342 CEREALS. 



strength declined, a moral and a supernatural energy was 

 imparted which promised him the final victory. On the 

 third day the Celestial visitor spake to him : 'To-mor- 

 row/ said he, 'will be the seventh day of your fast, and 

 the last time I shall wrestle with you. You will triumph 

 over me and gain your wishes. As soon as you have thrown 

 me down strip off my clothes and bury me in the spot, in 

 soft, fresh earth. When you have done this leave me, but 

 come and keep the weeds from growing on the place. Once 

 or twice, cover me up with fresh earth.' He then de- 

 parted, but returned the next day, and, as predicted, was 

 thrown down. The young man punctually obeyed his in- 

 structions in every' particular, and soon had the pleasure of 

 seeing the green plumes of his sky-visitor shooting up 

 through the ground. He carefully weeded the earth, and 

 kept it soft and fresh , and in due time was gratified at be- 

 holding the m atured plfnt, bending with its rich fruit, and 

 waving its green leaves and yellow tassels, in the wind. 

 He then invited his parents to the spot to behold the new 

 plant. 'It is Mondamin' replied his father — 'it is the 

 spirit's grain.' They immediately prepared a feast and in- 

 vited their friends to p'artake of it, and this is the origin of 

 Indian corn." 



Among all £he crops of the United States Indian corn 

 takes precedence in the scale of crops, as it is best and most 

 universally adapted to all conditions of climate and soil, and 

 furnishes the largest amount of nutritive food. With 

 proper attention to its cultivation, and the selection of best 

 varieties, it may be accounted a sure crop, as well in the 

 ice-bound regions of Canada as in the torrid sands of Cali- 

 fornia, in fact its culture extends between the latitudes of 

 45° north, and the same in the southern hemisphere. 



Cotton has received the name of " King." But if in 

 America any plant can be said to have dominion over all 

 others, both on account of its universal use and its im- 

 portance to mankind, both as human and animal food, 



