COMPOSITION — VARIETIES. 177 



where all the great staples form so important a part in 

 promoting the national prosperity, one can be said to 

 hold preeminence over the rest, the palm must be yielded 

 to the golden corn, rearing its imperial form and tasselled 

 banner high over all its compeers, and founding its 

 claim to royalty, as the prince of cereals, by the universal- 

 ity of its uses, and its intrinsic importance to mankind. 



Its flexibility of organization is truly wonderful ; 

 for while it grows best on moist, rich soils, and with 

 great heats, there are varieties of it which can be raised 

 at the height of more than eight thousand feet above the 

 level of the sea. The warmest regions of the torrid 

 zone ^produce it in abundance, while the short summers 

 of Canada have varieties adapted to thein, and arrive at 

 maturity with almost the same certainty as those under 

 a hotter sun, and a longer season. 



According to some analyses, Indian com furnishes in 

 its composition 88.43 per cent, of fat-forming principles, 

 gum, <fec,; 1.26 per cent, of flesh-forming principles, 9 

 per cent, of water, and 1.31 per cent, of salts. Its 

 chemical composition shows it to be among the most 

 fattening of the cereals, and this is also the result of 

 experience. For our domestic animals, therefore, and 

 as a means of raising and fattening them, Indian corn 

 may justly be regarded as superior even to wheat. 



No part of the plant is necessarily lost, or thrown 

 aside as worthless. Even the cob is ground, and, for 

 some purposes of feeding to stock, it is very valuable; 

 Tvhile, if it were necessary, the plant would supply us 

 with a large amount, and a very good quality, of sugar. 



As already intimated, the varieties of Indian corn are 

 innumerable. Among the favorites for high latitudes 

 in this country, as in Maine, New Hampshire, &c., may 

 be mentioned the Early Canada, the old Eight-rowed 

 Yellow, and with some the King Philip, or Brown corn, 



