Marlene Nassivera, age 9, of Ontario, New York, or her question:

How did Indian corn get its name?

When people in the 01d World talked of corn, they meant wheat. Some of them still do. For countless ages, wheat was the most important of their cereals. They used it to make their daily bread and to feed to their farm animals, Then the New World was discovered. The Indians depended on a different cereal. They ate it and fed it to their animals. Soon the white settlers were also using this Indian corn, though some called it maize and still do.

The Indians developed their corn from wild grasses. Some say the process took ten thousand years. Each year, the Indian farmers picked out the best ears of corn and planted them for next years harvest. Even plants it seems, take after their parents. For the best seeds always produced the best new crops. Very slowly, the strain of wild grasses was improved. When the white settlers came, the Indian corn was so well developed that no one can tell which wild grass it is descended from.