114 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



with strong heats, there are species of it which can be raised 

 in tropical climates, at a height of more than nine thousand feet 

 above the level of the sea. The warmest regions of the torrid 

 zone produce maize in abundance, where three crops can be taken 

 in a season, while the short summers of Canada have a species 

 adapted to them. This cannot be said of rice, which requires 

 great heats, and cannot endure a climate of high latitude. It 

 is proper here to notice briefly, the more important varieties of 

 Indian corn. There is one common in Hungary, which M. 

 Parmentier endeavored to introduce into France. It ripens in 

 two months. A still more remarkable species is mentioned by 

 Oviedo* as being cultivated on the shores of the South Sea, 

 which ripens in less than forty days. There are to be found in 

 Spain alone, no less than one hundred and thirty different varie- 

 ties. The species most common and valued here, are the large 

 yellow, the red, which differs from it only in color, the sweet 

 corn, and what is perhaps the most important, the Canada corn, 

 known best in Maine and Canada, from its early ripening. Its 

 yield is thought to be equal to the larger varieties. Seventy-five 

 bushels of it, to the acre, have been raised at Nahant ; as exposed 

 a place, doubtless, as any in the county. The Egyptian corn has 

 been preferred by some, while Cobbett's has the preference with 

 others. These varieties have been tried together, in the same 

 field, and the Egyptian found to be the earliest, and the (Quaran- 

 tine, or Cobbett's, next. There is also, a species called Valpa- 

 raiso, — sometimes also, called Oregon corn, which, when 

 roasted, splits in the form of a cross. A species called Tuni- 

 cata, is found in Paraguay and in some parts of Oregon. Each 

 kernel is covered with a glume, or husk. Owing to the diffi- 

 culty of separating the grain from the glumes, it is of little 

 value. The zea caragua, is a corn found in Chili, said to be 

 hardy and long-lived. The Chinese have a remarkable variety 

 called tree-corn, the ears of which hang at the ends of the 

 branches. Nuttall describes a variety called the Early Mandan 

 corn, cultivated by the Aborigines about the Missouri. It 

 ripens in a climate where no other variety could exist. Other 



* Lib. vii., c. i., p. 103. 



