11 



crop failed) were 3,614,637 quarters; in 1850, 1,286,263 

 quarters'^. The maize belongs to the Class Moncecia and 

 Order Triandria of Linnaeus, because, like a few others of 

 the GramiriacecBj it has its stamens and pistils in different 

 flowers on the same plant; the staminiferous flowers are 

 borne in a tuft on the summit of the plant, the pistilliferous 

 ones rise from the axils of the leaves, which, as in most 

 grasses, are sessile along an unbranched stem. The peri- 

 anth, or floral envelope, of the pistil flower, remains until 

 the grain ripens, and in the South of Europe is very exten- 

 sively used in packing oranges and lemons ; it is also used 

 in South America by the Spaniards in making cigarrettos, 

 for which purpose the very thin Indian corn covers are se- 

 lected, and small squares are cut from them, in which the 

 tobacco is rolled. These perianths have also been manufac- 

 tured into very good paper. 



Rice. Oryza sativa, (Nat. Ord, Gmminace^B.) (Plate I. 

 fig. 4.) 



This useful grain is a native of the East Indies, whence 

 it has spread to all the warm parts of Asia, Africa, and the 

 southern parts of America ; its habit of growth is very much 

 like the oat, the grain hanging gracefully from the very 



* Poole's Statistics. 



