MAIZE. 



MAIZE. 



consider it and most other mixtures original 

 corns. I have often heard of original yellow 

 gourdseed corn, but after taking much trouble 

 to investigate the fact, could never find any 

 thing more than a mixture. 



So prevalent are mixtures, says Mr. Lorain, 

 that I have never examined a field of corn, 

 (where great care had not been taken to select 

 the seed,) which did not exhibit evident traces 

 of all the corns in general use for field plant- 

 ing, with many others that are not used for 

 this purpose. 



None can be longer or more readily traced 

 than the gourdseed. If the smallest perfectly 

 natural indenture appear in the grain of the 

 hardest corns, those grains, with their descend- 

 ants, may be grown, until a perfectly white 

 gourdseed is obtained, be their colour what it 

 may. 



In the northerly divisions of the United 

 States, they frequently plant the small Cana- 

 dian corns. 



These are solid and very early, but have 

 been generally thought too small to be very 

 productive, and are seldom planted in fields, 

 where the larger corns ripen. 



These corns and others which are still much 

 smaller and earlier, are grown by many for 

 early boiling or roasting while green. 



The Canadian corn plant is considerably 

 smaller than the corns in general use for field 

 planting. It is also productive in ears. There- 

 fore, the intervals, as well as the clusters in 

 the row, might be closer together. If the 

 soil were as well manured for this kind of corn 

 as is done for the larger corns (when the 

 farmer is well informed and able to do it), very 

 valuable crops might be obtained from it : par- 

 ticularly if it were only slightly mixed with 

 the gourdseed corn. 



There are also red, blue, and purple corns, 

 but none of these are used for field planting ; 

 still, having been introduced, they too often ap- 

 pear in our fields, either in their native colours 

 or in variegated or enamelled grains. The 

 leaves of the plant are also sometimes varie- 

 gated from the same cause. It is said that a 

 good purple dye is formed by using" the purple 

 corns for this purpose ; and the stalks and 

 leaves of this plant are purple, or a shade be- 

 tween that colour and green. I have also seen 

 corn with red stalks and leaves, but mixed with 

 more or less green. 



As novelty and other causes have introduced 

 such a great variety into our fields, they will 

 continue to appear in them until farmers gene- 

 rally give more attention to the economy of 

 maize, and see the necessity of growing out 

 inferior kinds, so far as it may be practicable. 

 Although they may be divided almost ad infi- 

 nitum, they cannot be entirely eradicated. 

 They may, however, be readily reduced and 

 kept under, so as not to do any material injury 

 to the crops, provided the cultivator very care- 

 fully and annually selects his seed. It may be 

 from the latent remains of these mixed varie- 

 ties, that nature, from combining causes, some- 

 times produces plants and animals more per- 

 fect than the class from which they sprang. 



This variety, as it regards corn, proceeds 

 from the farina fecundans, a light minute sub- 

 94 



stance of a mouldy colour, seen on the clothes 

 of those working among the plants, when it is 

 disengaged from the tassels. This is wafted 

 far by high winds, and is the cause of distant 

 and unthought-of mixtures. However, in 

 general, it is lightly and plentifully diffused 

 through the field, and lodges in sufficient quan- 

 tities on the silky fibres which project from 

 the ears. A single fibre proceeds from each 

 grain. This has been so constructed as to 

 convey the principle of life contained in the 

 farina fecundans to the grain from which the 

 fibre springs, even to the further end of the 

 cob. This is done with so much certainty that 

 we rarely see abortive grains, when the plants 

 have been rendered healthy and vigorous by a 

 sufficiency of nutriment and good cultivation. 

 The change produced by this mysterious cause 

 is generally gradual. We first see scattering, 

 whitish looking grains on the ears of the yel- 

 low corn growing among the white, and the 

 reverse on the ears of the latter, when grown 

 near to the yellow corns. 



The foregoing facts have induced me to 

 make experiments. The result seems to deter- 

 mine, that if nature be judiciously directed by 

 art, such mixtures as are best suited for the 

 purpose of farmers, in every climate in this 

 country where corn is grown, may be intro- 

 duced. Also, that an annual selection of the 

 seed, with care and time, will render them sub- 

 ject to very little injurious change ; provided 

 the desirable properties of any of the various 

 corns be properly blended together. They do 

 not mix minutely, like wine and water. On 

 the contrary, like mixed breeds of animals, a 

 large portion of the valuable properties of any 

 one of them, or of the whole five original 

 corns commonly used for field planting, may 

 be communicated to one plant; while the infe- 

 rior properties of one, or the whole, may be 

 nearly grown out. 



When this object is obtained, and we become 

 acquainted with the proper arrangement of the 

 plants in our fields, so as to promote the utmost 

 product, the crops of maize will by far exceed 

 any estimate which would at this time be con- 

 sidered probable by those who have not care- 

 fully examined the economy of this plant. 



It should, however, never be forgotten, that a 

 sufficiency of nutriment and good cultivation 

 are quite as necessary to increase and perpetu- 

 ate the size of grain as plentiful and nutritious 

 food, and proper care and management, are to 

 accomplish the same in animals. 



My ears of maize are now at least one-third 

 larger, on an average, than were the ears pro- 

 cured three years ago from Huntingdon for 

 seed. The same may be also said of some 

 white, flinty corn, procured by my neighbour, 

 Mr. H. Philips, from near Erie, for seed. 



The quantity of the gourdseed corn mixed 

 with the flinty yellow corns, may be determined, 

 so as to answer the farmer's purpose. When 

 the proportion of the former greatly predomi- 

 nates, the grains are pale, very long and nar- 

 row, and the outside ends of them are so flat 

 that but little of the indenture is seen. As the 

 portion of gourdseed decreases in the mixture, 

 the grains shorten, become wider, and their 

 outside ends grow thicker. The indentures, 

 3R 745 



