This is a brief summary of many years of research on all phases of the popcorn industry. Anyone wanting more detailed information on any of the topics mentioned should write the Agronomy Department, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

The early history of popcorn is clouded. It is generally agreed that corn originated in the New World— along with popcorn and other subspecies including dent, flint, flour and sweetcorn.

Some students of the origin of corn contend that popcorn was one of the first— if not the first— subspecies to evolve from, wild grasses from which corn may have descended. In recent years archeologists have unearthed specimens which closely resemble a small-eared type of popcorn which we have today.