USES TO WHICH [Chap. 



state. Having ascertained the state of one ear, 

 you need not open the husks of the rest ; the feel 

 of them on the outside will soon instruct you as to 

 their state of forwardness. You strip the ear oft 

 from the stalk by a tear downward, and you carry 

 a parcel in to he eaten. You now take off the 

 husks, and, when you have done that, there are 

 two ways of proceeding in the cookery; roast- 

 iiig and boiling. Roasted ears, such as those 

 mentioned in Leviticus, are certainly the greatest 

 delicacy that ever came in contact with the 

 palate of man. In America, where they burn 

 wood upon the hearth, they contrive to have a 

 bright fire, with a parcel of live wood coals on the 

 hearth ; they lay something of iron across the 

 two hand-irons which are used in the fire-place ; 

 sweep the ashes up clean, and then they take 

 the ears of corn and set them up along in a row, 

 facing the fire, and leaning gently against the 

 bar which they have put across. When one side 

 is brown, you turn the other side towards the 

 fire ; or, rather, you turn them round gradually 

 until the whole be brown ; and when the whole of 

 the grains be brown, you lay them in a dish, and 

 put them upon the table. These are so many 

 little bags of roasted milk, the sweetest that can 

 be imagined ; or, rather, are of the most delightful 

 taste. You leave a little tail of the ear, two 

 inches long, or thereabouts, to turn it and 



