CHAP I.] CLIMATE, SEASONS, &C. 19 



1817. 



June 3. under the name of corn, they con 

 found under the name of grain. 

 The Indian Corn, in its ripe seed 

 state, consists of an ear, which is in 

 the shape of a spruce-fir apple. The 

 grains, each of which is about the 

 bulk of the largest marrow-fat pea, 

 are placed all round the stalk, which 

 goes up the middle, and this little 

 stalk, to which the seeds adhere, is 

 called the Corn Cob. Some of these 

 ears (of which from I to 4 grow 

 upon a plant) are more than afoot 

 long ; and 1 have seen many, each 

 of which weighed more than eighteen 

 ounces, avoirdupois weight. They 

 are long or short, heavy or light, ac 

 cording to the land and the culture. 

 I was at a Tavern, in the village of 

 North Hempstead, last fall (of 181 7) 

 when I had just read, in the Courier, 

 English news-paper, of a Noble Lord 

 who had been sent on his travels to 

 France at ten years pf age, and who, 

 from his high-blooded ignorance of 

 vulgar things, I suppose, had swal 

 lowed a whole ear of corn, which, 

 as the newspaper told us, had well 

 nigh choaked the Noble Lord. The 

 c 2 



