Corn and Its Early Fathers

by Henry A. Wallace, William L. Brown

Revised Edition, Hardcover, Sm Quarto, 1988, PP.141, First Edition Was In 1956 From University Of Michigan

158 pages, Hardcover

First published August 30, 1988

About the author

Henry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States (1941–45), the Secretary of Agriculture (1933–40), and the Secretary of Commerce (1945–46).

Reviews

[Rick Elinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, in large part because I admire Henry Wallace, a former Secretary of Agriculture and Vice-President under FDR. Wallace, who grew up in the Iowa agricultural world, recognized the scientific value of hybrid corn, and started one of the first companies to sell hybrid seed. Use of hybrid corn grew from none in 1920 to almost 100% by the publication of this book in 1956. (I read the original version.) He and William Brown (an important corn scientist who later led the Pioneer Hybrid Corn company that Wallace had started), describe the people involved in discovering how high quality corn could be reliably produced to give high yields. The success of this venture is demonstrated by the fact that farmers became willing to pay for hybrid seed, even though they could have used their own seed for free. I see tremendous advantages to use of GMO in agriculture, which many currently disparage. I wonder what the disparagers think about the hybrid corn that is the basis for all corn, corn products, and animal feed. It is so artificial, highlighted by the fact that agricultural corn, even the non-hybrid type, cannot exist without humans planting of it.

[Carol Collins]

1956, first edition, with dustcover

[Nell · Rating 2 out of 5]

The edition I read (or, more accurately, skimmed) was published in 1956 by Michigan State University Press. I picked it up when I ran out of other reading material.

The book was in the house because my husband came across a reference to it in a biography of Henry Wallace, who was Secretary of Agriculture under FDR. Judging by this book, Wallace certainly was an enthusiastic farmer. It gives more detail than I really want to know about how corn (mostly field corn, but also sweet corn) became the crop we know today, at least as far as the mid-fifties. Interestingly, Wallace talks very little about the nutrition and concentrates on size, shape, and earliness.

My favorite quotes from the book: "James [Reid] was an artist at heart and was one of the first to attempt to combine beauty and productivity in corn." And later: "The commercial companies meet with less sales resistance in selling seed which will produce good-looking ears. The curious thing is that more than eighty-five percent of this same corn is fed to livestock which is not impressed in the slightest by the appearance of the ears." (emphasis in original)

Sort of interesting in light of having just read Eating on the Wild Side, but nothing I would recommend going to great lengths to obtain for the average reader.