and comparative Estimate of its Merits. 67 



son at Chelsea, for M. Lagasca, who brought the seeds from 

 Spain. Out of 130 varieties, about forty vegetated, twenty or 

 thirty of which have perfected seeds sufficient for their in- 

 crease, but by no means in so great a quantity as to enable 

 me to form an estimate of their value. It is true they were 

 planted so late as June, but they have had all the advantages 

 of a favourable position on a warm border under a wall, with 

 every attention. Mr. Anderson considers them inapplicable 

 to our purposes in ordinary seasons, and supported by such 

 an authority, I have but little hesitation in considering it mat- 

 ter of very doubtful issue, which time and a better acquaint- 

 ance with the plant, or an improved method of culture may 

 alone be able to remove. If you consider these observations 

 as at all conducive to the generally useful purposes of your 

 Magazine, I thall be very happy in having been able to con- 

 tribute them. G. C. 



Great Mussel Street, Covent Garden, 

 October 31. 1829. 



A gentleman from Sydney, now in London, who has cultivated the Indian 

 corn there for two years, informs us that the stems grew with him 1 1 and 12 ft. 

 high, with only one ear at top : two ears on the same stem are quite a rarity 

 at Sydney. The utmost produce that he obtained was 50 bushels an acre. It 

 appears highly probable, therefore, that some of the dwarf varieties of maize 

 would prove much more prolific in New South Wales than the tall varieties 

 at present grown there. The hint may be worth the attention of those 

 going to the Swan River. Probably the varieties would soon degenerate, 

 but the seed could be renewed from Europe or North America. The grains 

 of maize will retain their vegetative powers for at least six years, so that a 

 stock of seed might be kept on hand. We ascertained the fact of this 

 degree of durability of the vegetative powers of the seed of the maize from 

 a lady who resides at Hampstead, whose very interesting communication 

 on the subject will appear in next Number. 



After observing all the different accounts of the crops of maize which have 

 appeared in the newspapers, particularly in the Farmer's Journal, the 

 Country Times, and in Cobbett's Register, in the course of this very unfa- 

 vourable season (1829), the conclusion we have come to is, that maize 

 may be worth cultivating to a limited extent, for feeding poultry, on dry, 

 warm, sandy soils, and in cottage-gardens, south of York. We do not like 

 the bread or the pudding made from it, either alone or with wheat flour, and 

 should be sorry to see it in general use as food for man. We do not think 

 maize meal at all comparable with oatmeal ; though that may be prejudice. 

 But we know, from what we have seen in France and Germany, that the 

 grain, entire or broken, is a rapid fattener of geese and other poultry ; that 

 the tops of the stalks and the leaves are greedily eaten by cattle ; that, in 

 Italy, the chaff is an excellent substitute for feathers in beds ; that, the plant 

 being cultivated in rows, and requiring frequent movement of the soil and 

 to be kept very clear from weeds, it is a cleaning crop ; and that, the grain 

 having no gluten, it might probably alternate well with wheat. On dry, 

 warm, sandy soils, such as at Sandy, in Bedfordshire, where Mr. Moore 

 raised at the rate of 105 bushels per acre (Farm. Jour., Nov. 9. 1829), we 

 believe it will be found a profitable crop. — Cond. 



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