MAIZE. 181 



By far the finest crops of Indian corn in America are obtained upon 

 breaks of virgin soil. I do not hesitate to say that the husbandman 

 gains from six hundred to seven hundred times his seed under such 

 circumstances. The mode of proceeding upon these breaks, which 

 I have frequently witnessed, deserves to fix attention for a moment. 



The planter chooses the end of the rainy season for cutting down 

 the trees and the brushwood : every thing remains where it falls 

 until it is sufficiently dry ; fire is then set to the heap, and the burn- 

 ing extends and lasts even for weeks ; all the smaller branches are 

 completely consumed, nothing but the charred trunks of the larger 

 trees remain. As the rainy season is about to return, a man, with 

 a pointed stick in his hand, goes over the burnt surface, making a 

 hole of no great depth at intervals, into which he throws two oi 

 three particles of Indian corn, over which he draws a little earth, or 

 rather ashes, by a slight motion of his foot. This primitive mode 

 of sowing terminated, the planter takes no further heed of the crop ; 

 his habitation is often so remote, that he never visits it until harvest 

 time : the rain and the climate do all the work. It is unnecessary 

 to hoe, the burning having destroyed all the plants that were indi- 

 genous to the soil ; nothing rises but the grain which has been sown. 

 In such fields, stems of Indian corn are frequently seen of the height 

 of from twelve to fourteen feet. It rarely happens that more than 

 three consecutive crops are taken from the burnt soil ; and the last, 

 though still very superior to any thing which we can obtain by our 

 regular husbandry, is not to compare with the first. As there is no 

 want of forest, it is held preferable to make a fresh break. 



Taking the seed as unity, it is found, from documents now pos- 

 sessed, that 1 of seed will yield — in Mexico (an indifferent harvest) 

 150 ; in New California (beyond the tropics) 80 ; Alsace (the plants 

 very far apart) 190 ; Venezuela (an ordinary crop) 238. Besides 

 the grain and the straw, the husks and the cores of Indian corn are 

 all extremely valuable upon the farm as forage, and as affording 

 manure. 



Maize has been analyzed by M. Payen, and found to contain : 

 starch 71.2 ; gluten, albumen, &c., 12.3 ; fat, oil, 9.0 ; dextrine and 

 glucose 0.4 ; woody tissue 5.9 ; and salts 1.2 ; 100.0. I found 

 0.02 of azote in a sample of dry maize, which I analyzed, a quantity 

 which indicates 12.5 of gluten and albumen, a result that coincides 

 exactly with M. Payen's analysis. 



Rice, {Oriza saliva.) Rice is an aquatic plant which can only 

 be grown in low moist lands that are easily inundated. The ground 

 is ploughed or stirred superficially, and divided into squares of from 

 twenty to thirty yards in the sides, separated from each other by 

 dikes of earth, about two feet in height, and sufficiently broad for a 

 man to walk upon. These dikes are for retaining the water when 

 it is required, and to permit of its being drawn off when the inunda- 

 tion is no longer necessary. The ground prepared, the water is let 

 on, and kept at a certain height in the several compartments of the 

 rice-field, and the seedsman goes to work. The rice that is to be 

 used as seed must have been kept in the husk ; it is put into a sack. 



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