M. TH. C. BEfeHATIT ON SOME VARIETIES OF MATZE. 103 
rows were easily tied. Not being abie to give waterings, which 
materially aid the growth of a plant which luxuriates in the rich 
alluvial valleys of tropical countries, we had planted in shallow 
trenches filled with manure and three inches of soil above it. 
These trenches retained the casual showers, and were gradually 
earthed in, as for celery. The manure kept the roots perfectly 
fresh ; and two slight waterings of liquid manure were given 
during the very dry summer. This attention is not greater than 
is always given to peas and other vegetables. Failures are 
traceable to a neglect either of some or even of all of these 
means. 
It is not quite so easy to ascertain the exact time to take the 
ears as " green corn " for the table. A day or two makes a consi- 
derable change in their consistency. When as large and as hard 
as marrow-fat peas, from twenty to thirty minutes' boiling is 
enough. Serve with fresh butter to spread over them, and they 
are thus ready. All the uses made of peas for soups and stews 
are common to green maize. The ears can also be roasted before 
the fire. When dry these fine white varieties would produce 
very pure flour for puddings, &c. 
Maize, in our climate, requires five months to mature the seeds 
for sowing, being one month more than in California. Some 
sorts ripened here in August. The stalks reached to 10 feet, a 
height only excelled in rich tropical soils. Where several sprang 
from the same root, the ears ripened soonest. Experiments were 
made in hybridizing with some results, and also in mutilating the 
male panicle of flowers with a view to increase the size of the ear. 
After several generations of mutilated plants had been experi- 
mented upon, it was found that the ears were increased sensibly 
in size. The produce of seed was at the rate of ninety-five 
bushels the acre, gathered as it was, not from selected plants, but 
from numerous varieties, some being too small. 
Bemarhs on the Varieties. — Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 are specimens 
of the best pure white maize from Georgia. This is the most 
delicate for table use ; ripened this season at the end of Sep- 
tember, and is an early sort, and the most valuable in every 
respect. No. 4 of these has spiky grains, and is even whiter than 
the others. 
No. 5, King Phillip, from M.^ Vilmorin, considered a good kind 
in France. 
Nos. 6, 7, and 8 are " flint corn," very much like that grown 
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