I KSSAY ON INDIA^C CORN. 167 



■ tiful grain receives a large share of attention. In the Western con- 

 tinent it is raised from Canada to Patagonia, and the islands of the 

 South Sea, through almost every variety of climate and people, and 



' over an extent from North to South of more than seven thousand 



• miles. It was introduced into Africa by the Portuguese in the six- 

 teenth century, r.nd is cultivated more or less from the Mediterra. 

 nean Sea and the Libyan Desert to the Cape of Good Hope. In 



\ Java and the Asiatic isles it forms an important product. In Cen- 



■ tral Asia it is known and valued, as well as in Australia and the 

 : islands of the Indian Ocean. In Europe it is extensively produced, 



• in Hungary, in Lorabardy, in France and Spain, and we might al- 

 ' most say from the Ural chain to the Atlantic. No grain could se- 

 - cure such favor from all parts of the world, except from its intrinsic 



'■ value. No other grain, in fact, except rice, is so extensively culti- 

 vated. 



Its flexibility of organization makes ic very easy of adaptation to 



climate and soil. Though it prefers moist and rich soils 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 



j high latitude. It is proper here to notice briefly the more important 



|i 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 



Oviedoi as being cultivated on the shores of the South Sea, which 



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



alone, no less than one hundred and thirty different varieties. 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 



r Cobbett's has the preference with others. These varieties have 







j 1 Lib. vii., «. i., p. 103. 



