The kernel is tender, remarkably sugary, hardens slowly, is thin-skinned, and generally considered much superior to the Common Twelve-rowed.
It is always dried or ripened for seed with much difficulty; often moulding or decaying before the glazing or hardening of the kernel takes place. If the crop is sufficiently advanced as not to be injured by freezing, it will ripen and dry off best upon the stalks in the open ground; but if in the milk, or still soft and tender at the approach of freezing weather, it should be gathered and suspended, after being husked, in a dry and airy room or building, taking care to keep the ears entirely separate from each other.
Darling's Early.
Darling's Early Sweet.
Stalk about five feet in height, and comparatively slender; the ears are from six to eight inches in length, an inch and a half in diameter, and, when the variety is unmixed, uniformly eight-rowed; the kernels are roundish, flattened, pure white when suitable for boiling,—much shrivelled or wrinkled, and of a dull, semi-transparent yellow, when ripe; the cob is white.
The variety is early, very tender and sugary, yields well, produces little fodder, ears near the ground, and is one of the best sorts for planting for early use, as it seldom, if ever, fails to perfect its crop. In the Middle States, and in the milder sections of New England, it may be planted for boiling until near the beginning of July.
The hills are made three feet apart in one direction by two feet and a half in the opposite; or the seeds may be planted in drills three feet apart, dropping them in groups of three together every eighteen inches.
Early Jefferson.
Stalk five to six feet high, producing one or two ears, which are of small size, eight-rowed, and measure six or eight inches in length, and about an inch and a half in diameter at the largest part; cob white; kernel white, roundish, flattened,—the surface of a portion of the ear, especially near its tip, often tinged with a delicate shade of rose-red. The kernel retains its color, and never shrivels or wrinkles, in ripening.
The variety is hardy and productive, but is principally cultivated on account of its early maturity; though, in this respect, it is little, if at all, in advance of Darling's. The quality is tender and good, but much less sugary than the common shrivelled varieties; on which account, however, it is preferred by some palates. It remains but a short time tender and in good condition for boiling; soon becoming hard, glazed, and unfit for use.