KITCHEN GARDEN. 183 



distinguished from each other by the colour or the 

 size of the grain, the number of rows on the cob, 

 the length of time they respectively take in ripen- 

 ing, and the degree of hardness acquired by them. 

 Some are white and others black, some yellow and 

 others brown, red, or violet, &c. Some have cobs 

 twelve inches long, studded with twelve rows of 

 large grains, while others have only six rows on a 

 cob three inches long, and covered with grains 

 even smaller than peppercorns. Some are five 

 months in ripening, while others ripen in forty 

 days; and, again, some are hard and even flinty, 

 while others are soft and succulent, and cannot be 

 long preserved but by means of artificial heat. It 

 so happens that, of this great variety, the sorts least 

 valuable in commerce are those most sought after 

 in garden culture, viz., the small, from its ripening 

 soon, and the soft, from its greater tenderness and 

 sweetness. It is, therefore, of these last varieties 

 only that we shall speak. 



Observation has shown that, in raising Indian 

 corn, something is gained, 1st, by taking your seed 

 from plants which have each ripened two or more 

 ears ; 2d, by rejecting the grains growing on either 

 extremity of the ears, and employing only the cen- 

 tral grains ; and, 3d, by steeping these in a solution 

 of nitre for twenty-four hours before sowing. With 

 regard to this operation (sowing), one of two modes 

 may be adopted ; either score your ground (which 

 we take for granted has been well dug and manu- 

 red) at the distance of three feet and a half both 

 ways, and plant at the points of intersection (three 

 grains at each), or score only one way (east and 

 west), at the distance of four feet, and plant in the 

 rows single grains eight or ten inches from each 

 other. Hoe every ten days after the corn shows 

 itself till it begins to set, and at each hoeing draw 

 ;up a little earth round the roots of the plants ; this 

 is what is called hilling, and is a necessary part 



