288 DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



gourd-seed varieties are planted, which require a longer season than the climate 

 north of central New Jersey affords. 



Use. — As an article of food, Indian corn is used for bread, mush, griddle- 

 cakes, puddings, dumplings, etc. When merely cracked, it is called " samp," 

 and is prepared for the table by boiling and serving like a vegetable, or by 

 boiling it with salt meats. When coarsely ground it is called " hominy," and 

 is cooked and served as oatmeal, and eaten with milk or sauce. 



Large quantities of starch are manufactured from it, both for the table and 

 the laundry. It is also used in large quantities for distilling, and is the chief 

 material for manufacturing the celebrated Bourbon w^hiskey. 



But the most important use made of this grain is as feed for cattle, sheep, 

 horses, and swine ; it excels all other feed for its fattening properties. 



The leaves and upper parts of the stalks are good substitutes for hay, and 

 the cobs are excellent fuel. The quantity of corn raised in the United States 

 exceeds the amount of all the other cereals combined. It yields the largest 

 returns of all the cereals. 



Marts. — The great marts of North America are Chicago, Buffalo, St. Louis, 

 New Orleans, New York, and San Francisco, in the United States, and Toronto 

 in Canada. 



TRITICUM, L. Spikelets from 2- to many-flowered, in a stout spike. 

 Florets distichous ; rachis zigzag ; glumes nearly opposite, not quite 

 equal, sometimes with awns ; inner palege herbaceous, lower one con- 

 cave and sometimes awned or mucronate, upper one with 2 aculeate 

 and ciliate keels. Scales 2, usually entire and ciliate. Stamens 3. 

 Ovary sessile, crowned with 2 plumose stigmas. 



T. vulgare, L. (Wheat.) Stem or culm 2 to 5 feet high, tapering from the 

 root to the base of the head or the ear, divided by nodes into several inter- 

 nodes, or lengths, from 4 to 7 inches long. At each node is a single, clasping, 

 lance-shaped leaf, strongly veined and rough on the upper side. Flowers 

 appear at the top of the culm in a close panicle. 



The grains, or seeds, are OA^al in shape, a quarter of an inch in length, flat, 

 and marked on the side next the rachis by a groove the whole length, outside 

 convex. It is an annual, and when planted in early spring, it flowers and fruits 

 the same season; when thus cultivated it is known as ".summer wheat" or 

 " spring wheat." The best wheat is biennial ; it is planted in early autumn, 

 in time to take root and form root or radical leaves before winter sets in ; it 

 ripens in July of the following year, and is called " winter wheat," because it 

 remains in the ground during the winter. 



As wheat is grown from the seed it sports or produces ncAv forms ; growers 

 have taken advantage of this circumstance to obtain improved varieties, and 

 very many such varieties have from time to time been recommended by wlieat 

 growers, especially in Europe and America. The varieties under which the 

 forms may be classified in America are : — 



Var. hybernum. Winter Wheat. T. hybernum, L. 



Var. aestivum. Summer AVheat. T. aestivum, L. 



Var. nudum. No-bearded Wheat. 



Var. album. White Wheat. 



Var. rubrum. Red Wheat, or Mediterranean Wheat. 



There are many otlier forms, all referable to the above, which are sufficiently 

 constant to be considered varieties. 



