sturtevant's notes on edible plants 619 



from large to small, wrinkled and smooth, dented, roimded, flat, pointed and tipped wdth 

 a spine. There is no genus of plant more variable imless it be Brassica. 



The history of the appearance of sweet com in gardens shows it to be quite modem. 

 In the New England Farmer, Aug. 3, 1822,' it is said, " a writer in the Plymouth paper 

 asserts that sweet com was not known in New England until a gentleman of that place, 

 who was in Gen. Sullivan's expedition against the Indians in 1779, brought a few ears 

 to Plymouth, which he found among the Indians on the border of the Susquehannah." 

 A writer the following September 2 adds that this sweet com was brought by Lieut. Richard 

 Bagnal from Gen. Sullivan's expedition against the Six Nations in 1779 and was called 

 papoon corn. " That was the first of the species ever seen here and has since that time 

 been more and more diffused; and, I believe within a few years only, has been generally 

 and extensively cultivated for adinary purposes. The species has imdergone some change 

 since it was first introduced then the core was a bright crimson, and after being boiled 

 and the com taken off, if the com was laid in contact with any linen, it commimicated an 

 indelible stain. This inconvenience has disappeared. This species, also, like what is 

 distinguished by the appellation of southern, or flat, com, by repeated plantings here, 

 assimilates it to our local com." 



Sweet com is not referred to by Jefferson in his Notes on Virginia, 1781; nor by 

 McMahon, 1806; nor by Gardiner and Hepburn, 181 8; nor by Thorbum, 181 7; nor by 

 Randolph, 1818; nor by Fessenden, 1828. In 1801, Bordley' mentions the " sweet com, 

 having a white, shrivelled grain when ripe " as yielding richer juice in the stalks than 

 common com. In 1832, " sweet or sugar " com is mentioned among garden vegetables 

 by Bridgeman.* In 1851, Buist ' mentions two varieties. In 1853, Bement * says of the 

 " Early Sweet com, the variety introduced by Cape Bagnoll ' of Plymouth, that one 

 kind has a white cob, the other a red cob." In 1854, Schenck * mentions the Extra Early, 

 the Eight-rowed Sweet, and StoweUs Sugar, which has been brought into notice within a 

 few months. In 1858, Klippart ' mentions in addition the Mammoth Sugar and says 

 the yellow, blue and red sugars are all mere sports from the New England and are not 

 desirable. In 1866, Burr describes 12 varieties. The seed catalog of Thorbum,'" 1828, 

 offers one variety, the Sugar, or Sweet; in 1881, 16 varieties. 



Zephyranthes atamasco Herb. App. Amaryllideae. atamasco lily. 



Southern states of North America. The bulbous roots were eaten by the Creek 

 Indians in times of scarcity." In France, this species is cultivated in the flower gardens. 



^New Eng. Farm. Aug. 3, 1822. 



*New Eng. Farm. Sept. 1822. 



'New Eng. Farm. June 14, 1823. 



* Bridgeman Card. i4M^ 1832. 



Buist, R. Family Kitch. Card. 61. 1851. 



Bement Trans. N. Y. Agr. Soc. 13:336. 1853. 



' Ibid. 



Schenck, P. A. Card. Text Book 183. 1851. 



Klippart Rpt. State Bd. Agr. Ohio 13:518. 1858. 

 "Thorbum Cat. 1828. 

 "Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 776. 1879. 



