VIII.] AND HUSKING. 



ing the body nor enlightening the mind, they do 

 very well as fodder for neat cattle and sheep ; 

 and, next, we come to the uses of the Cobb : 

 and we must call all these things by the same 

 names, or we shall never understand one another. 

 It is not I who have made the names, I take 

 them as I found them, and just in the same 

 state I hand them over to the people of this 

 country. The Cobb, as at e, in Plate III, is a 

 spongy cylindrical thing round wliich the grains 

 are placed in rows 3 and each grain has its stem 

 coming out of the cylinder. When the husking 

 takes place, the grains are jerked out of the 

 sockets, and the Cobb remains entire. I recol- 

 lect but three uses that Corn-Cobbs are applied 

 to; fi'Tst^ as corks for bottles, of which they 

 make the most convenient things in the world 

 for temporary use. Never did I see any other 

 corks in a farm house in America. The Yankee 

 puts it into his bottle to carry drink to his work 

 in the fields ; the wife puts it into her bottles, of 

 various sorts, which hold the spirits, the cherry- 

 brandy, and other such things calculated to 

 lighten the head and to cheer the heart of man 

 and woman. The Corn-Cobb, as you will per- 

 ceive, tapers from the point to the butt end. It, 

 therefore, will fit almost any bottle, and it is of 

 any length that you please ; for it snaps off at 

 any part, in a perfectly clear and smooth man- 

 H 2 



