14 
THE PRINCIPLES OF BOTANY. 
year grown Indian corn not only as a matter of experiment 
but from a love of its beauty, but with ever-varying results. 
Most seasons, however, we have succeeded in getting cobs, 
but most of the seeds or grains were infertile ; and, as the 
question is one of great physiological and practical value, we 
shortly explain the principles involved in the results. 
Some years ago the celebrated William Cobbett went wild 
upon the practicability of growing Indian corn in this country. 
He contended that, inasmuch as this grew well in the United 
States, where the winter climate was more severe than with 
us, we were unwise not to grow it at home. 
A “ forty-day maize” or dwarf Indian corn was intro- 
duced into England, but, as remarked by Mr. Bentham, 
in Morton’s f Cyclopaedia of Agriculture/ “ Of great im- 
portance to agriculture in rich, deep soil in warmer climates, 
maize has constantly failed in our own country as an object 
of permanent cultivation, in spite of the repeated efforts 
made to introduce it by William Cobbett and others, and 
notwithstanding the apparent success of partial experiments 
in exceptional years, when an unusually long and warm 
summer has allowed of the grain attaining maturity. Even 
in such seasons we cannot hope to grow it at a profit, so as 
to compete with that imported from more genial climates. 
The only case in which it might be of any advantage would 
be that of the cultivation of the smaller and earlier varie- 
ties for the feeding of poultry, for it is to the maize that the 
peculiar excellence of the fowls, capons, and turkeys of 
Upper Languedoc in France is mainly due.” 
Within the last few days we have seen the value of this 
corn as employed in the feeding of fifty turkeys, so that we 
can readily believe any statement to that effect. 
If we inquire into the cause of our want of success in the 
growth of this corn in England, we shall find that its long 
silken tassels which protrude from the cobs are the pistilla 
awaiting fecundation, which is performed by separate or ter- 
minal pistil flowers which grow at the tops of the plants. 
However, a single cold night blackens the pistils, fecundation 
is not performed, and the result is the few properly formed 
seeds one usually finds in a cob of English-grown Indian corn. 
We take it for granted, then, that we can always import this 
grain on better terms than we can grow it; and as its value 
becomes more known, we have no doubt its importation 
will increase. It would appear that maize in muscle-making 
qualities comes near to those of wheat, and as regards fat- 
tening properties it is beyond it. Taking these things into 
consideration, and the cheapness with which it can be grown 
