ADVANTAGES OP INDIAN CORN. 359 



Broth is also agreeably thickened with the same flour. They 

 also parch it in this manner. An iron pot is nearly filled with 

 sand, and set on the fire till the sand is very hot ; two or three 

 pounds of the grain are then thrown in, and well mixed with 

 the sand by stirring. Each grain bursts and throws out a white 

 substance of twice its bigness. The sand is separated by a 

 wire sieve, and returned into the pot, to be again heated, and 

 the operation is repeated with fresh grain. That which is 

 parched is pounded to a powder in mortars ; this being sifted, 

 will keep long for use. An Indian will travel far, and subsist 

 long, 011 a small bag of it, taking only six or eight ounces of it 

 per day, mixed with water. The flour of maize, mixed with 

 that of wheat, makes excellent bread, sweeter and more agree- 

 able than that of wheat alone. To feed horses, it is good to 

 soak the grain twelve hours ; they mash it easier with their 

 teeth, and it yields them more nourishment. The leaves 

 stripped off the stalks after the grain is ripe, tied up in bun- 

 dles when dry, are excellent forage for horses, cows, &c. The 

 stalks, pressed like the sugar cane, yield a sweet juice, which, 

 being fermented and distilled, makes an excellent spirit ; boiled 

 without fermentation, it affords a pleasant syrup. In Mexico, 

 fields are sown with it thick, that multitudes of small stalks- 

 may arise, which, being cut from time to time like asparagus, 

 are served in desserts, and their sweet juice extracted in the 

 mouth by chewing them. The meal wetted is excellent food 

 for young chickens, and the old grain for grown fowls." 



From a short tract published by Dr. Bartlett, of New 

 York, we gain some important particulars as to the general 

 price at which this valuable corn ought to be sold in England. 

 It appears that maize has been commonly sold at the port of 

 shipment at half a dollar per bushel, and that the expense of 

 grinding into flour, and freight across the Atlantic, would 

 make it three quarters of a dollar. Allowing another quarter 

 of a dollar for retail profit, " it could be sold in the manufac- 

 turing towns of England at one dollar per hushel, or about 

 four shillings and fourpence sterling. Now the bushel weighs 

 at least fifty-eight pounds, which, at four and fourpence, is less 

 than one penny per pound." 



As an article of general domestic use, this maize-flour ap- 

 pears to be as agreeable as it is economical. Besides ordinary 

 puddings, cakes, rolls, and bread, which are made of it, there 

 is a dish called mus/i, a sort of hasty pudding, which is very 

 much used in America, and which shows the great advantage 

 of this article as a cheap food. Describing this dish, Dr. 



