376 CEREALS. 



ed the fields, and he made an average of 60 bushels per acre, 

 over his whole farm. But a man must not expect to culti- 

 vate with this, or the cultivator, in the usual slovenly man- 

 ner of some farmers, that is, wait until driven into the field 

 by the growth of weeds. To get the full benefit of them, 

 he must keep ahead of the weeds and grass. So soon as he 

 sees the ground broning with the minute points of vege- 

 tation, then is the time. If he lets them alone until they 

 are one or two inches high, nothing then will do but to 

 "wrap them up" with a turning plow. It must not be said 

 these plows will not do on hillsides. They may be more 

 troublesome to hold there, but so is a bull tongue or a turn- 

 ing plow, but still they are used, and so can the others be 

 made available there. In fact they may be used any where 

 except on very rocky, grubby, or stumpy fields. 



USES. 



It has been said of the palm that it is the universal plant 

 of the tropics, furnishing every thing required for the com- 

 fort of the outer and inner man. While we do not make 

 clothes of maize, I believe we use it for almost every other 

 purpose. In its young and tender age, it makes one of the 

 best forage crops for our horses and cattle, and so soon as 

 the grain gets into the milky state it furnishes our tables 

 with the greatest vegetable luxury of any country. In all 

 its after existence it serves man and animals as food. Good 

 sugar has been made of its tender pith, and the stalks make 

 excellent shingling for out houses, or for houses if so 

 desired. The grain is used in making starch. The plant 

 gives to many all the hay they ever use. There are made 

 from some portion horse collars, foot mats, hats, bonnets, 

 slippers, pipes, potash, stable bedding. And the shucks go 

 into the paper mills and furnish the paper or a portion of it 

 on which the news of the world is sent to the breakfast table; 

 it has lessened the agony of ducks and geese, in taking the 

 place of their feathers in making our beds; in neighbor- 



