POPCORN

a name applied to several kinds of Indian corn with small ears and small hard grains, with or without sharp points, containing sufficient moisture to explode in roasting. The heat "pops" the corn by breaking the coat of the grain, and the sudden release of the puffed white interior turns it inside out.

In addition to its popular consumption salted or sweetened in rolls and packages, popcorn, either whole or ground, is sometimes eaten as a breakfast dish with milk or sugar, and it has also found favor as a free-lunch-counter item--loose, salted, in a bowl.

Iowa is the centre of the popcorn growing industry. Cultivation and harvesting are identical with that for ordinary maize, except that special attention is given to the ventilation of the cribs during drying to insure uniformity, as on the thoroughness of the process depends largely the "popping" quality of the grain.