160 ESSAY ON INDIAN CORN. 



that the meliga is a real maize, and he is, therefore, inclined to be- 

 lieve that it was known in Asia and Europe before the discovery of 

 America. 



After this accumulation of evidence in favor of its Eastern origin, 

 it is worthy of remark that some have even asserted that it wo^ 

 known to the ancient Greeks and Romans. But such conjectures 

 as that the black millet brought from India to Italy in the time of 

 Pliny,! xvas the maize, are probably ill founded. Even Mr. St. John, 

 •whose gi-eat familiarity with the domestic affairs of ancient Greece 

 entitles him to the highest respect, says :-2 '' In the region beyond 

 Bactria, a species of corn was found which must unquestionably have 

 been maize, since the grains are said to have been as large as olive 

 stones, and to maize alone can we apply Herodotus' description^ of the 

 wheat found in Babylonia, the straw of which was encircled by leaves 

 four inches in diameter, and its return from two to three hundred fold. 

 Now in wheat I beheve so prodigious an increase is all but impossi- 

 ble ; whereas a still greater return might be obtained from the In- 

 dian corn." And there have not been wanting those who think that 

 Homer distinctly mentions maize,"^ as well as the naturalist, Theo- 

 phrastus, in his history of plants,^ and that allusions are frequently 

 made in the Bible ^ to a grain that could have been no other than 

 maize or Indian corn. Such was the opinion of William Cobbett." It 

 arose, however, from utter ignorance of the ancient mode of plant- 

 ing or sowing wheat, which will be alluded to hereafter. 



It is now proper to enumerate, briefly, the authorities on the other 

 side of this question ; those who believe maize to be indigenous to 

 America, and that the New World should have the credit of having 



1. Pliny Naturalis Historia. Lib. xnii., c. 7. 



2. History of the Maimers and Customs of Ancient Greece. Tom. iii. pp. 406-7. London: 

 1842. 



3. Herodotu.s. Lib. i. §193. p. SO. of Wheeler's Ed. Boston: 1842. 



4. Od. Lib. iv. ; verses 41 and 604. 



5. Theop. Historia Plantanura. Lib. viii., c. 4. It should be noticed that his description is very 

 general. Speaking of eight kinds of wheat which had been imported into Greece from Asa, he 

 says that one of these varieties was heavier than the rest. May not this have been the variety 

 to which Herodotus alludes, and t'le same as that which Mr. St. John says was called camel's 

 tooth? 



6. 2d Kings iv. 42. Job, sxiv. 24. Leviticus, ii. 14 and Xiiii. 14. Deut. xxiii. 24 and 2-5. 

 Gen. 41, 5. Malt. xii. 1. Rath. ii. 14. and Sam. xvii. 28. 



7. See also Hooker Jour, of Botany,. (Claisical Plauu of Sicily,) 1834 p. 213. 



