INDIAN CORN AS FOOD FOR MAN. 87 



was double that of wheat, and the value of the crops was in 

 about the same proportion. 



It is difficult if not impossible to grasp the full significance 

 of such figures as these. Perhaps the imagination might be 

 assisted by supposing the whole state of Maine one immense 

 corn field. It would require more than 4 such fields to equal 

 the area mentioned. If the product of this vast tract were put 

 in bushels baskets, and these baskets could be arranged in a line 

 upon the equator, allowing 18 inches to a bushel, the line would 

 extend around the earth 30 times, and would furnish 30 bushels 

 of grain to every man woman and child in the United States. 



Of course but a small fraction of this amount is utilized as 

 human food. There are no reliable statistics to show how much 

 is thus consumed, but it is doubtful if it exceeds one bushel in 

 50 of the total crop. Its use today is much more general in the 

 South than in New England, where for the most part it is eaten 

 only at irregular intervals as brown bread, johnny-cake, or 

 occasionally as hominy. The colonists, following the example 

 of the Indians, ate parched corn, either entire or in the form of 

 a coarse meal. The virtues of this latter preparation, known as 

 " no cake," have been highly extolled, and it seemed to fill the 

 high position now occupied by the predigested cereal breakfast 

 food. Other dishes which found favor with the colonists, com- 

 posed wholly or in part of corn, were hominy, hasty pudding, 

 johnny-cake, brown bread, pone, samp and succotash, the last 

 consisting of green corn cooked with beans. Although wheat 

 has so largely replaced corn, it may be questioned whether we 

 cannot profitably make a fuller use of the cereal which seemed 

 to conduce to both the physical and intellectual vigor of our 

 forefathers. 



Rflativf Composition of thf Cereal Grains. 



A statement of the comparative value of our foods requires 

 the use of certain terms which may be briefly explained here. 



Protein. Under the general name protein we include a num- 

 ber of bodies all of which contain nitrogen and most of which 

 belong to the class known as proteids. These bodies possess a 

 peculiar value in that they are absolutely necessary in our foods 

 and cannot be replaced by any other class of compounds, 

 although they may themselves replace to a large extent the fats 



