This research was carried out to investigate how the growth of corn was affected by the heavy metal contents in soils near the old zinc-mining sites, by analyzing correlation between the growth of corn and heavy metal contents in soils collected from Yonghari Ilwoulmyun YongyangGun in Kyeongpook province in 1993. The results obtained were summarized as follows. 1. The contents of heavy metals such as Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, and as in the Youngyang area were very high compared with those in a normal area. Heavy metal contents in soils collected from $2.0{sim}2.5Km$ distance from the mining area were the highest, and those from 3.0 Km than those from 1.5 Km were even higher. 2. For heavy metal contents in leaves of all surveyed crops, Zn, Pb, Cu and As were the highest in soybean, followed by corn and rice. 3. Growth parameters of corn in polluted fields were comparatively poor and heavy metal contents in soils of the respective sites were higher than those in fields where rice was cultivated 8 years ago and irrigation was not done previously. 4. Heavy metal contents in the leaf part of corn plant showed a similar tendency to those in soils, being the highest among the different parts of corn plant, and they were in the decreasing order of Zn > Cu > As > Cd > Pb in each part. But the differences of metal contents in each part varied. 5. Generally, a negative relationship existed between the growth of corn and heavy metal contents in soil, of which Cu and Pb were significantly correlated with plant height, ear height, diameter of stem, ear length and yield of corn. 6. There existed a positive correlation between the contents of Pb,Cd and As in soils and those in the different parts of corn plant. The higher contents of Pb, Cd, and As in soil, the more those in corn plant incressed. The contents of Pb and As in corn grains showed a highly significant positive correlation with Cd and As contents in soils.