No. 151.] 419 



per." There is to be seen in this work a very minute and interest- 

 ing account of the various manipulations which must be attended to 

 by the maize grower before his grain is ready for sale, as well as 

 very particular directions for turning the produce to the best and most 

 profitable account in domestic economy. 



The most important feature, perhaps, in the history of maize, is 

 its late introduction from the United States into Great Britain and 

 Ireland, as a cheap and nutritious article of human food. For this 

 patriotic and philanthropic act these two nations are highly indebted 

 to the simultaneous exertions of our friend and countryman, Henry 

 Coleman, Esq., who has been engaged for several years in making 

 an agricultural tour in Europe, and Dr. John S. Bartlett, late of the 

 British Army, the latter of whom addressed a letter on the subject, 

 in May, 1842, to Lord Ashburton, in which he arrives at the fol- 

 lowing deductions: 



1st. That the laboring classes and the poor of Great Britain re- 

 quire a cheaper article of food than wheaten bread. 



2d. That although wheat contains a larger portion of gluten or 

 the nutritive ingredient, bulk is necessary, not only to satisfy the 

 craving of hunger, but to promote digestion by the "stimulus of dis- 

 tension," which bulk alone can give. 



3d. That the craving of hunger being removed or alleviated by the 

 quantity taken, the mind is more at ease; the mental irritability con- 

 sequent upon hunger is assuaged, and man goes to his labor with 

 cheerfulness and vivacity, becoming a more peaceful citizen and per- 

 haps a better man. 



4th. That maize possesses a great superiority over rye, barley, oat- 

 meal, or potatoes — not that it contains a greater quantity of gluten, 

 but that its constituent parts are better proportioned, and consequent- 

 ]y make a better article of food. 



5th. That, admitted into England duty free, it would be a cheaper 

 article of food than any of those above named, besides being vastly 

 superior to them in nutritive and healthful properties. 



6th. That it can be obtained in any quantities from all parts of 

 the United States, and particularly from the middle and southern 

 states, on the Atlantic sea-board, as New- York, New Jersey, Penn- 

 sylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, whose proximity 



