THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, September 15, 1857. 870 
the Natural History of Mexico he gives a figure of it, and 
states that its Mexican name is Tlaolli; and that of a 
beverage made from it, Atolli.* 
Hernandez, however, gives no account of the wild state 
of the plant, nor does any other author that I have been 
able to meet with, and therefore a communication from Mr. 
M. Ploy, of New York, acquires considerable interest. In a 
letter addressed to the Secretary he makes the following 
statement:— 
“ Last year I received from the Rocky Mountains a few 
grains of Native Indian Corn, which I consider to be the 
original corn. Its appearance is remarkably different from 
the cultivated varieties, each grain being covered with a 
husky glume. I planted it last spring where no other corn 
could come in contact with it. I raised only two or three 
ears, which were of the same nature as those placed on the 
top of the ear of the corn received. I observed a grain or 
two which were but little covered with husk, the produce of 
which is almost like our common corn, showing that from 
its wild state two or three years of cultivation would bring 
it into its present form.” 
This supposed wild form of the Maize is so interesting 
as to deserve an exact account of it. Three ears were re* 
ceived, of which the smallest was eight inches, and the 
largest a foot in length. They resembled 
Indian Corn when very young, while the 
chaff or husks of the flowers still cover 
over the grains; but the grains were plump 
and ripe, and there was no sign of im¬ 
maturity. In one of them a small number 
of grains near the point of the ear were 
peeping through the chaff or husks, or 
perhaps it would be more correct to say 
that near the point of one of the ears the 
chaff had already begun to diminisli in 
size and to shrink back from the grains. 
The accompanying figures will show 
more clearly the difference between the 
wild and cultivated corn. Eig. 1 is the 
former, in the upper part showing the ap¬ 
pearance of the ear before it is cut open, 
and the lower, the grains enveloped in 
large leafy chaffs. Eig. 2 represents the 
corresponding appearance of an ear of the 
large white variety commonly cultivated in 
the United States. Its grains are not at 
all larger than those of the wild corn, but 
its chaffs are reduced to little membranous 
half-transparent scales, which are entirely 
concealed by the protruding grains. It is 
also curious to remark that cultivation has 
at the same time produced another effect, 
the centre of the ear having become large 
and firm, while the chaff has diminished, 
as if the deterioration of the latter had 
caused the enlargement of the former; a 
somewhat important fact, when it is con¬ 
sidered that the centre of the ear of Indian 
Corn is itself a receptacle of nutritious 
matter. 
Upon measuring off their parts the 
following appear to be their respective 
proportions :— 
Width of Length of Length of 
Centre. Grain. Chaffs. 
Wild Corn . 4 lines . 4 lines . 11 lines. 
Cultivated Corn 9 lines . 4 lines . 2 lines. 
To those who are acquainted with the 
changes which our cultivated esculents 
have in some cases also undergone, this 
new fact will probably show that it is by 
no means to be expected that such plants 
as corn and fruit trees should be recog¬ 
nisable in a wild state ; and that it is quite 
possible that the wild type of some of our 
domestic fruits may lurk beneath dis¬ 
guises hitherto impenetrable. 
Indian Corn adds, moreover, another 
example to that of the Carrot, which was 
completely domesticated by M. Vilmorin 
in three generations (See “ Horticultural 
Transactions,” new series, vol. ii., p. 848), 
showing that in some plants the progress 
of improvement under cultivation is so 
rapid that they begin to change their form 
perceptibly from the moment when they 
are first brought under the dominion of 
man .—{Horticultural Society’s Journal.) 
* M. Kunth (Enumeratio Plantarum, i. 19) states that Maize is wild in Paraguay, 
ion the authority of M. Auguste de St. Hilaire; but I do not find mention made in the 
upon_ 
works of that author of his having found Maize in a wild state. 
