ZEA. 



Mundifti. ftalked, longer than the glume* ; angular and 

 comprefTed at the bafe. 



Obf. Two out of the four valves of the female carolla 

 appear to belong to an abortive flower. Schreber. 



EIT. Ch. Male flowers in diftinft fpikes. Calyx a two- 

 flowered beardlefs glume. Corolla beardlefs. 



Female, Calyx a glume of two valves. Corolla of four 

 valves. Style one, thread-fhaped, pendulous. Seeds foli- 

 tary, imbedded in an oblong receptacle. 



I. Z. mays. Common Maize, or Indian Corn. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 1378. Willd. n. I. Ait. n. i. Purfh n. I. 

 (Frumentum indicum ; Camer. Epit. 186. F. afiaticum, 

 turcicum et indicum; Ger. Em. 81, 82. Morif. feft. 8. 

 t. 13. f. I, 2, 3.) — Leaves entire. — Native of America. 

 Cultivated there, as well as in the fouthern countries of Eu- 

 rope. One of the largeft of the family of corn or graffes. 

 Root annual, of innumerable fibres. Stem ereft, fomewhat 

 branched, round, ftout, jointed, leafy, from five to ten feet 

 high. Leaves fheathing, lanceolate, concave, acute, ribbed, 

 two or three feet long, and three or four inches broad. 

 Male foiuers in numerous, aggregate, terminal fpiies, each 

 three or four inches long, greyifh, downy, with purple 

 anthers. Female ones below, in a generally fimple, cylindri- 

 cal fpike, covered by the large (heaths of the upper leaves. 

 Styles fix or eight inches long, very numerous, of a fhining 

 yellowifh or reddifh hue, hanging down like a long filken 

 taflel. Seeds white, yellow, red, or purplifh, forming a 

 heavy, teflellated, cone-like, naked fpike, from fix to ten 

 inches long. There are innumerable varieties, in the fize, 

 figure, colour, and qualities of the grain, which, though 

 valuable for many purpofes, and yielding an abundant crop, 

 is far inferior to wlieat as a bread corn. It requires a richly 

 manured foil. Mr. Purfli mentions a variety, brought lately 

 by governor Lewis from the Mandan nation, on the 

 Miflburi, which promifes to be particularly valuable, as 

 ripening earlier than any other fort, and yielding an excel- 

 lent produce. See Maize. 



i. Z. Curagua. Chih Maize. " Molina Chil. German 



edition, 107." Willd. n. 2 Leaves ferrated. — Native of 



Chili. Annual. Smaller in all its parts than the foregoing. 

 Molina. Of the qualities or hiftory of this fpecies, we have 

 no further account. 



Zea, in Gardening, contains a plant of the hardy her- 

 baceous annual kind, of which the fpecies cultivated is the 

 maize, or Indian corn (Z. mays). 



It has a large flfong, herbaceous ftalk, which fometimes 

 rifes to the height of ten or twelve feet ; and there are 

 varieties ; with yellowifh-white feeds, with deep yellow 

 feeds, and with purple-blue feeds. This plant is moftly 

 cultivated in the garden and pleafure ground for the fake 

 of its fingular tall growth. 



Method of Culture. — Thefe plants may be raifed by 

 fowing feed in the fpring, as March or April, in a dry 

 warm fituation, where the plants are intended to remain, in 

 patches of two or three feeds or more in each, about an inch 

 and a half deep : when the plants are come up, they fhould 

 be thinned out to one or two of the ftrongeft. But to have 

 the plants more forward, fo as to produce ripe feed-fpikes 

 more efFeftually, fome fhould be fown in a hot-bed at the 

 fame time, and when the plants are three or four inches 

 high, be forwarded by pricking them out upon another hot- 

 bed, either under a deep frame, or an awning of hoop arches, 

 to be covered with mats occafionally, allowing them plenty 

 of free air ; and when they have fufficient growth, as in 

 May, they may be tranfplanted, with balls of earth about 

 thek roots, into the full ground in the borders or fhrubbery 



clumps, in warm funny fituations, being well watered ; and 

 when the fummer proves vrarm and dry, they often produce 

 perfeA heads, and the feeds ripen in a good manner. 



As the plants moftly run up in tall ftalks, it is proper to 

 fupport each with a tall neat ftake, efpecially where much 

 expofed to wind and rain. 



Thefe plants in the different varieties have a fine effeft in 

 the back parts of borders, clumps, and other places, in warm 

 fheltered fituations. 



It is obferved by a late writer, that he has planted a fmall 

 quantity of this fort of grain in his garden, and it turned 

 out fuperior to his expeAations ; and he is of opinion, 

 that this crop may be raifed to advantage in the field on 

 fome light foils, particularly the poor fands of Norfolk and 

 Suffolk, or on any hot burning lands ; as the countries 

 where it grows naturally are light hot foils. And he adds, 

 that he prefers the drill method of culture for it in this 

 country ; as the fmall hillocks in planting the feeds fepa- 

 rately make the land unfightly and improper for other 

 crops. But to raife the greateft produce in corn, the hills 

 are, he conceives, the befl way ; however if the crop is 

 intended chiefly for fodder, then drills are beft. The feed 

 is to be put about an inch deep in the ground. And that 

 when the corn firft appears above the furface, the hillocks 

 or drills muft be examined, to fee whether it all comes up 

 properly ; and if it has not, there muft be frefh feeds put into 

 the vacant places to prevent a lofs in the crop. And as foon 

 as the plants take root in the ground, the crop fhould be 

 examined again to fee whether any have died away, or the 

 birds have taken the feed. The plants muft alfo be thinned 

 to two on a hill, and good plants fubftituted for weak ones. 



In the cultivation while growing in the hill-way, the hoe 

 muft be ufcd at every operation to the plants, and earth be 

 given to them, as the land cannot be made too light for this 

 crop ; but when in drills, the corn muft be hoed in the fame 

 manner as garden peas. 



He alfo further obferves, that when the corn gets out 

 of the milk, the blades below muft be all pulled off while 

 green : tie them up in fmall bunches, about the fize of a 

 birch-broom, and hang them on the top of the ftalks of the 

 corn ; for at the fame time that the blades are pulled, the 

 tops muft be cut off, and fet up in round bunches to dry, 

 and tied round the topmoft part to keep them from falling : 

 when thefe are dry, they muft be harvefted. The blades are 

 generally ready in four or five days, but the tops take 

 longer ; when thefe blades and tops are properly harvefted, 

 they are excellent food. And it is fuggefted, that as thefe 

 procefles will be finifhed about the end of Auguft, the land 

 might be ploughed and then fown with rye. If feeds were 

 required, he is of opinion that it would be very proper to 

 fow the feeds at that time on this poor hot land ; as the warm 

 feafon would be over, and the feeds would have fuificient time 

 to take root before winter. If only rye was wanted, he would 

 eat it with fheep in the fpring or during the winter. But 

 the ftalks muft, he fays, ftand, for the corn to ripen after the 

 rye is fown ; and the corn ought to hang on the ftalk till it 

 is hard. In America, it is often December before the 

 white corn can be pulled, or September for the yellow corn : 

 if it is pulled before it is hard, and the cob is perfeftly dry, 

 it will mould and fpoil, and the corn will be apt to rot, 

 therefore great care fhould be taken not to pull it too 

 foon. 



This fort of corn is, it is faid, given to horfes, cattle, and 

 hogs, without fhelling, and only huflced in the ear ; but when 

 given to fowls, or intended for fale, it is rubbed oflF by burn- 

 ing a cob in the fire till hard, and then rubbing the corn 



with 



