410 Select Plants for Industrial Culture 



Zea Mays, Linn<$.* 



The Maize or Indian Corn. Indigenous to the warmer parts of 

 South- America. St. Hilaire mentions as its native country Paraguay. 

 A. de Candolle believes it to have come originally from New Granada. 

 Found as cultivated in Central America already by Columbus. This 

 conspicuous, though annual, cereal grass interests us on this occasion 

 as being applicable to far more uses than those, for which it has been 

 employed in most parts of the globe. In North- America, for instance, 

 maize is converted into a variety of dishes for the daily table, being 

 thus boiled in an immature state, as "green corn." Mixed with 

 other flour it furnishes good bread. For some kinds of cakes it is 

 solely used, also for maizena, macaroni and polenta. Several varieties 

 exist, the Inca-Maize of Peru being remarkable for its gigantic size 

 and large grains; the variety named is very hardy, having matured 

 seeds in Norway as far north as 63 15' according to Professor Schue- 

 beler. Some varieties in wet tropical countries ripen grain within six 

 weeks from the time of sowing. Maize is not readily subject to the 

 ordinary corn-diseases, but to prosper it requires fair access to potash 

 and lime. Good writing and printing papers can be prepared from 

 maize-straw. Meyen calculated, that the return from maize under 

 most favorable circumstances in tropical countries would be eight 

 hundred fold, and under almost any circumstances it is the largest 

 yielder among cereals in warm countries. Acosta counted on some 

 cobs of the Inca-Maize as many as 700 grains, and says that it is not 

 uncommon to harvest of this variety 300 fold the seeds sown; it 

 grows to a height of 15 feet in rich soil and under careful cultivation, 

 by which means the grains will become 4 or 5 times as large as the 

 ordinary kind. In Peru it can be grown up to an altitude of 8,000 

 feet. Mr. Buchanan, of Lindenau, obtained 150 bushels of ordinary 

 maize from an acre in Gippsland-flats, colony Victoria. Even in the 

 very dry clime of the Murray-River districts maize, but under irri- 

 gation, has yielded 80 bushels per acre (D. Cormack). According to 

 the Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture in Washington, the 

 maize culture extended over 68,804,685 acres in the United States in 

 1882, that being over one- third of all the land under tillage in the 

 Union. From the stalks of ordinary maize, after the ripened grains 

 have been plucked, sugar at the rate of 900 Ibs. per acre is still obtain- 

 able (Department of Agriculture, Washington). Maize has also 

 come into extensive use for alcoholic distillation. In 1879 already 

 the United States produced 1,547,900,000 bushels of maize on 53 

 millions of acres, to the value of 580 million dollars, or about 

 140,000,000. In 1882 the maize-produce there was 1,617,000,000 

 bushels, realizing monetarily 783,867,000 dollars, equal to 

 188,128,000. Maize-grain will retain its power of germination for 

 two years with certainty. As a fattening saccharine green- fodder, 

 maize is justly and universally in warm countries appreciated. In 

 Middle Europe the Horse-tooth variety is frequently grown for this 

 purpose and attains occasionally a height of fully 12 feet, although 

 the seeds do not come to perfection there. Any ergot from it is used, 



