154 COBBETT'S CORN. 



cessary for a labourer to know about it, so that he 

 may be induced to raise and may be enabled to raise 

 enough of it in his garden to fat a pig of ten score. 



260. There are a great many sorts of this corn. 

 They all come from countries which are hotter than 

 England. This sort, which my eldest son brought 

 into England, is a dwarf kind, and is the only kind 

 that I have known to ripen in this country : and I 

 know that it will ripen in this country in any sum- 

 mer ; for I had a large field of it in 1828 and 1829 ; 

 and last year (my lease at my farm being out at 

 Michaelmas, and this corn not ripening till late in 

 October) I had about two acres in my garden at Ken- 

 sington. Within the memory of man there have not 

 been three summers so cold as the last, one after ano- 

 ther; and no one so cold as the last. Yet my corn 

 ripened perfectly well, and this you will be satisfied 

 of if you be amongst the men to whom this corn is 

 given from me. You will see that it is in the shape 

 of the cone of a spruce fir ; -you will see that the 

 grains are fixed round a stalk which is called the cob. 

 These stalks or ears come out of the side of the plant, 

 which has leaves like a flag, which plant grows to 

 about three feet high, and has two or three and some- 

 times more, of these ears or bunches of grain. Out of 

 the top of the plant comes the tassel, which resem- 

 bles the plumes of feathers upon a hearse ; and this 

 is the flower of the plant. 



261. The grain is, as you will see, about the size 

 of a large pea, and there are from two to three hun- 

 dred of these grains upon the ear, or cob. In my 

 treatise, I have shown that, in America, all the hogs 

 and pigs, all the poultry of every sort, the greater 

 part of the oxen, and a considerable part of the sheep, 

 are fatted upon this corn; that it is the best food for 

 horses ; and that, when ground and dressed in vari- 

 ous ways, it is used in bread, in puddings, in several 

 other ways in families ; and that, in short, it is the 

 real stafi of life, in all the countries where it is in 

 common culture, and where the climate is hot. When 

 used for poultry, the grain is rubbed off the cob. 



