PLANTS. 79 



The grains, or seeds, of corn, are the most useful 

 part of the plant. They are rich in starchy matter, 

 and, for that reason, are used largely in fattening 

 animals for market. Corn being rich in starch, 

 and that being easily converted into similar organic 

 compounds, is manufactured into many different 

 things. The most common are corn-starch, syrup, 

 and alcohol. One firm has succeeded in producing 

 nearly fifty different and distinct substances from 

 corn, among them being a substitute for India rub- 

 ber, which is almost as good as the genuine article 

 from the India rubber tree. 



It would be almost an endless task to describe 

 all the virtues of this wonderful plant, so the high 

 tribute paid it by the poet Longfellow is given 

 below: 



Day by day did Hiawatha 

 Go to wait and watch beside it ; 

 Kept the dark mold soft above it, 

 Kept it clean from weeds and insects, 

 Drove away, with scoffs and shoutings, 

 Kagahgee, the king of ravens. 



Till at length a small green feather 

 From the earth shot slowly upward, 

 Then another and another, 

 And before the summer ended 

 Stood the maize in all its beauty 

 With its shining robes above it, 

 And its long, soft, yellow tresses ; 

 And in rapture Hiawatha 

 Cried aloud, "It is Mondamin! 

 Yes, the friend of man, Mondamin!" 

 Then he called to old Nokomis, 

 "... . .And lagoo, the great boaster, 



