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Corn,
(or maize when it’s grown for cattle feed) has been grown in Texas
for hundreds of years and predates Spanish rule. Telltale cobs have been found
in caves as far west as the Hueco Mountains of West
Texas and it was corn that made possible the operation of the Spanish Missions.
While Texas was still under Mexican rule, Austin’s
Colony levied a tax (paid in grain) to cover the expenses of their emissary to
Mexico City.
The agricultural model of America’s deep South had been “corn,
hogs, and cotton” and as Southern farmers migrated west to Texas,
they brought this well-honed plan with them. |
Farmer plowing corn.
Beaumont
Architectural Detail. TE photo |
ProductionCorn
had been primarily grown in the eastern part of the State for the favorable soil
and the abundant rainfall. In the ten years between 1849 and 1859, corn production
jumped from six million bushels to 16 million bushels, almost all of it grown
in East Texas.
During the
Civil War, the Confederate government encouraged corn production over that of
cotton since the Army desperately needed the
food and cotton had to run the Union blockade
– which left payment in doubt.
Today, most of Texas’
corn crop goes to livestock consumption. |
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Genetically
Improved Genetically
improved strains and scientific fertilization, combined with increased irrigation
have increased yields of corn in Texas from a mere
10 to 25 bushels per acre (in the late 19th Century) to 120 bushels per acre in
the 1970s.
Genetically designed corn dates to the early 20th Century but
it wasn’t until 1923 when Henry Wallace, the sitting Secretary of Agriculture
gave a speech on hybrid corn at a Farm Bureau picnic. The speech inspired Tom
Roberts, Sr., the manager of the Dekalb, (Illinois) Agricultural Association (later
known as Dekalb AgResearch). It took 12 years to perfect the strain and it wasn’t
marketed until 1935.
(In 1998 Dekalb was totally bought out by Monsanto,
the agricultural giant who had previously bought 40% of the company stock.) |
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Non-food Uses
of Corn ByproductsThe
uses of corn’s byproducts shows the both the versatility of the plant and man’s
genius for improvisation.
Cobs formed an air-tight seal for stopping jugs
and bottles. They provided bowls for pipes, handles for files and other tools
and cobs and sucks were burned in smoke houses to flavor the meat. In cash-strapped
regions, corn, (or in it’s easier to carry liquid form of whiskey) provided a
medium of exchange.
Corn
shucks were used to wrap tamales, stuff mattress and insulate houses. Little girls
had corn-shuck dolls, little boys threw cobs at one another and during harvest
time, many couples were introduced at social gatherings known as “shucking bees.”
Corn stalks were used to control erosion, fill in wagon ruts and were
used in rude fences. |
Architectural Detail - Corn ears decorate the entrance to the Chickasaw, Oklahoma
Courthouse. TE photo 2008 |
Counties
of Corn Collin,
Williamson,
Fannin, and Guadalupe
counties produced most of Texas’ corn in the 1930s and 40s. Later, in the 60s
and 70s the leading counties were Bell,
Collin, Falls,
Lavaca, and Williamson.
By the1980s, with the help of irrigation, the Panhandle’s
High Plains took the lead with Castro, Deaf Smith, Hale, Lamb, and Parmer counties
surpassing all others.
From third place in the 1970s, corn fell to fourth
place in the 80s (after cotton, wheat, and
sorghum). Corn
farming, like cotton farming has reduced the
number of farms, even while acreage has increased. Many farmers lease acreage
from landowners too small to run a profitable operation. |
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