MAIZE. 165 



Maize is no less important to the rapidly-growing nations of 

 America than the rice-plant to the followers of Buddh or of 

 Brama. The time when the cereals of the old world were 

 first transplanted from their unknown Asiatic homes is, and 

 ever will be, hidden in legendary obscurity ; but the epoch 

 when maize was for the first time seen and tasted by Euro- 

 peans lies before us in the broad da3dight of authentic history. 

 For, when Columbus discovered Cuba, in the year 1492, he 

 found maize cultivated by the Indians, and was equally pleased 

 with the taste of the roasted grains and astonished at their 

 size. In the following year, when he made his triumphant 

 entry into Barcelona, and presented his royal patrons — Ferdi- 

 nand and Isabella — with specimens of the various productions 

 of the New World, the maize-spikes he laid down before their 

 throne, though but little noticed, were in reality of far greater 

 importance than the heaps of gold which were so falsely 

 deemed to be the richest prizes of his grand discovery. In 

 this manner maize was first conveyed from the New World to 

 Spain, whence its cultivation gradually extended over the 

 tropical and temperate zones of the eastern hemisphere. Eound 

 the whole basin of the Mediterranean, maize has found a new 

 home, and its grain now nourishes the Lombard and the 

 Hungarian, as it does the Egyptian fellah or the Syrian peasant. 



While our northern cereals only produce a pleasing effect 

 when covering extensive fields, but are individually too insig- 

 nificant to claim attention, the maize-plant almost reminds the 

 spectator of the lofty Bambusacea3 of the tropical world. Even 

 in our gardens it rises above a man's height, and in warmer 

 countries not seldom attains the gigantic stature of fourteen 

 feet. Ensiform, dark green, lustrous leaves, somewhat resem- 

 bling those of the large oarweeds of the northern seas, spring 

 alternately from every joint of this cereal, streaming like 

 pennants and sharply rustling in the wind. The top produces 

 a bunch of male flowers of various colours, which is called 

 the tassel. Each plant likewise bears three or more spikes or 

 ears, proceeding from the stem, at various distances from the 

 ground, and closely enveloped by several thin leaves, forming 

 a sheath, or husk. They consist of a cylindrical substance 

 of the nature of pith, which is called the cohb, and over the 

 entire surface of which the seeds are ranged and fixed, in eight 



