Super-sweet corn

Press, 25 February 1987, Page 18

Super-sweet corn

Sir, —I was interested to read (February 19) that super-sweet corn, thanks to Lyndsay Eder, has at last arrived in the city’s vegetable shops. I reflected that

it had been a long time coming. Biologists were aware of the basic biology for this supersweetness in 1948. The alliance of biochemists, plant physiologists, geneticists and plant breeders who blueprinted it Represented the high technology of the 19405. In 1962 plant breeders announced the imminent replacement of the older sweet corns by super-sweet cultivars, but final commercial success has taken till now, nearly 40 years. This long gestation period and the over-optimistic estimate of development times are common. High technology may hasten progress, but it also makes competition stiffer. Science administrators and the public should note that the fruits of knowledge are usually hard-won, and do not simply fall off the tree. — Yours, etc.,

T. P. PALMER. February 19, 1987.