40 BRITISH GRASSES. 



two ears, at first small and downy, and tipped with long 

 lax silky styles, which form a drooping tassel, but en- 

 larging to the length of a foot, and then presenting a 

 densely-packed head of seed, as many as 800 large 

 grains being sometimes found in one head. The plant 

 is monoecious : in the terminal plume all the flowers are 

 male, and the axillary spikes contain only female flowers. 

 The flour from this Indian corn is extremely nourish- 

 ing, and, though not well adapted for forming light 

 bread alone, it is very successful when mixed with an 

 equal portion of wheat or rye flour. American mush 

 and Italian polenta are made by strewing Indian meal 

 into boiling water with one hand, and stirring vigorously 

 with a spoon held in the other, until the mixture becomes 

 solid enough to turn into a platter; it may then be 

 eaten with butter and salt or with milk and treacle, or 

 it may be left to become cold, and then cut in slices 

 and fried. A great variety of cakes and puddings may 

 be made from the Indian-corn flour : many receipts are 

 given in print outside the packets as sold in the grocers' 

 shops, and in this instance the merits can hardly be 

 overrated. 



Rice [Oryza sativa) begins to prevail in nearly the 

 same latitudes as those which encourage the maize, as 

 Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Nubia, Barbary, 

 and India. But rice flourishes pre-eminently in the 

 eastern parts of the Old Continent, and in China and 

 Japan. In the southern provinces of the United States 

 it prevails almost exclusively, and also in the torrid 

 zone of Asia. In Africa it flourishes about equally with 

 the maize. Asia is the natural home of the Rice family, 

 as America is that of the Maize. 



The history of rice, could it be written, would not be 



