270 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



" The maize is the noblest-looking of the cereal grasses. 

 It is considered to be a native of South America, to have 

 been cultivated in Mexico and Peru from time immemorial ; 

 to have been introduced to Europe about the beginning of 

 the sixteenth century, and to England in 1562. It is at 

 present cultivated in almost every part of the universe 

 where the summer temperature equals or exceeds that com- 

 mon to latitude forty-five degrees, or even to forty-eight 

 degrees. In France, in 1787, the principal country of the 

 maize was to the south of forty- eight degrees thirty-five 

 minutes, but it is now cultivated as far north as latitude 

 forty-nine degrees. It flourishes on the western continent 

 from about the fortieth degree of southern to higher than 

 the forty-fifth degree of northern latitude. It is extensively 

 produced in Africa and in Asia, on all the shores of the 

 Mediterranean, in Spain, Italy and parts of France. Of 

 the cultivated cerealia, it is that which, next to rice, sup- 

 plies food to the greatest number of the human race, and it 

 may be held to be the most valuable gift of the New A¥orld 

 to the Old. In England it has been cultivated for upwards 

 of a century in nursery gardens in the neighborhood of the 

 metropolis, for the common purpose of supplying seedmen 

 in all parts of the island with ears of corn to ornament their 

 shop windows ; it has also been grown in the kitchen gar- 

 dens of some individuals who have lived in America, for the 

 purpose of using the ears in a green state." 



The chemical ingredients of Indian corn are chiefly starch 

 and oil ; it yields an abundance of phosphorus, and is a 

 highly nutritious and healthful article of diet. 



There are many varieties, — the lower types being the 

 small pop-corn and rice corn, and perhaps the highest the 

 " Improved King Philip." The lower types hybridize 

 much more readily than the higher, and it is found by a 

 corapai ison of the chemical ingredients of the different vari- 

 eties that the effect of careful cultivation is to increase the 

 starchy at the expense of the fatty elements. 



The yield of corn varies from ten bushels per acre or less, 

 on the worn-out land of the Gulf States, to 200 bushels, the 

 apparent maximum yield, which in a few instances has 

 been produced under very exceptional circumstances from 



