176 DESCRIPTION — USES. 



drical, and enclosed in a covering of leaves, in the form 

 of sheaths, called the husts. The ears consist of the 

 fruit or grain, arranged in rows around a pithy cylinder, 

 called the cob. The number of rows varies from eight 

 to thirty-six, but does not usually exceed fourteen or 

 sixteen, while the number of grains in a row is from 

 thirty to forty. These seeds are rounded on the sur- 

 face, and compressed on the sides, and from the germ or 

 eye of each a silky or thread-like style or filament of a 

 bright-green color extends along the inner side of the 

 husks, and hangs down, forming together a thick cluster, 

 called the silks. These receive the pollen or farina as 

 it falls from the staminate flowers of the tassel. The 

 seed could not attain perfection unless it received this 

 pollen by means of its silk, a fact which can be easily 

 proved by cutting off the tassels of all the stalks grow- 

 ing together, before their flowers develop. Indian corn 

 is an annual, and, owing to the mealy quality of its 

 seeds, is one of the most important of all the cultivated 

 plants. 



There is but one species referred by botanists to this 

 genus, zea ; but of this, there are innumerable varieties, 

 due to climate, soil, and culture. These varieties are 

 distinguished by the size and color of the grains, the 

 number of rows on the ear, the length of time required 

 to come to maturity, and other characteristics, which 

 can hardly be said to be fixed and permanent, as they 

 are easily modified by culture. 



Indian corn is extensively used as human food, an<l 

 for feeding and fattening domestic animals, and holds the 

 highest rank among the cereals, whether its nutritive 

 qualities, or the produce and return for the seed sown, 

 or its range of climate, be regarded. 



Cotton is sometimes said to be king; but if, in Amer- 

 ican agriculture, the genius of which is truly republican, 



