444 Indian Com raised at Ha??ipstead, 



able to aration, almost every description of culture may be 

 effected by the plough and harrow alone, and at most with the 

 addition of the roller, horse-hoe, and probably a sowing- 

 machine of some sort. The first agriculturists in the world, 

 those of East Lothian, have nothing more. Wet adhesive 

 lands, whilst wet, can seldom be worked to advantage with 

 any implement ; and, indeed, it must be owing chiefly to some 

 local circumstances, that in these times such lands can at all 

 pay for being kept under the plough. Were trade in corn 

 free, or this country thoroughly intersected with rail-roads, 

 such lands would be kept under grass or wood. Every in- 

 vention and attempt at improvement ought, however, to be 

 recorded for the benefit of future inventors. — Cond. 



Art. XXV. An Account of some Plants of Indian Corn raised at 

 Hampstead, and of some remarkable Circumstances connected there- 

 with. By X. Y. 



Sir, 



The following short account of some Indian corn raised at 

 Hampstead may perhaps be interesting to your readers, par- 

 ticularly as it proves that the seed will produce vigorous plants 

 after it has been kept several years ; a fact which has often been 

 denied or doubted : — 



Sept. 28. 1820, an ear of Indian corn was gathered at 

 Dijon, in Franee ; it -was small, being only 5 in. long, and it 

 contained 300 grains. April 20. 1826, some of these seeds 

 were sown in a garden-pot which was kept in a sitting-room 

 of an equal temperature. At the end of a fortnight, the plants 

 came up, and were occasionally put out of the window when 

 the weather was fine. On the 19th of June, they were trans- 

 planted into a warm border in the garden, sheltered from the 

 north and east winds. The ground was previously well ma- 

 nured with dung. The plants, after their removal, soon began 

 to grow very luxuriantly, and produced several fine ears of 

 corn, much larger than the ear we brought from France. The 

 largest ears were 8 in. long, weighed nearly a pound, and 

 jcontained from 500 to 600 grains. 



In 1827, I planted the seeds in garden-pots, as before; 

 some from the last year's crop, and some from the French 

 seed. They both came up about the same time, but the 

 plants from the new seed were rather the stronger. The ears 

 were as fine, and ripened as well as they had done in 1826. - 



In 1828, I planted some seeds of the produce of the pre- 

 ceding year in the open ground, and found that they throve 



