206 



Indian Corn. 



Vol. VII. 



wheat straw, barley, rye, buckwheat, and 

 other black grains; stalks of Indian corn, 

 rice, and other plants; dried or green potatoe 

 tops, leaves, stalks, and roots of all kinds of 

 plants; green or dried reeds, green rushes, 

 sea weeds, heather broom, stubble, in fact 

 every thing belonging to the vegetable king- 

 dom, and a great many other things lying 

 about farms which are often allowed to go to 

 waste. Even the ground itself may be con- 

 verted into the best manure or compost. 



2. In the combination or alliance of fecun- 

 dating substances, the use of which, when 

 separated, would not and could not produce 

 the desired effect. 



3. In the production of a very considerable 

 quantity of factitious water, which, when 

 combined with other ingredients, forming 

 lees, furnishes the farmer with a fertilizing 

 liquid, the commixture of which, in either ve- 

 getable or mineral substances, gives a ma- 

 nure of the richest kind. 



4. In the production of a quantity of ni- 

 trate of lime and caustic potash; of ammonia 

 and saltpetre — four substances which modern 

 chemistry has found to contain the most fe- 

 cundating properties possible. — From the Al- 

 bany Cultivator. 



four persons; and if we add milk, sugar, or 

 butter, the breakfast will cost one half pen- 

 ny each meal for families and children. It 

 is a little singular, how little is known in 

 England of this most valuable grain, which 

 is so extensively raised and used throughout 

 this country. There, wheat bread is a lux- 

 ury. The common people subsist principally 

 on oat meal and potatoes. To show how 

 little is known of Indian corn, the import for 

 consumption into the kingdom from July, 

 1828, to December, 1841, 13J years, was 

 1,188,232 bushels, while of wheat there was 

 one hundred times that quantity, and of oats, 

 about twenty-five times during that period. 

 If the merits of Indian corn could be once 

 known, and could be but partaken of by the 

 common people of England for a short time, 

 we have no doubt it would command a con- 

 sumption that would be most beneficial to 

 this country. 



In the United States the quantity of maize 

 consumed is immense, and in the proportion 

 of about four and a half bushels to one of 

 wheat. 



The following are the returns of Indian 

 corn produced in each State in 1839, by the 

 United States Census. 



Indian Corn. 



Some of the advocates of the Corn Laws 

 in England and in this country, are turning 

 their attention to the introduction of Corn, 

 or as it is called in that country, Maize, as 

 an article of food for the laboring classes. A 

 letter was recently published at the Albion 

 office, believed to be from the pen of Dr. 

 Bartlett, addressed to Lord Ashburton, on 

 the importance of the corn and flour trade 

 with Great Britain, via the St. Lawrence, 

 and particularly on the advantages of intro- 

 ducing Indian corn. The writer is of the 

 opinion, that this description of grain ought 

 to be admitted into Britain, via the St. Law- 

 rence, free ; that it could be shipped at an 

 average of fifty cents, and be laid down there 

 so as to stand in less than SI a bushel, one 

 penny sterling per pound. So far as the ex- 

 port of the article is concerned, if it could 

 be direct from the states, it would be of im- 

 mense importance and advantage to both 

 countries; and indeed, by the way of the 

 St. Lawrence it might be sent very cheap. 

 The Ohio corn, which is most abundant, 

 might be shipped through this channel, to 

 cost in Kngland a much lower sum than 

 the writer of the letter has named. That 

 it would be the cheapest and most nutri- 

 tious foo 1, there can be no question ; for it 

 is ascertained, that one pound of Indian meal, 

 properly cooked, will furnish a breakfast lor 



By this table it will be seen, that more 

 than two-thirds of the crop of Indian corn is 

 raised in the slave holding States — and of 

 this quantity but a very small portion is ex- 

 ported. It is the great staple for the food of 

 all classes, but particularly for the blacks, 

 and also for animals. Indeed, in many of the 

 southern States, scarcely any other descrip- 

 tion of cram is grown. Planters there (-ay, 

 that Indian corn at twenty-five cents, is bet- 

 ter than cotton at eight cents. 



The above table is a curiosity; it will be 

 seen that New York is behind fourteen 

 States in the culture of corn — very consid- 

 erably behind Mississippi. The New Eng- 

 land Statrs stand very low in the scale — 

 Massachusetts is even behind the little State 

 of Delaware. Tennessee is the banner State. 

 The production of that State exceeds that 

 of sixteen other States besides. The ap-jjre- 



