18 



i:;c time of flowering, is replete with a rich saccharine juice, — from which", 

 no doubt, a considerable quantity of sugar might be extracted. The en- 

 tire herbage is therefore highly esteemed, as a nutritious food for cattle,— 

 the ears, or spikes of fruit, afford a choice treat to the Epicure, even before 

 they arrive at maturity, — and when fully ripe, yield copious nourishment, 

 in many forms, both for man and beast ; while the very receptacles of the 

 seeds — long considered as mere refuse, — may be either ground with the 

 grain as food for stock, — '■ or reserved as a convenient auxiliary fuel, in 

 lighting up our anthracite, fires. In Pennsylvania, arid generally to the 

 North, the fnina of Indian Corn is not extensively used by itself, in ma- 

 king bread, — probably for want of skill and usage: But whoever has ex- 

 perienced the hospitality of our fellow-citizens on the southern side of Ma- 

 son and Dixon's Line, knows that Corn bread is there admirably prepar- 

 ed, and almost universally preferred to every other kind. The inhabitants 

 of the West Indicr, also, derive a large portion of their subsistence front 

 our crops of Indian Com. It must be added, moreover, that a vast amount 

 of this grain, in conjunction with Rye, is converted by the distilleries into 

 alcoholic poison, — and its wholesome properties transmuted into the 

 pestilent ministers to a depraved appetite. — There are two other grain- 

 bearing grasses yet to be noticed; each of which is so eminently valuable 

 10 the human race, that it is not easy to say which is intitled to the high- 

 est position in the scale of importance. It will of course be understood 

 that I refer to Wheat (Trltlcum sativum, L.), and Rice (Oryza satlva, 

 L.). In point of intrinsic value, I think there is no doubt that Wheat 

 may justly claim the precedence; but as Rice is believed to afford suste- 

 nance to a larger portion of the human family, than any other grain, wc 

 may allow it, on this occasion, to take rank as the first among the Cer- 

 ealim, — and therefore, according^our arrangement of the subject, the last 

 to be treated of. Wheat, however, is clearly the most important of the 

 grains, in the temperate zones, — especially in the higher latitudes. — 

 The Romans gave the name of Frumcntum, to all the grains which fur- 

 nish bread, — and in England, the same grains are designated by the 

 name of Corn; but these nan?es were gradually, and by way of emi- 

 nence, applied more particularly to Wheat — as the great staple of bread 

 stilus. So the term Froment, is employed by the French, i;j a similar 

 sense; and there was formerly a dish, made of Wheat boiled in milk, 

 which the English called Furmenty, or Frumenty; — names evidently de- 

 rived from the Latin word, Frumentum. Our colonial ancestors brought 

 with them the English term, Corn, as applicable to the European 

 grains, — and for the sake of distinction, they gave to the Maize — which 

 ihey found hero — the name of Indian Corn. In process of time, how- 



