every constitution; but his general rules will always be correct. His diseases vanished and gave place to a vigorous health and tranquillity of spirits, to which he had hitherto been an entire stranger. He wrote three additional treatises on the same subject. In his work upon the 'Birth and Death of Man,' composed a few years before his death, he says of himself, "I am now as healthy as any person of 25 years of age. I write daily seven or eight hours, and the rest of the time I occupy in walking, conversing, and occasionally in attending concerts. I am happy and relish everything that I eat. My imagination is lively, my memory tenacious; my judgment good; and what is most remarkable in a person of my advanced age, my voice is strong and harmonious."

Corn'bury, Edward Hyde, LORD, 3d Earl of Clarendon, English colonial governor: d. London 1 April 1723. He was the son of the 2d earl of Clarendon, and one of the first officers of his household troops to desert from the service of King James II. to the Prince of Orange in 1688. In return, he was made gover

nor of New York, where he arrived 3 May 1702. He was in debt, and was rapacious and bigoted to such a degree as to have left the memory of the worst governor ever appointed to the colony. Great complaints being made, he was removed from his office in 1708.

Corncracker State, a nickname of Kentucky, whose people are often called "Corncrackers."

Cor'nea (Lat. "horny," "hornlike"), the transparent concavo-convex disk which forms the anterior 5th of the globe of the eye, fitted accurately into the sclerotic or fibrous coat forming the posterior four fifths of the organ. It is a segment of a smaller sphere than the sclerotic, and is from seven to seven and a half lines in diameter; the greatest diameter being the transverse. Its anterior convex surface is covered by a continuation of the conjunctival epithelium, and its posterior concave surface is lined also with delicate epithelium pavement, which is in contact with the aqueous humor, and supposed by some to be concerned in the secretion of this fluid. The degree of convexity varies, being usually greatest in children and near-sighted persons. Its circumference is described as fitting into the sclerotic like a watch crystal into its frame. Its principal thickness, which is nearly the same at all points, is made up of six to eight layers of soft indistinct fibres, continuous with and similar to those of the sclerotic, connected together by delicate areolar tissue; these may be separated by maceration. Behind the cornea proper is an elastic transparent lamina called the membrance of Demours. Though no vessels have been traced into the cornea, their existence is indicated by the occurrence of inflammation, ulceration, and adhesion. A superficial and a deep series of vessels surround the cornea, anastomosing freely around its margin; the superficial vessels are continuous with those of the conjunctiva, and the deep with the short ciliary arteries. In diseased conditions, both sets of vessels may be prolonged into its substance. No nerves have been traced into the cornea. Its diseases are many, frequent, and dangerous to vision; from its exposed situation, it is liable to suffer from blows, cuts, and the introduction of foreign substances. It is often inflamed in various ophthalmic diseases, resulting in opacity, ulceration, increased vascularity, softening, and rupture from gangrene; these affections are tedious and difficult to cure, are often painful, and generally leave the patient with more or less obstruction of the power of vision. In old persons, the circumference of the cornea often presents a whitish zone, a line or two wide, the result of physiological causes, and not interfering with vision. The convexity of the cornea in aquatic and amphibious animals is slight, and sometimes almost lacking.

Corneille, Pierre, pē-ār kōr-nā-yė, French dramatist: b. Rouen 6 June 1606; d. Paris 1 Oct. 1684. He began his dramatic career with comedy. His first piece was Mélite,' played in 1629. It was followed from 1632 to 1636 by Clitandre'; 'La Veuve'; 'La Galerie du Palais'; 'La Suivante'; 'La Place Royale'; 'L'Illusion Comique,' which had great success. Being more natural and more vigorous in style than the dramas which then held the stage, they announced the approach of a reformer endowed with talents of a higher order, and as such he

CORNEL.

Molière superseded it, it was always represented in his version. He was a dramatist of the second rank, laborious but wanting in originality, yet not without considerable resources. In 1685 he succeeded his brother in the French Academy by a unanimous vote.

Cor'nel, (L. cornu, horn, from the hard horn-like wood), a shrub belonging to the genus Cornus, about 20 distinct species, native of north latitude, temperate climate. Flowers generally small, four parted, ovary inferior, and two- or three-celled; fruit fleshy, and edible in some species, especially those in Europe. The cornelian cherry (Cornus mas), of Europe, bears small greenish flowers; the fruit is acid and edible. The dogwood of the eastern part of the United States is the Cornus florida, a small tree which in May and June is covered with large white or pale pink flowers; the wood of which has a fine fibre and is very hard. The bark is sometimes used as a tonic. C. canadensis, bunchberry, of woods in the northern part of the United States, is a low herb which bears a close cluster of flowers that ripen into red, fleshy, edible berries. In North America there are about 18 well-known species. See DOGWOOD.

