USES OF COEN. 239 



the earth, corn meal is capable of supplying more of 

 the absolute want of the adult human system than 

 any other single substance." 



In addition to the amount of corn consumed in the 

 various forms and modes of preparing it, both in the 

 green and ripe state as above described, there are also 

 other forms, not perhaps so generally considered, in 

 which it is extensively, though unconsciously, con- 

 sumed by every class of the people, not only of this, 

 but of other countries. The beef, butter, and cheese, 

 the pork and lard, the poultry and mutton, which 

 make up so large a share of the products of our agri- 

 culture, are each composed, in a larger or less degree, 

 of this all-pervading cereal. 



When the citizen of a foreign country sits down 

 to a dinner of American beef or pork, the dish before 

 him is the contribution of an American cornfield, 

 representing, perhaps, the golden Sioux of New Eng- 

 land, or the stately Gourd-seed of Illinois. The 

 wealthy resident of the metropolis, whose fastidious 

 palate has not, perhaps, been educated up to the latest 

 improvement in corn bread, dilates with complacency 

 over his favorite spare-rib, or tender-loin, without re- 

 flecting that the perfection of its flavor is derived from 

 Indian corn. 



There are probably few of the consumers of beef, 

 pork, and mutton, who consider the influence exerted 

 by the maize crop on these staples, and fewer still who 

 are fully aware how much higher they would be in 

 price, as well as inferior in quality, if that crop were 



