THE GRAMINEjE. 



227 



ov spikes are not more than six or seven inches 

 long. The French, among whom this grain is 

 partially cultivated, have given to it the name of 

 Ble de Turquie, doubtless because their seed was 

 originaUy obtained from that country. 



Except in unusually favourable seasons, the 

 two varieties hitherto described will not come to 

 maturity in England, although they are some- 

 times sown as a curiosity in wai-m spots in 

 gardens. 



The third variety has both yellow and white 

 seeds. It is even smaller than tlie last mentioned, 

 seldom rising to a greater height than four feet. 

 The ears do not often exceed four or five inches 

 in length. In ordinary seasons it wiU ripen its 

 grains perfectly in England ; and one reason why 

 it has been presumed that its cultivation would 

 prove advantageous to this country, is the short- 

 ness of time required for its growth, whereby 

 the late fixjsts to which we are sometimes liable 

 in spring, and the early frosts of autumn, would 

 be alike avoided. This particular variety is cul- 

 tivated in some of the middle regions of the Eu- 

 ropean continent, as well as in some parts of 

 North America, from which latter country it is 

 understood to have its origin. It is also par- 

 tially cultivated in Germany, not as a bread- 

 corn, but that it may be malted and used in the 

 preparation of a kind of beer, or made to yield 

 an ardent spirit. The use chiefly made of it, 

 however, is that of fattening swine and poultry. 



In the cultivation of Indian com in northena 

 climates, it is proper to make choice of warm 

 spots, and particularly to avoid shady situations^ 

 In order to admit the sun as much as possible to 

 the plants, and probably also with the view of 

 affording more nutriment to the grain, it is usual 

 to remove the blades, together with the top and 

 tassel, as soon as its ofi&oe of dropping its fecun- 

 dating fawna upon the ears has been fully ac- 

 complished. This process is very easy of per- 

 formance. When the blades and tops are per- 

 fectly dry they are stacked and thatched, and 

 form an excellent substitute for hay and chaff in 

 the spring, both for cattle and horses, as well as 

 for sheep, all these animals being attracted by its 

 sweetness. 



It may generally be known when the com is 

 ripened, by the dry and white appearance put 

 on by the husk ; a more intimate inspection is, 

 however, accomplished without difficulty. The 

 ears must then be plucked off, together with the 

 husks, and conveyed at once in carts to the bam. 

 In America, the stalks are usually left standing 

 for some time longer. Being then cut near to 

 the ground, tied up into bundles, and stacked in 

 a dry place, they will prove useful as food for 

 homed cattle, which, from the saccharine quality 

 of the plants, will thrive upon them. 



The ears are preserved in bins or cages, which 

 are called com-cribs, sometimes with the husk, 



and at other times without it ; and it is not con- 

 sidered good farming to shell the corn before it 

 is required to be sent to market. This operation 

 of shelling is very easily performed. The only 

 implement required for the purpose is a piece of 

 iron in shape like a sword-blade, the edge of 

 which is not sharp, and this iron being fixed 

 across the top of a tub in which the shelled 

 grains are to be collected, the ear is taken in 

 both hands, and scraped lengthwise smartly 

 across the edge of the iron until all the grains are 

 removed. In this manner, it is said, an indus- 

 trious man will shell from twenty to twenty-five 

 bushels of corn in the course of the day. The 

 cobb which remains makes a very tolerable quick- 

 burning fuel, and thus no part of the plant proves 

 altogether without use. 



The grain forms one-half the measure of the 

 ear, that is to say, two bushels of eai'S will yield 

 one bushel of shelled com. So correct is this 

 estimate found to be, that in the markets of the 

 United States, where Indian com is sold both 

 shelled and with the cobb, two bushels of the 

 latter are taken without question by the pur- 

 chaser, as being equal to one bushel of shelled 

 grain. 



Captain Lyon, in the narrative of his travels 

 in Mexico, has given an amusing account of the 

 mode of preparing tortillas, a species of cake 

 made with the crushed grains of maize, which is 

 eaten hot at the meals of aU classes of people, the 

 more wealthy using the cakes in the way we are 

 accustomed to use whpaten bread, — as an auxil- 

 iary to more nourishing aliments — and the pea- 

 sants being fain to enjoy them as a substantive 

 food, seasoning them, when they have the op- 

 portunity, by the addition of chilies stewed into 

 a kind of sauce, wherein the tortOlas are dipped. 

 Simple as the art may appear of thus making 

 an unleavened cake with moistened flour, some 

 persons are found to acquire a greater degree of 

 expertness in it than others ; and so great is the 

 necessity for their preparation, and the desire of 

 having them well concocted, that according to 

 Captain Lyon, "in the houses of respectable 

 people, a woman, called from her office Tortill- 

 era, is kept for the express pm-pose; and it 

 sounds very oddly to the ear of a stranger during 

 meal-times, to hear the rapid patting and clap- 

 ping which goes forward in the cooking-place, 

 until all demands are satisfied." 



Dr Franklin thus details the various uses to 

 which maize may be applied : 



" It is remarked in North America, that the 

 English farmers, when they first anive there, 

 finding a soil and climate proper for the hus- 

 bandry they have been accustomed to, and par- 

 ticularly suitable for raising wheat, despise and 

 neglect the culture of maize or Indian com ; but 

 observing the advantage it affords their neigh- 

 bours, the older inhabitants, they by degrees get 



