THE mODUCTIVENESS OF MAIZE 161 



a cylindrical substance of the nature of pith, which is called the 

 cobb, and over the entire surface of which the seeds are ranged 

 and fixed, in eight or more straight rows. Each of these has 

 generally as many as thirty or more seeds, and each seed weighs 

 at least as much as five or six gi'ains of wheat or barley. Surely 

 a cereal like this deserves beyond all others to symbolise abun- 

 dance, and, had it been known to the Grreeks, it would beyond 

 all doubt have figured conspicuously in the teeming horn of 

 Amalthea. 



While the British farmer is satisfied with an increase of 

 twenty for one, the productiveness of maize, under the circum- 

 stances most favourable to its growth, is such as almost to 

 surpass belief. In the low and sultry districts of Mexico, it is 

 quite a common thing, in situations where artificial irrigation 

 is practised, to gather from 350 to 400 measures of grain for 

 every one measure that has been sown ; and some particularly 

 favoured spots have even been known to yield the incredible in- 

 crease of 800. In other situations, where reliance is placed only 

 on the natural supply of moisture to the soil from the periodical 

 rains, such an abundant supply is not expected ; but even then, 

 and in the least fertile spots, it is rare for the cultivator to 

 realise less than from forty to sixty bushels for each one sown. 



Wlien I add that in some of the warm and humid regions of 

 Mexico three such harvests might annually be raised, though it 

 is not usual to take more than one, an idea may be formed of the 

 amazing capabilities and of the wide prospects of a land which 

 now lies prostrate under the triple scourge of anarchy, ignor- 

 ance, and fanaticism. 



The productiveness of maize diminishes in the more temperate 

 climate of the now no longer United States ; but even in Pennsyl- 

 vania, almost on the northern limits of its zone, it still yields 

 double the increase of wheat ; and such is the quantity annually 

 i grown in the once great republic, that, in spite of its low price, 

 the value of the maize-harvest more than twice surpasses that of 

 all the other cereals.* 



* In the year 1853 the United States produced — 



6,500,000 bushels of barley, valued at 4,815,000 dollars 

 14,000,000 „ rye „ 12,600,000 „ 



110,000,000 „ wheat „ 100,000,000 „ 



600,000,000 „ maize „ 240,000,000 „ 



M 



