260 



Fine Ears of Corn. 



Vol. X. 



American origin, is the fact that it was found 

 in a state of cultivation in every place where 

 the first navigators landed: in Mexico, ac- 

 cording to Hernandez; and in Brazil, ac- 

 cording to Zeri ; arid that in the various 

 countries it had proper names, such as Maize, 

 Flaolli, &c. : whilst, in the Old World, its 

 names were either all of American origin, 

 or from the neighbouring region, whence it 

 was derived. Immediately after the disco- 

 very of America, it was spread rapidly in 

 the Old World, and soon became common, a 

 fact not reconcilable with the idea of its 

 former existence there. To these proofs, 

 Aug. de Saint-Hilaire has added another. 

 He has received from M. de Larranhaga, of 

 Monte Video, a new variety of maize, dis- 

 tinguished by the name of Tunicata; because 

 instead of having the grains naked, they are 

 entirely covered by the glumes. This va- 

 riety is from Paraguay, where it is culti- 

 vated by the Gua3'curus Indians, a people in 

 the lowest scale of civilization ; and where, 

 according to the direct testimony of one of 

 them, it grows in the humid forests as a na- 

 tive production. 



The early authors who have written about 

 America, with few if any exceptions, men- 

 tion maize as an indigenous grain. Thus 

 Acoste, in his Natural History of the West 

 Indies, calls it " Indian wheat, to make bread 

 of," and says "that it was the only grain 

 found in the West Indies by the Europeans: 

 that it grows upon a long reed with large 

 grains, and sometimes two ears on a reed, 

 on one of which 700 grains have been told : 

 that they sow it grain by grain, and not 

 scattering, as is done with wheat; and it 

 requires a hot and moist soil. There are 

 two sorts of it," says our author, "one large 

 and substantial, the other small and dry, 

 which they call '■moroche.'' The leaves of 

 it and als^o tlie reed are very good food for 

 cattle, green ; and dry, it serves as well as 

 straw. The grain is better for beasts than 

 barley, but they must drink before they eat 

 it ; for if they drink after it, it swells and 

 gives them pain. The Indians eat it hot, 

 boiled, and call it ^mote\ and sometimes 

 toasted. There is a sort of it large and 

 round, which the Spaniards eat toasted ; 

 they also grind it and make cakes, which 

 they eat hot; and these, in some places, they 

 call ' arepas.'' They also make bread, to 

 keep, and sweet cakes of it." 



As Acoste died in 1600, at Salamanca, in 

 his sixtieth year, this must be regarded as 

 very early testimony upon the subject. He 

 surely would not have been so very particu- 

 lar in his description of this grain had it 

 been previously known in Europe. Indeed 

 entire ears of Indian corn have been found 



enveloped in Peruvian and Mexican mum- 

 mies, preserved long before the discovery of 

 America. 



It is probable that some inferior species of 

 the genus to which maize belongs, have 

 been found in Guinea, Turkey, and other 

 portions of the Old World ; but that the 

 kinds now so highly valued and generally 

 cultivated were of American origin, there 

 can be no doubt, both from the strongest 

 negative and positive evidence. Maize is 

 now extensively cultivated in Asia and Afri- 

 ca. In Europe, it is only in the extreme 

 southern parts, France, Spain, and Italy, 

 that the crop can be raised so as to be prolit- 

 able. 



The authorities cited above, are considered pretty 

 conclusive in tlie matter. In an essay on Indian corn, 

 wliich may be found in the 2nd volume of the Farmers' 

 Cabinet, and which was delivered by Peter A. Browne, 

 before the Chester County Cabinet of Natural Science, 

 the writer says lie "has taken extraordinary pains to 

 ascertain its history," and after he has given the de- 

 tails, he thinks it easy to pronounce, to what portion 

 of the globe the rest of the world is indebted for Indian 

 corn. He cites numerous authorities, the general bear- 

 ing of which, undoubtedly is, that the plant in question 

 is a native of America. Robertson in his History of 

 America, speaks of the natives of the Southern conti- 

 nent confining their industry to rearing a few plants, 

 which in a rich soil and warm climate were easily train- 

 ed to maturity. "The chief of these," sayshe, "israaize, 

 well known in Europe by the name of Turkey or Indian 

 wheat, a grain extremely prolific, and of simple culture." 



Prescott in his Conquest of Mexico— and we consider 

 him a careful investigator— says "the great staple of 

 the country, as indeed of the American continent, was 

 maize, or Indian corn, which grew freely along the 

 vallies, and up the sleep sides of the Cordilleras to the 

 high level of the table land." And Baron Humboldt, 

 insists that it was found by the Europeans in the New 

 World from the south of Chili to Pennsylvania, and, 

 says Prescott, " he might have added to the St. Law- 

 rence," for the Puritan emigrants found it on th,e New 

 England coast, wherever they landed. 



W^e raise annually, in the United States from four to 

 five hundred millions of bushels of this noble grain. It 

 has sometimes been termed the meal, the meadow and 

 the manure of the American farmer, and we can but 

 feel alive to its history, as well as its cultivation. For 

 cattle and hogs, there is no produce of the field that 

 can equal it; and for man it only gives precedence to 

 the nutritiousness of wheat.— Ed. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Fine Ears of Corn. 



Mr. Editok, — I send you half a dozen 

 ears of corn from the field of Mr. Paschal! 

 Morris, that our friends may perceive there 

 is no mistake in the crop, and which may very 

 properly be termed the effect, whatever may 

 be the cause of sounusualayield as 110 bush- 

 els per acre of shelled corn. At the same time, 



