414 [Assembly 



at other times deepening to red. Some are of a deep chocolate co- 

 lor, others greenish or olive colored, and even the same ears will 

 sometimes contain grains of different colors. 



Geography and History. 



Indian corn, when due regard is paid to the selection of varieties, 

 may be accounted as a sure crop in almost every portion of the ha- 

 bitable globe, between the forty-third degree of north latitude, and 

 a corresponding parallel south. Its principal culture is confined to 

 the United States, Mexico, the West Indies, and most of the States 

 of South America. It is also cultivated with success in Spain, Por- 

 tugal, Lombardy, and may be grown in southern Europe generally. 

 It is likewise found to thrive in India, China, Japan, Australia, the 

 Sandwich Islands, as well as in the groups of the Azores, the Ma- 

 deiras, Canaries, and numerous other ocean isles. 



Roulin, Humboldt, Bonpland, and others, have noticed this plant 

 in its indigenous state in America, and hence have concluded that it 

 was first derived from this country. Mathioli, Ciega, Zeri, and Inca 

 Garcilasso, have also confirmed this opinion. Fuchs, on the contrary, 

 very early maintained that it came from the East. Michaud, Daru, 

 and Bonafous, state that it was known in Asia Minor, before the 

 discovery of America j and Crawford, in his " History of the Indian 

 Archipelago," tells us that maize was cultivated by the inhabitants of 

 these islands, under the name of djagoimg, long before that period. 

 In the " Natural History of China," composed by Li-Chi Tchin, to- 

 wards the middle of the XVIth century, a rude figure is given of 

 the Zea mays, under the title of la-chou-cha; and Rifaud, in his 

 " Voyage en Egypte, &c., from 1S05 to 1807," observes, that he 

 discovered this grain in a subterranean excavation, in a remarkably 

 good state of preservation. M. Virey, however, in the " Journal de 

 Pharmacie," refutes these statements, by showing that these authors 

 have mistaken the Indian millet (Sorghum vulgare) for maize, and 

 that the grain found by Rifaud, was the Sorghum bicolor, which, 

 according to Delile, is a native of Egypt. Regmir and Gregory at- 

 tempt to present fresh arguments in favor of the Eastern origin of 

 this plant. Among them is the name by which it has long been 

 known in Europe, Ble de Turquie; and varieties of it, they state, 

 have been brought from the Isle of France, or from China. Moreau 

 de J^nnes, on the contrary, has more recently maintained in a memoir 

 read before the Academy of Sciences at Paris, that its origin was in 

 America. The name Ble de Turquie, no more proves it to be of 



