No. 5. 



An Essay on Indian Corn. 



75 



halation and rain, without leaving any thing 

 to the soil. 



In good husbandry, cattle are carefully 

 housed, or otherwise confined to a foul yard 

 in which are shelters against cold rains dur- 

 ing the winter, and as far througli the spring 

 as food will last; bv this means, there is a fair 

 expenditure of provender, without waste, less 

 exhaustion of the juices, because o( the dung 

 lying together in large heaps; and the dung 

 being mixed with the straw and other vege- 

 table substances brougiit to the beasts as lit- 

 ter, the whole is trod together and forms a 

 large quantity of very valuable manure. 



Litter is as essential to cattle, when let into 

 yards, as when placed in stalls under cover, 

 without which, yard manure is of small ac- 

 count; and unless it be in full proportion to 

 the number of cattle in the yard, it is not 

 thought highly of, but is a half done thing. 

 Good farmers in England deem full littering 

 of cattle, when in yards, of such importance, 

 that after reaping with sickles, and inning 

 their wheat, they cut the stubble and stack 

 it for litter. Besides straw and stubble for 

 litter, they apply to the same use fern, and 

 such other vegetable substances as they can 

 procure; and they buy straw from common 

 farmers who are not in the practice of litter- 

 ing. In all countries, common farmers are 

 indifferent to improvements; they work not 

 beyond old habits; and it is prudent that they 

 venture not on extensive new projects, with- 

 out first making experiments. A full litter- 

 ing is three loads of 12 or 1300 pounds of 

 straw to each grown beast. Corn stalks may 

 be carried from the field in grent quantities, 

 in a skeleton frame cart, if not cut up and fed 

 when fresh. 



Many farmers feed in their yards in racks, 

 and suppose that they gain every possible ad- 

 vantage from the practice, by the saving of 

 the dung dropped, trampled, and watered by 

 the cattle ; and though this practice is cer- 

 tainly preferable to wasteful pasturing, or to 

 feeding in the fields, yet it ought to be recol 

 lected that the manure will be much inferior 

 to that made and preserved under cover. 



Where cattle are yard fed, or stall fed in 

 yards under sheds, it is of great consequence 

 to defend beasts against the cold and damp 

 north-east winds and the cold blasts from the 

 north-west. Mr. E. Duffield, therefore, ad 

 vised a friend who wished to have a complete 

 form-yard, to erect a range of buildings in a 

 south-east direction, to have double stalls be- 

 low, leaving the south-west and south-east 

 sides open to admit the sun in the winter, and 

 give free entrance to the prevalent winds of 

 summer. — Practical Farmer. 



Assume a virtue if you have it not. 



All Esi^ay on Indian Corn, 



Delivered by Peter A. Broivne, Esq., L. L. 



D., before the Cabinet of Natural Science 



of Chester couvly. Pa, 



Zea Mays. " Maize" or " Maiis." " In- 

 dian Corn" or "Indian Wheat." " Ble ou 

 Bled de Turquie ou d' Inde" (Fiench.) 

 " West India Corn" (ypanish.) " Lenehas- 

 queui" (Lenni Lennape.) " Melomin" (Chip- 

 eway.)* 



The word " Zea" is borrowed from the 

 ancien tGreek word " Zao," ''to live," the 

 seeds contributing eminently to the support 

 of life, fit is rendered in Latin " triticum," 

 (wheat,) and "hordium," (barley,) from which 

 it is inferred, that in its original it meant 

 ''grain" only. In like manner in English 

 the word "corn," which is derived from the 



* I. Z. Mays, I. Leaves Lanceolate, keeled, nilire. 

 VVillrt. Sp. 4. p. 200. 



Vu'gn— Cor?*. Indian Corn. Maize. 



Koot amiual. Culm G to 8 or W feetjtigh, and an inch 

 to iin inch and a half in diameter, simple, (often producing- 

 suckers, or branches, at. base) nuilusi , sennti rete. or with 

 a broad channel on one side, smooth, so/id irilh pith. 

 Leavis lanci olatn, acuinhiaie, nerved, keelid, 2 tn H feet 

 long, and 2 tn 4 iir 5 indies widf, suidotli Ijetiealh, 

 pubcsct-nt on the upper surface, ciliale on the margin : 

 sheiit/is ^■t^iate, smooth, conspicuously (uliesceiit along^ 

 the niarsrin ; ligule short, ohtuse. slightly pnlie-cent 

 and ciliate. Staminate Floirers in terminal panici:late 

 ractnips spinktets somewhat unilateral on the branch- 

 es, mostly in pairs, one subsessile and tin- other 

 pedicellate, each two. flowered (dumes herbaceous, 

 nerved pubescent, the lower a little longer Palex 2 

 to each floret, nearl-. equal, memlTana(eous, ovate- 

 oblong, obtuse, subdentate and ciliate at apex. Anthers 

 greenish yellow. Scales collaleiai. cuiieate, truncate, 

 fli'Shy and smooth. Pislillilc Fl^uers in solitmy 

 axillary, sessile ppiUe, (I to :i or 4 — usually about 2 

 of these spjkes or Ears — on each plant ) Spil,ese.n\e\- 

 oped ill spat lie-like con volute sheaths, — the outer or low- 

 est ol these sheaths (being the one ne.xt the culm) thin 

 and meuibianeous, with two keels. Spikeleis -flow- 

 ered, arranged in longitudinal series on a cylindrical 

 spadi.v, or rtceptacle, Ij to 12 inches long, — the series 

 or rows, always in pairs: fiorets sessile, the lower 

 one abortive. Otiimis2; the lower one rather .-hort- 

 er, very broad, deeply imarginate. or somewhat two. 

 lobed, ciliate, the upper one suhorbicular jl'.ortice 

 floret with 2 palcffi ; the lower one oibicular, embracing 

 ihe fertile floret, the upper one shorter, with the margin 

 iiiflexed. Fertile floret with two or three palce : the 

 lower one suhorbicular the upper one very broad (or 

 somes 2.) Ovary smooth, ohovoid. obtuse or rounded, 

 compressed at base. Style very long, filiform, projectr 

 ing beyond the sheaths, pendnli s, often purple : Stigma 

 pubescent, bifid. Seed compressed, orbicular reniforin, 

 or cuneate, often indented at apt .\, sit'iiig transversely 

 on the cvlindric or conic receptacle, and partially 

 imbedded in sockets formed by the persistent glumes 

 and palcEB. 



Hab. Cultivated fields : common. Fl. July — .August, 

 Ft. Sept. — October. 



Ohs. There are several Varieties of this plant.— 

 with the seeds yellow, ichite, or somtimes dark purple] 

 and one which is smaller, and comes sooner to maturity, 

 I hr.ve also seen a singular variety, in which every seed 

 on the receptacle appeared to have its own husk, or 

 spathe-like covering, in addition to the general enve- 

 lope. The Indian Corn is one of ihe most interesting 

 of the OraminecE. — rivalling the Sugar Ciine, and the 

 Rice, in intrinsic value, — and, in this region at least, 

 ranking ne.vi in importance to H'heut itself It is uni- 

 versally cultivated here, being senerally the first in the 

 loutine ol the crops, breaking up thi' Lay, or sod. The 

 seed is planted early in May. No other species of the 

 genus is know n in the United States.^[DARLiNGTON J 



t Darlington. 



