268 



MAIZE. 



is in siicli case produced by an acre — and this sometimes happens 

 — this is clearly a return oi 400 for one. 



Of the -whole family of cereals, Zea Mays is unquestionably the 

 most valuable for cultivation in the United States. When the 

 time shall come that population presses closely on the highest 

 capabilities of American soil, this plant, which is a native of the 

 New World, will be found greatly to excel all others in the quan- 

 tity of bread, meat, milk, and butter which it will yield from an 

 acre of land. With proper culture, it has no equal for the pro- 

 duction of hay, in all cases where it is desirable to grow a large 

 crop on a small surface. 



Although there has been much written on the Eastern origin 

 of this grain, it did not grow in that part of Asia watered by the 

 Indus, at the time of Alexander the Great's expedition, as it is not 

 among the productions of the country mentioned by Nearchus, 

 the commander of the fleet ; neither is it noticed by Arian, Dio- 

 dorus, Columella, nor any other ancient author ; and even as late 

 as 1491, the year before Columbus discovered America, Joan di 

 Cuba, in his " Ortus Sanitatis," makes no mention of it. It has 

 never been found in any ancient tumulus, sarcophagus, or pyramid ; 

 nor has it ever been represented in any ancient painting, sculpture, 

 or work of art, except in America. But in that country, according 

 to Grarcilaso de la Vega, one of the ancient Peruvian historians, 

 the palace gardens of the Incas, in Peru, were ornamented with 

 maize, in gold and silv^er, with all the grains, spikes, stalks, and 

 leaves ; and in one instance, in the " garden of gold and silver," 

 there was an entire cornfield, of considerable size, representing the 

 maize in its exact and natural shape; a proof no less of the 

 wealth of the Incas, than their veneration for this important 

 grain. 



In further proof of the American origin, it may be stated that 

 this plant is still found grov^dng, in a wild state, from the Eocky 

 mountains in JS^orth America, to the humid forests of Paraguay, 

 where, instead of ha^dng each grain naked, as is always the case 

 after long cultivation, it is completely covered with glumes or 

 husks. It is, furthermore, a well authenticated fact, that maize 

 was found in a state of cultivation by the aborigines, in the island 

 of Cuba, on its discovery by Columbus, as well as in most other 

 places in America, first explored by Americans. 



The first successful attempt to cultivate this grain in Xorth 

 America, by the English, occurred on James' river, in Virginia, 

 in 1608. It was undertaken by the colonists sent over by 

 the Indian company, who adopted the mode then practised by 

 the natives, which, with some modifications, has been pursued 

 throughout this country ever since. The yield, at this time, is 

 represented to have been from two himdred to more than one 

 thousand fold. The same increase was noted by the early settlers 

 in Illinois. The present yield, east of the Eocky Mountains, when 

 judiciously cultivated, varies from 20 to 135 bushels to an acre. 



The varieties of Indian corn are very numerous, exhibiting every 



