FIELD NOTES IN SEED TIME. 21 7 



to the brim with yellow nuggets ready to be 

 poured into the bin. Indian corn is a paragon of 

 beauty and excellence among the cereals, and a 

 unique species in the family. Not a single spear 

 of it has been found growing wild by our bota- 

 nists, and it is safe to conclude that it would have 

 long ago become extinct, had not some tribe of 

 Indians, or perhaps more ancient people, knowing 

 its nutritious qualities, saved it from annihilation 

 by improvement and culture. Unlike oats, barley, 

 wheat, rye, and many other species in this impor- 

 tant grass family, it is unprovided with barbs, 

 bracts, awns and other appendages by which their 

 grains are dispersed. The kernels are firmly fixed 

 on the cob, and when the ears fall to the ground, 

 the germs of the large seeds only would be eaten 

 by many animals, or if they were picked up by the 

 birds, the process of digestion renders them unfit 

 for germination. Under these conditions such a 

 serviceable cereal was destined to be lost to the 

 world. It is interesting to imagine what might 

 have been the forms, and types of other fruits and 

 grains that were not fit to survive in their wild 

 state, and long since fell out of the race, but which 

 could have been saved from destruction, as was 

 this maize of ours by cultivation. The Indian 



