158 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



have not vanished, then I will sing the 

 threnody of huckleberry hollow. Until 

 then, hie jacet appUis tumovcris ; rcquics- 

 cat ill pace. 



What Hominy Is and How It Is Made. 



The most astonishing fact that an ex- 

 tensive correspondence regarding hom- 

 iny has revealed is, that not one person in 

 a hundred seems to know what hominy is 

 as it is understood here in New England. 



It is pathetic not only that primitive 

 hominy no longer exists but that the name 

 has been appropriated for a nuiltiplicity of 

 corn products. Out of a multiplicity of 

 letters the only one thus far that correct- 

 ly states the method of manufacture 

 has been received from Mr. E. A. Morley 

 of Westport, Connecticut. We think our 

 readers will be especially interested in 

 what he has written. The question now 

 is : Where is the mill that can produce 

 the goods? 



"The mills used in grinding hominy are 

 no different from any Burr mill or Stone 

 mill that has to be pecked in order to 

 keep it sharp so that it will grind. I re- 

 member the grit that sometimes was felt 

 between my teeth when the stone, after 

 pecking, had not been properly dusted. 

 The secret of success in the making of 

 hominy consists in taking the corn to the 

 mill just after it has passed the milk 

 stage, before it becomes hardened, or 

 glazed, that it would crack easily and 

 make what is now known as cracked corn. 

 At this stage it is soft and is in condition 

 to be made into hominy and samp. The 

 only difference between hominy and samp 

 is that samp is ground much coarser than 

 hominy. 



"The corn to be successfullv used must 

 l)e just right in hardness, neither too hard 

 nor too soft. I remember that my fa- 

 ther once took corn to the mill when it 

 was too soft, and instead of being well 

 ground it was crushed between the Burr 

 stones and made into little worm-like 

 rolls about an inch long an eighth of an 

 inch in diameter. 



"Let me tell you how hominy and samp 

 were washed. Of course the hulls must 

 be got rid of. The corn was ]n\t into a 

 big pail, with an abundance of water, and 

 well stirred. The hulls rose to the surf- 

 ace and were noured out. Fresh water 

 was added and stirred and turned off, — 

 after waiting half a minute or so for the 



hominy to settle. Repeat the w^ashing 

 until the hulls are all washed away. 

 Then you will have the long looked for 

 hominy lying at the bottom of the pail, 

 ready to be cooked like mush. Cook 

 thoroughly. You know what comes next 

 — good milk with all the cream in it. 

 "Now you have it. Keep it choice, for 

 it is by the merest chance that you get it 

 at all. I am now sixty-eight years of age 

 and those experiences are as fresh in my 

 memory to-day as though acted only a 

 week affo." 



Where Has Hominy Gone? 



On page 59 of our issue for July was 

 an editorial entitled 'Tn Memoriam Homi- 

 num." This was copied by the "Literary 

 Digest," New York City, under the head- 

 ing, "Is Hominy Gone Too?" The editor 

 jocosely, and perhaps with a gentle under- 

 current of sarcasm, refers to it as "an- 

 other frightful revelation." It is a reve- 

 lation, but just how frightful has not yet 

 been determined. It is, however, an in- 

 teresting fact that we have to order an- 

 other batch of staiuped envelopes from 

 the post ofifice and that two stenographers 

 have been laboring during those long 

 hot, Augaist days with the subject of 

 hominy. From northern Maine to south- 

 ern Florida, from the Atlantic to the Pa- 

 cific, letters of condolence have come by 

 every mail. The present indications are 

 that the stenographic force will soon be 

 exhausted from overwork attending to 

 this enormous hominy correspondence. 



There are, however, two interesting 

 facts to be deduced from this mass of 

 letters. First, few of our correspondents 

 know what hominy is. They did not care- 

 fully read the original article, which, in 

 the second paragraph, defines, with refer- 

 ence to the Webster family, what hominy 

 is and how it is made. It is a curious 

 fact that nearly all our correspondents 

 talk about hulled corn, wdiich the article 

 distinctly states is not the loss that I am 

 deploring, but that of real hominy from 

 yellow corn. I will frankly admit that I 

 liked hulled corn when I was a boy, and 

 so did I like to eat sweet apples, to go fish- 

 ing and to attend the circus. The corre- 

 spondents say that I must have lost hulled 

 corn. Perhaps I have, but that is not the 

 subject under consideration. What I have 

 lost is a real loss and there is no lye 

 or lie in it. 



