62 WALL'S MANUAL 



any of the ancient authors, and even as late as the year 

 1491 (the year before Columbus discovered America), 

 Joan de Cuba, in his "Ortus Sanatus," makes no 

 mention of it. It has never been found in any ancient 

 tumulus, sarcophagus or pyramid ; nor has it been 

 represented in any ancient painting, sculpture, or 

 work of art) except in America, But in this country, 

 according to La Vega, one of the earliest Peruvian 

 historians, the palace gardens of the Incas were 

 ornamented with maize^ in gold and silver, with all 

 the grains, spikes, stalks, and leaves, in its exact 

 and natural shape 'a proof no less of the wealth of 

 the Incas than of their veneration for the grain, In 

 further proof of the American origin of this plant, it 

 may be stated that it is found growing wild from the 

 Kocky Mountains, in North America, to the humid 

 forests of Paraguay, in South America, It is, more- 

 over, a well authenticated fact that maize was found 

 in a state of cultivation among the Aborigines on the 

 Island of Cuba at the time of its discovery by Colum* 

 bus, as well as other places in America first explored 

 by Europeans. 



Analysis. We find the analysis of the ashes of the 

 grain and stalk of corn to be as follows : 



Cotfn, Stalk 



Grain of. of Corn. 



potash 27.2 per cent, 28.G per cent. 



Soda 5.3 " " 9.G " 



Lime 1.4 ' 8.3 ' 



Magnesia , 15.7 ' 6.6 '' 



Oxide of Iron 3 of 1 per cent. 0.8 of 1 per cent. 



Phosphate of Lime 47.0 per cent. 17.1 per cent. 



Sulphuric Acid 1.6 " " 0.7 of 1 per cent. 



Silica 1.2 " " 27.0 per cent. 



Chlorine 3 of 1 per cent. 



100. 100. 



Fertilizers Proper to its Cultivation. We can now 

 discuss intelligibly the mineral and vegetable manures 



