MAIZE 27 



given to it by the first settlers in America, but the Americans 

 themselves call it simply corn. 



It forms a handsome -looking crop ; under favourable 

 circumstances its great strong stalks grow to a height of 

 eighteen feet, ' higher than a man's length ', but in other 

 places they do not attain more than three feet. 



At the end of the stalk is a cluster of slightly drooping 

 stems, and along these the male spikelets are arranged in 

 pairs. Lower down and occupying the space between one of 

 the leaves and the main stem of the plant occurs a spike 

 having the female flowers arranged along its axis. The 

 flowers are very numerous and closely packed, and each has 

 a curious long silky style which extends beyond the leafy 

 bracts in which the spike is sheathed. When the seeds are 

 ripe they are generally of a rich bright golden-yellow, and 

 arranged on their solid thick axis form a ' cob ' varying in 

 length from three inches to a foot. These seeds or grains, 

 when ground with their skins or outer coating left on them, 

 form wha.t is variously called maize meal, hominy, or polenta. 

 It is yellow in colour. The fine white flour, made by grinding 

 the grains when they have been divested of their outer 

 coating, is called corn-flour, and makes excellent cakes and 

 blancmanges, but, as it is deficient in glutin, bread made from 

 it will not hold together. Large quantities of starch are manu- 

 factured from maize, and of all the cereals it is the richest in 

 fatty matters. 



SOURCES OF SUPPLY. It is not a British crop; our sun is not hot 

 enough to ripen it satisfactorily, and though a certain amount 

 of it is grown it is generally cut as a green crop for fodder. 



South Africa at present is the chief maize -exporting country 

 within the empire, and, in addition to the grain she exports, 

 she grows large quantities to supply the natives with food, 

 and large quantities to feed stock, so that ' mealies ', as it 

 is called, is a very characteristic product of South Africa. 



It flourishes in most of the wheat-growing districts and 

 also in the lowlands of the Transvaal and Natal where the sun 



