359 HORTUS JAMAICK NSIS. ^trhT 



for provisTon .in times of drought. Thi-^ plant is thon!:^ht to impoverish Ta ml ; ami, 

 con-^iui'ring tkc rici) juices of rhe stalk, and greatness ot yielding, it undoubtedly re- 

 quires as goixl and strong a soil as tiie sugar cane : for this reason, those planters are 

 iTiuth l)lau:ed \i hu eultivate it on the banks between their voung canes ; for the use of 

 these banks being to be drawn dow!), and apply uourishmcsit to the canes in the course 

 Ot their growth, tliey are too much exhausted by the maiz, wiikh seems to absorb and 

 extract nutriment from the same vegetable principles as the sugar cane ; ^lul it must 

 consequently r.jb them of a great part of that food of which they are in want, especi- 

 ally ill tiie poorer well worked lantls; though the objection is so far from King against 

 ricii rVe^h soiis that it may be very serviceable to such, and assist to drain away tliat 

 ejaptrtiuiiy uf the vegetative principles wiiich throws up too rank and luxuriant a cane. 

 "Tills opuiion is strt-ngthened by a con^mou observation, that the maiz corn will not 

 t'snve web ill soils where the sugar cane will not thrive. But I have seen ftne corn pro- 

 duced in a very poor exhausted piece of ground, by laying manure with every seed or 

 gn.in ; and, in North America, near the sea coast, the Indians used to put two or 

 three dead fis:ies under or adjacent to each corn hill ; and by this means gained double 

 t.;e crop they would otherwise have got. The English then learned the same husbandry 

 t.uriug the hs.iing-stages, where they could procure the heads and garbage of cod-fish,, 

 in abundance, at no charge but the fetching. 



This corn does not make good bread by itself; but, if the flour of it is mixed in the- 

 prop.rtion of one pint to three pints of wheat flour, it will answer for common use. 

 Tiie dougii fija le with it is very heavy, and fermented with difficulty. The negroes- 

 }> r li ana grin.i it into powder, sometimes mi.sing a little sugar with it. They esteeai 

 it d dainty, and r)articularlv convenient in a long journey ; but the more common way 

 Oi using it IS lu puildings, after it has been well pounded in a wooden mortar. 



All ere tures fed with this corn have firm fat flesh. The pork of corn-fed hogs is 

 esteemed toe finest in the world for flavour and goodness ; the horses, cattle, and 

 nr.iie.-, foddered on the leaves and husks, are hardy, and enabled to go through the 

 greatest aegree of labour ; and the j>eo!)!e, who make the gniin a principal part of 

 t..eir diet, are heaitliv, strong, and active. 



The ears of it, whiie it is growing, are said to be greatly hurt by cutting off the pa- 

 nicles or beards too late. They ought to be cut before the hoods, or husks open ; and 

 by leaving a plant with its male ears at every twenty feet distance, all the female plants- 

 nviU be impregnated. Long, p. 762. 



This corn does not keep either on the ear or off it so well as Guinea comj being very 

 liable to oe attacked by ttie weevil. Mr. Beckles, of the Agricultural Society of Bar- 

 ba iOf^s, lately lai 1 before that body the following method of preserving it : 



" I;i the month of October he put into two jars, several ears and pints of Indian 

 corn; into one of the jars he sprinkled over the corn a mixture of camphor and black 

 pepper ; both the jars were tied down, in such a way as to exclude all air. I.i the May 

 fo lowing he opened the jars: the one without the composition was entirel}- destroyed; 

 t.ie one with perfectly good, and grew after being planted. The quantity of camphar 

 BS about aix drachms, and a table spoonful of pepper." 



Greenheart ^te Cogwood* 



GREEH 



