282 



MAIZE, 



and washing the grain in running water, when the husk iru- 

 mediately separates from the grain. 



In Jamaica I found maize to produce two crops in the year, 

 and often three. It is usually grown there on the banks or ridges 

 of the cane fields. It may be planted at any time when there is 

 rain, and it yields from fifteen to forty bushels per acre, accord- 

 ing to the richness of the soil, and the more or less close manuer 

 in which it is planted. 



In the colony of New South Wales, including the district of 

 Port Phillip, there were 20,798 acres under cultivation with maize 

 in 18M, the produce from which was returned at 575,857 bushels; 

 27,058 bushels of maize were exported from Sydney in 1848. 



CuUure in tlie JEast Indies. — The growers on the hills of Ne- 

 paul reckon three kinds of maize : a wliite grained species, which 

 is generally grown on the hill sides ; a yellow grained one, grown 

 in the low and hot valleys ; and a smaller one, called " Bhoteah," 

 or " Murilli Makii," which is considered the sweetest of the three, 

 but from being less productive is not generally grown on good 

 lands. Maize thrives best on a siliceous, well- drained, rich soil. 

 A correspondent in my " Colonial Magazine," vol. ii. p. 309, says the 

 finest Indian corn he ever saw was in the Himalayas of the Sikim- 

 range, where the soil consists of a substratum of decomposed 

 onica from the under or rocky stratum, with a superstratum of 

 from three to six inches of decayed vegetable matter, from leaves, 

 &c., of the ancient forests. 



Throughout Hindostan, June is the usual time for so\ving. In 

 Pehar, about two seers are usually sown upon a beggah ; in ]S"e- 

 paul, twenty-four seers upon an English acre ; in the vicinity of 

 Poonah, one and a-half seer per beggah. Before the seed is so^tl 

 the land is usually ploughed tAVO or three times, and no further 

 attention given to the crop than two hoeings. In Nepaul, where 

 it is the principal crop cultivated, the seed is sown, after one 

 delving and pulverisation of the soil, in the latter end of May 

 and early part of June, in drills, the seeds being laid at intervals 

 of seven or eight inches in the drills, and the drills an equal space 

 apart. The drills are not raised as for turnip sowing, but consist 

 merely of rows of the plant on a level surface. The seed is dis- 

 tributed in this manner with the view of facilitating the weeding 

 of the crop, not for the purpose of earthing up the roots, which 

 seems unnecessary. The Indian corn sowing resembles that of 

 the goliya (or upland) rice, in the careful manner in which it is 

 performed ; the sower depositing each grain in its place, having 

 first dibbled a hole for it five or six inches deep, with a small hand 

 hoe, with which he also covers up the grain. 



The after-culture of this crop is performed with great care in 

 the valleys, but much neglected in the hills, especially on new and 

 strong lands. In the former it undergoes repeated weeding 

 during the first month of its growth, the earth being loosened 

 round the roots, at each weeding, with the hand hoe. After the 