Cornelia, Roman matron, the daughter of Scipio Africanus the elder. She married Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, censor 169 B.C., by whom she was the mother of the two tribunes, Tiberius and Caius. Left a widow with a young family of 12 children, she devoted herself entirely to their education. Only three of her family survived their childhood, her daughter, married to Scipio Africanus the younger, and her two sons. Cornelia was highly educated, and united the severe virtues of the old Roman matron with the refinement which then began to prevail in the upper class society of Rome. She bore the death of her sons with magnanimity, and afterward retired to Misenum, where she spent the remainder of her life. She exercised unbounded hospitality, and was constantly surrounded by men of letters. The Roman people erected a statue to her with the inscription: "Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi."

Cornelian, kôr-nel'yan, or Carnelian (Fr. cornaline, from Lat. corna, "horn"), a precious stone varying from a light and fleshy red, opaque, and semi-transparent, with and without veins, to a brilliant transparency and color approaching the ruby, from which they are, however, known by sure distinctive marks. It consists of silica along with minute quantities of the oxides of iron, aluminum, and sometimes of other metals, and is actually a variety of chalcedony. It is much used for seals, bracelets, necklaces, and other articles of minute gem sculpture; appended to watches, ornaments now in little use. It was known to the Romans, as we learn from Pliny, by the name of sarda, from being found originally in Sardinia. The number of the cornelians that were engraved by the ancients, and have reached our times, is very considerable, and nearly equal to that of all the other kinds of gems with which we are acquainted. Pliny thinks they were clarified by being steeped in the honey of Corsica. The national collection at Paris, and the British Museum of London, have many beautiful engraved cornelians. Many of the latter were found in the field of Cannæ in Apulia, where Hannibal defeated the Romans.

Cornelis, kor-nä'lis, Cornelius, Dutch painter: b. Haarlem 1562; d. 1638. He studied with Peter Ertsens the younger, and afterward worked at Antwerp under Peter Porbus and Giles Coignet. In 1583 he returned to Haarlem, where his great painting-the Company of Arquebusiers-established his reputation. Descamps called it a collection of figures sketched by the Genius of History. In 1595, with Charles van Mander, he instituted an academy for painting at Haarlem. His numerous pictures are rarely to be bought, on account of the great value which the Flemings set upon them. Cornelis painted great and small pieces, historical subjects, portraits, flowers, and especially subjects from ancient mythology. drawing is admirable. He is a true imitator of nature, and his coloring is always lively and agreeable. The galleries at Vienna and Dresden contain some of his pieces. J. Mueller, H. Golzius, Saenredam, L. Killian, Matham, Van Geyn, and many others have imitated his man

ner.

His

Cornelius, Peter Von, pā'ter fōn kôr-nā’le-oos, German painter: b. Düsseldorf 23 Sept. 1787; d. 7 March 1867. He early exhibited a taste for art, and accustomed himself to copy from memory the works of Raphael and other masters. He thus acquired an early proficiency, and at 19 was entrusted with the painting of the cupola of the Church of Neuss, near Düsseldorf. It was executed in chiaroscuro, in figures of colossal size, and showed already the grandeur of conception by which he was afterward distinguished. He soon after removed to Frankfort, where in 1810 he commenced a series of designs illustrative of Goethe's 'Faust.' In 1811 he went to Rome, where, with Overbeck, Veit, and other associates, he projected the formation of a new school of German art, and especially the revival of fresco painting, in imitation of Michael Angelo and Raphael. Bartholdy, the Prussian consul-general, commissioned members of this school to paint his villa. Cornelius executed two frescoes for this purpose — Joseph Interpreting the Chief Butler's Dream,' and Joseph Recognizing His Brethren.' afterward began a series of frescoes from the Divina Commedia' for the Marquis Massini, but left it unfinished in consequence of receiv-ing a commission to execute the frescoes in the Glyptothek, then newly erected at Munich. The designs for the villa of Massini, though never painted, were engraved by Schoefer, and another series, illustrative of the 'Niebelungen Lied,' were engraved by Amsler and Lips.

some

He

Before leaving Rome (1819) Cornelius had been appointed director of the Academy at Düsseldorf. His first work was to reorganize the Academy, and then to give his whole attention to the painting of the Glyptothek, which demanded a constant residence at Munich. He resigned the directorship after a short time, and received in 1825 that of the Academy of Munich. Simultaneously with the Glyptothek he undertook the painting with frescoes of the LudwigsKirche. In these two great works he was assisted by his Munich pupils. Many of the cartoons prepared by him were painted under his superintendence by Zimmermann, Schotthauer, and others. In the Glyptothek two large halls were entrusted to him to decorate. In the one, called the Hall of Heroes, he gave a repre