1864.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
137 
NARRAGANSETT. N. J. WHITE K DENT. 
Indian Corn (Zea Mays)— Varieties. 
Most of us are familiar with Indian Corn 
in several varieties—sweet, flint, pop, and horse- 
tootli com; of various colors, white, yellow, red 
or blue; and of all sizes, from that growing 12 
feet high and bearing ears 12 to 16 inches long 
and having 16 to 24 rows of kernels, to the 
little dwarf sorts which mature an ear an inch 
to two inches long and grow 8 to 18 inches in 
height. Many have seen those varieties each 
kernel of which has a separate husk, and the 
rice corn with its sharp pointed, obliquely set 
kernels. In fact, the varieties of this species 
{Zea Mays) may be said to be almost endless. 
We have selected a few tolerably well known 
kinds from among an assortment of fifteen 
varieties, laid upon our table by J. M. Thor- 
bum & Co., and have had them engraved. 
For use upon the table, boiled green, the dif¬ 
ferent kinds of wrinkled, or sweet com, deserve 
the preference. Most are rather late in coming 
to maturity, though maturing sufficiently for 
cooking in 60 to 80 days. Fig. 1 represents the 
little “Narragansett” corn, 8 to 10-rowed, red 
cobbed, one of the earliest, sweet, and excellent. 
This, and a small, longer eared, but smaller ker- 
neled 8-rowed sweet corn, called “ Extra Early,” 
follow a poor, watery white corn, known as 
“ Canada,” and by other names. The Canada 
comes first to market, and on this account alone 
sells high. Fig. 3 is an excellent variety, rather 
late in maturing, called “ R. I. Asylum,” from 
its origin or use on the grounds of that institu¬ 
tion. The ears are 8 to 10-rowed, of good size, 
and very sweet. The habit is about the medium 
size for sweet corn. It affords an abundant 
forage, and is prolific. The Stowell’s Evergreen 
resembles this in the ears, which are shorter; it 
matures late, is sweet and prolific, and the stalks 
remain green and succulent a long time. This 
is a very good variety for sowing to feed green 
to stock, and is esteemed for the table. There 
is a black or dark blue variety of sweet corn, 
R. I. ASYLUM. 
TUSCARORA. 
called “ Mexicau,” which is very sweet, prolific 
and only objectionable on account of its color. 
Its habit is dwarf, and it bears 2 to 5 ears close 
to the ground. Specimens on our table are from 
Mr. E. Williams, of New-Jersey. The large 
stalked, long eared kinds, are generally not so 
sweet as those of dwarfish habit. The flavor of 
the corn and its desirableness for the table, de¬ 
pend not only upon its sweetness and flavor, 
but upon the thinness of the “ hull ” or skin of 
the kernel, and the ease with Avhich it parts 
from the cob. There are two or three very 
large varieties highly esteemed, as the Mam¬ 
moth 8-rowed Sweet, which is very good. To 
ensure a succession for the table from the earli¬ 
est time possible to frost, plant well soaked 
seed in rich, well prepared soil, on the 1st, 10th 
and 20th of May, and subsequently once a week 
until the 4th of July. 
Field Corn is a more important subject for 
the consideration of the farmer, but those who 
do not provide any other for boiling, deprive 
themselves of one of the most delicious table 
vegetables. Excellent portraits of several varie¬ 
ties are given above. We distinguish three prom¬ 
inent groups of field corn, whether they are clas¬ 
sified by color, as white, yellow and red,— by tex¬ 
ture, as flint, dent, which is half flinty, and 
flour, which has no flintiness,—or by the number 
of rows, as 8, 12, orT6-rowed; and these char¬ 
acteristics are entirely independent of each 
other. The early maturing northern kinds are 
all flinty and usually 8-rowed. One of the best 
is the 8-rowed Canada, a small, bright yellow 
variety, with an ear 7 to 9 inches long, and 
having a very small cob: 50 bushels to the acre 
is not an unusual yield.—Fig. 7 represents very 
well this variety, though taken for the Phode 
Island Premium, a new sort, which has attained 
a good reputation of late years. This is of a 
dark yellowish red color, and originated in 
artificially crossing three kinds, the Canada, 
8-rowed Yellow of New-England, and a blood- 
red variety of Rhode Island. It is of dwarf 
KING PHILIP. R. I. PREMIUM. 
habit, needs planting very close, like the Can¬ 
ada (3ft. x 2ft.), and yields 80 to 100 bushels 
per acre under the best circumstances. The 
color only is objectionable for meal. The ear's 
are small, but very close, well tipped out and 
firm, cobs very small. Like this in color, but 
larger, is King Philip, fig. 6. It is a good variety, 
aud needs close planting. The common 8-rowed 
Yellow of New-England so much resembles 
this in the shape of the ear that fig. G might 
pass for it also. The name “ Dutton” was orig¬ 
inally applied to a very compact, small kerneled 
12-rowed variety, which was very profitable 
and sure to mature, and made sweet, excellent 
meal. The name is now given in New-England 
and New-York to any 12-rowed yellow corn, 
some sorts of which are very good. There are 
varieties of white flint corn, semi-translucent, 
and of various good qualities, almost identical 
with the yellow kinds in shape of the ear. 
The Long Island White is 8 to 10-rowed, large 
eared, growing 8ft. high, and yielding abundant 
crops. The meal is very sweet.—Fig. 2 repre¬ 
sents a New-Jersey variety of white flint, not 
very flinty, and having a small indentation in 
each kernel. It is of large size, not profitable, 
but esteemed for the whiteness and fineness of 
the meal. The kernels are very large. Similar 
in quality, but quite different in growth and 
character of ear, is the Ohio Yellow Dent, fig. 
5, which represents very fairly the Western and 
Southern varieties of the Horse-tooth group, ex¬ 
cept that there is more flintiness than usual to 
the kernels, and they are neither so broad nor 
deeply indented as is common. These varieties 
are never 8-rowed, seldom 10, but usually have 
16 to 20 rows. The kernels are long, narrow 
and angular, and usually rich in oil and farina. 
The plant is very large, requiring to be grown 
in hills 4 feet apart each way, yet the yield is 
50 to 80 bushels per acre, and crops of nearly 
or quite 100 bushels per acre have been repeat¬ 
edly recorded. No. 4 represents the Tuscarora, 
of which there several slightly differing kinds. 
