832 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Pakt III. 



proTo, mat i oouia save itiem all this trouble, tney would converted into a porringer for a boy to eat porridge out of, the 

 ' Go<l bless you. Sir; you are the best firiend (the inventor of coops, well broken up by the pole of the axe, may go to light 



" " ' '. .. - . the fire, and the four hours saved morning and evening may 



be employed in spinning and preparing the stuff to make shirts 

 and shifts, and sheeis, or, which makes less noise, in knitting 

 stockings for the whole family." (Qitar. Jour. Agr, vol. i. 

 p. 507.) 



and provo, that I oould save them all this trouble, thev would 



3U, ' 



cep 

 of womaitUind.' Well, then, this 1 do 



tea and sugar excepted) that ever administered to the comfort 

 of womaitUind.' Well, then, this 1 do for them now ; let their 

 husbands raise some Cobbett's corn, the leathern aprons may be 

 converted into spatterdashes for them, the warm milk or 

 greasy water may be given to young pigs, the bowl may be 



5165. In common with other grain, maize may be fermented, so as to produce beer ; or distilled from, so 

 as to produce spirits ; the straw containing a good deal of saccharine matter that also might be ex. 

 tracted. 



5166. The green ears of maize are applied to various purposes. In the neighbourhood of Paris, before 

 the male blossom has expanded, the female is gathered and pickled, in the manner of cucumbers ; and this 

 is practised to some extent by the French and Germans. When the grain has arrived at its milky state, 

 the ears are then gathered for the purpose of boiling or roasting. In America they are roasted on or be- 

 fore hot embers, and eaten with salt and butter. Boiled, they are not quite so delicate ; but are still very 

 good, especially if boiled with fat pork. The ears are generally fit for these purposes during the month of 

 September, and a large field may afford soft ears for six weeks. 



5167. The mealofmaixe, besides being given to the smaller poultry, is also used for fattening swine, old 

 sheep which have lost part of their teeth, and for feeding old horses which cannot grind the er.rs whole. 

 Of a finer quality it is given to negroes, and eaten by various persons in America, in the form of porridge, 

 puddings, and cakes. In this country, the Rev. Henry Berry of Pensham House, Worcestershire, has 

 found maize meal, purchased from Liverpool, superior to oatmeal in maintaining the condition of his 

 hounds. {Country Times, March 2i'd, 1830.) The meal of maize, made into paste, and fried with fat 

 bacon, is the ordinary food of the peasants of great part of the Brabant. It serves them likewise for fatten- 

 ing their fowl, of which they feed great quantities for the markets of the rest of Brabant and of Holland. 

 {Comm. Board of Agr.) 



5168. Diseases and enemies. The Phalae'^na forHcklis TAn. is said to deposit its eggs in the stems of the 

 plant, and the larvae which these produce eat out its interior, so as to weaken the strength of the spikes. 

 There are also three species of smut, f/r^do Pers., which are parasitic on the maize, and destroy the 

 grain by reducing it to a black powder. One species is peculiar to the flower, attacks it before it arrives at 

 maturity, and finishes by leaving it in a state of black powder. The French writers recommend washing 

 and pickling in the same manner as for wheat. The stalks and leaves, being very sweet, are greedily 

 sought for by field rats, mice, and other enemies. In the granary, the maize, like other grains, is attacked 

 by different species of weevil, this insect produces serious injury in America, but is not very likely to 

 be troublesome in this country. 



SiTBSECT. 2. Canary Corn. Vhalaris canariensis L. ; Tridndria Digynia L., and Gra- 

 minece J. Mpiste de Canaire, Fr. ; Kanariengms, Ger. ; Falari, Ital. ; and Alpiste, 

 Span. {Jig. 735.) 



5169. T/ie Canary grass is an annual, with a culm from a foot to eighteen inches in 

 height, and lively green leaves almost half an inch in width. The seeds are thickly 

 set in a subovate panicle or spike. It is a native of the Canary Islands ; but now 

 naturalised in several parts of England, and on the Continent. It flowers from June to 

 August, and ripens its seeds from September to October. It has 

 long been cultivated in the Isle of Thanet, and a few other places 

 in Kent and Essex : it is there considered an uncertain crop, both 

 on account of the seasons, it being the latest of all the grasses in 

 ripening its seeds, and of the fluctuation of prices. 



5170. T/ie c?/7/Mre of the Canary grass consists in pulverising a 

 loamy soil in good heart, or manuring it if worn out ; though every 

 judicious farmer tries to avoid giving manure to a corn crop unless 

 after a naked fallow. The seeds are sown in rows at about a foot 

 apart, generally by the ribbing process : the season the month of 

 February, and the quantity of seed four or five gallons per acre. 

 The after-culture consists in repeated hoeings and weedings. 



5171. I'he reaping process seldom commences before the end of 

 September. The culm being leafy, and the seed diflScult to separate 

 from the chaff, it requires to lie in handful s for a week or more, and to 

 remain more than that time in the field after being tied up in sheaves. 

 In the Isle of Thanet it is cut with a hook, provincially called a 

 hvibil and a hink ; by which it is laid in lumps, or wads, of about a 

 sheaf each. The seed clings remarkably to the husk ; and, in order 

 to detach it, the crop is left a long time on the ground, to receive 

 moisture sufficient to loosen the enveloping chaff, otherwise it would 

 be hardly possible to thresh out the seed. The wads are turned 

 from time to time, to have the full benefit of the rains and sun. 



5172. The common produce of Canary grass is from thirty to 

 thirty-four bushels per acre ; but under the best management in the 

 Isle of Thanet it is often fifty bushels per acre. 



51 73. The use of the seed is chiefly as food for Canary and other cage and aviary birds, 

 riie chaff is superior to that of every other culmiferous plant for horse-food, and the straw, 

 though short, is also very nutritive. 



SuBSECT. .3. The Millets. Vdnicum and Sorghum L. ; Tridndria Digynia and Poly- 

 gdmia Mojuecia L. and Graminece J. Panis and Sorgho, Fr. ; Pariick and Hirse, 

 Ger. ; Panico and Sageno or Sorgo, Ital. ; and Alcandia, Span. 



5174. Of the millet there are three distinct genera : the Polish millet (Digitkria), culti- 

 vated in Poland ; the common millet (P^anicum), or panic grass, cultivated in Germany, 



