62 



Culture and Produce of a Patch of Maize. 



This is a great produce, and I hope every gardener will 



plant a small piece, if only to send the ear to his master's 



table in its milky state. Any man who 



can grow kidneybeans can grow corn, 



and any ground that will grow the beans 



will grow the corn. My ground is 



light, about one foot deep, on gravel, 



much exposed, and liable to early frosts 



in autumn, my georginas having been 



killed three weeks ago. 



The middle of April, if the weather 

 be dry, will be the best time to plant ; 

 and I think 1 in. or 1 ft. apart, accord- 

 ing to the goodness of the ground, will 

 be better than 6 in. Those plants 

 which had one sucker left, bore more 

 ears than those that had no suckers. 

 I had one plant with eleven ears, seve- 

 ral with nine and ten, and a great many 

 with seven and eight ears each. 



I have endeavoured to give all the 

 information I think will be required 

 for growing this crop with success ; but 

 those who wish to know more of the corn and its uses, 

 should read Mr. Cobbett's book, that gentleman being better 

 acquainted with it than I profess to be. 



I am, Sir, &c. 



James Greig. 

 Conduit Nursery, Bayswater, Oct. 28. 1829. 



plants {Jig. 13. and fig. 14.), and the two ears and grains (fig. 15. and7%. 

 16.) belonging to them, our readers will have at least a very palpable idea 

 of the important difference between the two varieties ; and a little reflec- 

 tion will convince the young gardener or farmer how much of his success 

 in all the departments of culture, in the field or in the garden, will depend 

 on the judicious selection of varieties. Botanical gardeners, we sometimes 

 think, are too apt to overlook the important differences, with reference to 

 culture and product, that exist between such slender botanical distinctions, 

 in consequence of knowing their 'insignificance with reference to botanical 

 nomenclature ; but no gardener or farmer could raise a crop of ripe ears 

 from plants having the habit of fig. 14., while plants with the habit of fig. 13. 

 have ripened tolerable crops, even in a very unfavourable season. The dif- 

 ference between these two varieties, in a botanical point of view, is of the 

 slightest description. See on this important subject Bishop's Causal Botany. 

 In the different figures (13 to 17.), the single grains (c) are all of the natural 

 size. The sections (d) show the manner in which the grains are arranged 

 on the ear. — Cond. 



