INDIAN CORN. 



305 



cultivated for culinary purposes, and is delicious food when boiled 

 green. 



14. Bice Corn. — A small variety, with small conical ears, the kernel 

 terminating in sharp points which give them the appearance of burrs ; 

 the kernels in size and shape something like rice. It contains more 

 oil and less starch than any other kind, and when ground, its meal 

 cannot be made into bread alone, but is dry like sand. From its 

 oily nature and peculiar size this corn is well adapted for feeding 

 poultry. 



15. Pearl Corn, commonly called pop corn, from the fact of its 

 being used for popping or parching. The ears of this variety are 

 small, the grains are sound, of various shades of colour, the white 

 of a pearly appearance ; and contains with the rice corn more oil and 

 less starch than any other variety. 



16. Chinese Tree Corn. — This is a pure white variety, a very hand- 

 some ear, about ten inches long, has ten rows, grain very closely set, 

 long and wedge-shaped, well filled out to the end of the cob, some of 

 the grains slightly indented. One peculiarity of this corn is, the 

 ears grow on the buds of the branches, hence its name tree corn. 

 It is said to yield from one-third to one-fourth more than the common 

 varieties ; when ground into meal it is handsomer and better flavoured 

 than the common varieties of white corn. There are generally two 

 ears on a stalk, and often three. 



There are many other varieties, but the foregoing list embraces 

 pretty nearly all those worthy of cultivation. 



In New Mexico the colours of the grain are numerous — blue, 

 yellow, white, and even jet black. Blue seems to be the predominant 

 colour, and is esteemed by the natives as the richest of all, being 

 almost universally used by them in making the tortilla^ or corn cake. 

 This is the only shape in which they prepare Indian corn for the 

 table. 



The culture which will answer for the small farmers of the 

 Atlantic seaboard would be impracticable in the immense corn fields 

 of the far West ; for the amount of labour which may be judiciously 

 and profitably applied in the former would be impossible in the 

 latter, and hence it will be necessary to state the methods applicable 

 to different districts. Land at ^200 dollars per acre and at ^5 per 

 acre cannot generally be manured alike, even although their con- 

 stituents and requirements may be the same ; for the cheaper lands 

 are so far from the manufacturing districts that in some cases the 

 necessary fertilisers to be used as manure for the soil cannot be 

 obtained, and the scarcity and high price of labour give rise to the 

 necessity for the use of implements by horsepower in place of any 

 other mode of culture, and that too of the simplest and most expe- 

 ditious kind. The roots of the Indian corn plant, in soil prepared 

 to admit of their full ramification, will average in length 5J feet, 

 and hence the necessity of deep and subsoil ploughing for this 

 crop must be evident to all. When the constituents of this plant are 

 considered, it will be evident that its inorganic requirements, obtained 

 principally in many places from the subsoil, render deep disintegration 

 necessary. It will also be evident that soils habitually wet cannot be 



