MAIZE OR INDIAN CORN. 



{^Zea mays, L ) 



And still later, when the Autumn 

 Changed the long green leaves to yellow, 

 And the soft and juicy kernels 

 Grew like wampum hard and yellow, 

 Then the ripened ears he gathered, 

 Stripped the withered husks from off them, 

 As he once had stripped the wrestler. 

 Gave the first Feast of Mondamin, . ■ 

 And made known unto the people 

 This new gift of the Great Spirit. 



— Longfellow : Hiawatha, V. 



I 



Maize, or Indian Corn, also known as 

 corn, Turkish wheat or corn of Asia, is 

 a plant belonging to the Grass Family 

 (Gramineas.) It usually attains a height 

 of about seven feet the single un- 

 branched stem being jointed, only slightly 

 tapering, with a central pith and an outer 

 hard, mechanical tissue tO' give the neces- 

 sary mechanical resistance to heavy 

 winds, a structural characteristic com- 

 mon to the stems (or culms) of members 

 of the Grass Family. Each node (joint) 

 has a single long, sword-like leaf, the 

 lower portion of which encloses the stem 

 (intemode) like a sheath. A character- 

 istic of com and other gramineous 

 plants is to form shoots or stolons, that 

 is, secondary stems are sent up from the 

 base of the parent stem. The stolons are 

 more generally wanting, when present 

 they vary in number from one to three 

 or four, that depending upon climatic 

 conditions and cultivation. 



Corn is a typically monoecious plant, 

 that is, the staminate (male) and pistil- 

 late (female) flowers are borne upon dif- 

 ferent parts of the same plant. The 

 large, feathery panicle at the top of the 

 stalk, generally spoken of as the "tassel" 

 or "tossel," represents the staminate in- 

 florescence. The pistillate ir|florescence 

 formed near the m.iddle of the stalk con- 

 sists of a dense spike of flowers of which 

 the styles are greatly elongated, forming 

 what is commonly known as the "corn 

 silk." The female inflorescence is en- 

 closed by numerous broad, leaf-like 

 bracts which is known as the "husk." 

 The fruit, known as the "ear," is collec- 

 tive, several hundred individual fruits 

 usually designated as "kernels," being 

 fastened to the spike, commonlv known 

 as the "cob." 



Corn flowers are not showy, as pollin- 

 ation is effected through the agency of 

 air currents, and in common with other 

 anemophilous (wind-pollinated) plants, 

 large quantities of pollen are formed. 

 On walking through a corn field in Au- 

 gust one will find the ground yellow 

 with the pollen dust. The fruit ripens in 

 the autumn, usually shortly before the 

 frosts set in in the temperate climates. 



As with many other domestic and cul- 

 tivated plants, the wild ancestor of corn 

 is unknown. It is most probably a native 

 of tropical America. Some give Hayti as 

 its native home ; others give South Am- 

 erica (Peru). Small grains of some un- 

 known variety of corn have been found 

 in the ancient tombs of Peru. Some au- 

 thorities, however, are inclined to the 

 view that it came from Asia (Ruel and 

 Fuchs). Santa Rosa de Viterbo states 

 that the Arabs brought maize into Spain 

 about the 13th century. A drawing of 

 corn is found in a Chinese work on nat- 

 ural history (Li-chi-tchin) which dates 

 back to 1562, a little over sixty years af- 

 ter the discovery of America. Corn is 

 not figured on Egyptian monuments, nor 

 was any mention made of it by Oriental 

 travelers in Africa or Asia prior to the 

 1 6th century. Bonafous, however, states 

 that maize had been cultivated from 

 a very ancient period in the Asiatic is- 

 lands under the equator, and that it was 

 received thence into China and so passed 

 westward into India and Turkey, hence 

 the names "Turkey com" and "Corne of 

 Asia," given by (Gerard in 1597. Both 

 Berard and Bonafous think that it came 

 from the east, but on the discovery of 

 America it was introduced into Europe 

 from that country. Humboldt and 

 others, however, do not hesitate to say 



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