58 NUTRITIVE PLANTS. 



dozen oxen continually round the pit; and thus they will (read out 

 forty or fifty bushels a day. This is a very ancient method of 

 treading out corn, and is still practised in Africa upon other sorts of 

 grain. [Pantologia. Hasselqvist. Hawkszoorik. 



section vnr. 



Maize, or Indian Corn. 

 Zea. Linn. 



Of this genus there are two species, the Curagua,a native of Chili, 

 and the Mays or proper Maize, a native of America. It is this last 

 which is chiefly cultivated not only in America but in many parts 

 of Europe, especially in Italy and Germany. There are many varie- 

 ties, which differ in the colour of the grain, and are frequently raised 

 in our gardens by way of curiosity, whereby the plant is well known. 

 It is the chief bread corn in some of the southern parts of America, 

 but since the introduction of rice into Carolina it is but little used 

 in the northern colonies. It makes a main part too of the food of 

 the poor people in Italy and Germany, into which it has been trans- 

 planted since the discovery of America. This is the sort of wheat 

 mentioned in the book of Ruth, where it is said that Boaz treated 

 Ruth with parched ears of corn dipped in vinegar. This method 

 of eating the roasted ears of Turkey wheat is still practised in the 

 East ; they gather in the ears when about half ripe, and having 

 scorched them to their minds, eat them with as much satisfaction as 

 we do the best flour bread. 



In several parts of South America they parch the ripe corn, never 

 making it into bread, but grinding it between two stones, mix it with 

 water in a calabash, and so eat it. The Indians make a sort of 

 drink from this grain, which they call bici. This liquor is very fla- 

 tulent and intoxicating, and has nearly the taste of sour small beer: 

 but they do not use it in common, being too indolent to make it often; 

 and therefore it is chiefly kept for the celebration of feasts and wed- 

 dings, at which times they often get completely drunk with it. 

 The manner of making this powerful beverage is to steep a parcel of 

 corn in a vessel of water, till it grows sour, then the old women, 

 being provided with calabashes for the purpose, chew some grains 

 of the corn in their mouths, and spitting it into the calabashes, 

 empty them, spittle and all, into the sour liquor, having previously 

 drawn off the latter into another vessel. The chewed grain soon 



