Book VI. 



MAIZE, OR INDIAN CORN. 



829 



SuBSECT. 1. Maize, or Indian Corn. Zea Mays i. ; Monce^cia Tridndria L., and 

 Graminece J. Le Mais, or Ble de Turquie, Fr. ; der Mays, Germ. ; Gran turco, Ital. ; 

 and Maiz, Span. 



5149. 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 im- 

 memorial, to have been introduced to Europe about the beginning of the 16th century, 

 and to England in 1 562. It is at present cultivated in almost every part of the universe 

 where the summer temperature equals or exceeds that common to latitude 45, and even 

 to 48. In France, in Arthui Young's time (1787), the principal country of the maize 

 was to the south of a line drawn from Bordeaux to Strasbourg, in lat. 48 35' ; but it 

 is at present cultivated as far north as Nancy, which is in latitude 49, a fact which 

 shows that this grain is taking a wider range of temperature. " It flourishes on the 

 western continent from about the 40th degree of southern to higher than the 45th degree 

 of northern latitude. It is extensively produced in Africa and in Asia ; on all the shore* 

 of the Mediteiranean, in Spain, Italy, part of France, and the countries of the Levant, 

 it is the food in most common use. Of the cultivated Cerealia, indeed, it is that which, 

 next to the rice, supplies food to the greatest number of the human race ; and it rnay be 

 held to be the most valuable gift of the new world to the old." (Qvar. Jour. Ag. i. 485.) 

 In England it has been cultivated for upwards of a century, in nursery gardens in the 

 neighbourhood of the metropolis, for the curious purpose of supplying seedsmen in all 

 parts of the island with ears of the corn to ornament their shop windows : it has alsa 

 been grown in the kitchen gardens of some individuals who have lived in America, for 

 the purpose of using the ears in a green state : it has been tried also in the fields, and 

 more especially in 1828 and 1829, in consequence of the public attention being called ta 

 the subject by Mr. Cobbett. 



5150. As a bread corn it cannot be greatly commended ; the ear is highly productive of flour, but that 

 flour is deficient in gluten, and cannot be made into bread without a large admixture of the flour of w heat. 

 For fattening cattle and poultry of every description it is found excellent, and its culture in Europe can 

 only be recommended with a view to this object. 



5151. Varieties. Like other plants which have been long in cultivation in various countries, there are 



numerous varie- 730 



ties of the maize. 



^ According to I^a- 

 gasca, there arelSO 

 varieties known in 

 Spain. Thatgrown 

 in the warmer 

 parts of America 

 is called the 

 large yellow, 'Mais 

 jaune, grand, Fr. 

 [fig. 7!^9.) There , 

 is a large red, 

 which differs from 

 the other only in 

 the colour of the 

 skin of the grain : 

 both have very 

 large and hand- 

 some ears ( fig. 

 730.) There is the 

 large yellow flint, ' 

 the large white 

 flint, the sweet 

 corn, the pearl 

 corn, the maize 

 quarantine, ripen- 

 ing in forty days, 

 and the Egyptian 

 or chicken corn, 

 Mais h. poulet, le 

 plus petit etle plus 

 pr^coce, of Vil- 

 morin's catalogue. 

 There is also what 

 is called Cobbett's 

 corn {fig. 731.), 

 which seems to be 

 nothingmorethan 

 the Mais quaran- 

 taine. The two 



last varieties have small handsome cars (figs.7S2. and 

 733.), and can hardly be distinguished from each 

 other. All these sorts have been tried together in 

 the same field, and the Egyptian or chicken corn 

 found decidedly the most early, and the Maize 

 quarantaine, forty days' corn, or Cobbett's corn, next. 

 These two sorts, therefore, alone deserve culture 

 in this country. The Zea Curagiia, the Valparaiso 

 corn, is a distinct species, to which a sort of 

 religious reputation is attached, on account of the 

 grains, when roasted, splitting regularly into the 

 Ibrm of a cress. 



