38 INDIAN CORN. 



which it may be translated from one latitude to 

 another. 



Though originally found in or near the tropics, it 

 has gradually extended beyond those limits, and may 

 now be seen growing over the greater part of this con- 

 tinent, from about the fiftieth degree of north latitude 

 to a corresponding parallel south, and extending to 

 limits not far short of these in the Eastern hemisphere ; 

 though in the latter the growth is less vigorous and 

 the maturity less certain. When transferred from one 

 climate to another, if the distance be not so extreme 

 as to render the contrast too violent, it gradually parts 

 with the features and Ijabits peculiar to its recent lo- 

 cality, and readily acquires those that are appropriate 

 to its adopted home. By this beneficent arrangement 

 of Providence its value and usefulness to man are 

 greatly enhanced, not only by rendering the culture 

 more general, but by affording the means of multiply- 

 ing its varieties, improving its quality, and increasing 

 its yield. Indeed, the important destiny for which 

 this grain seems designed by the Creator, is in noth- 

 ing more apparent than in the extensive area which it 

 covers, and the variety of climes in which it thrives. 



Though cultivated quite extensively and with con- 

 siderable success in Southern Europe, as well as in 

 portions of Asia and Africa, yet America seems to be 

 its peculiar home, and the region of its highest per- 

 fection. From Maine to Oregon, from British Amer- 

 ica almost to the extreme verge of Patagonia, this 

 legacy of the red man to the white, in some of its 

 forms or varieties, is annually cultivated. Where 



