1883 .] 
MAIZE TO MATURITY IN AN ENGLISH GARDEN. 
G9 
Many of my specimens were ripened (notably 
in 1868) in the open air, under a south wall 
of brick; but in this locality, where the 
apricot remains an unblushing wooden de¬ 
lusion to the last, and peaches are not to 
be expected on an open wall, I have of late 
years grown Maize after the tulips in the 
tulip-house, an unlieated airy structure, con¬ 
taining beds of 48 feet long, with the glass 
down to the ground. 
It counts as a comparative failure with me 
to get the ears no nearer maturity than the 
cooking stage; though an unholy joy pervades 
the household when the Maize is smitten just 
in time to be a delicious vegetable. 
However, with the exception of the wretched 
1860, I do not remember a year of abject 
failure, although I have in several seasons 
seen with sorrow my favourites come to a 
culinary end, in the feeble company of the 
last French beans and latest mildewy peas. 
The first essential point in growing Maize 
in English gardens is to catch the season; 
and the second is, to keep with it. 
The way is lost at the outset unless the 
seed be sown in due time, and in heat; and 
the season is never overtaken again if the 
young plants suffer a check after they are 
planted out, either from cold or from injury 
to the foliage by snails or high winds. 
A safe time to sow the seed lies between 
the last week in March and the first in April. 
If sown too early the plants may require more 
house and pot room than can be accorded 
them; and if they become pot-bound or 
drawn for lack of light and air, they will 
run prematurely into straw, and make poor 
lean spectacles of themselves. All the lowest 
rings or joints afterwards produce the most 
vigorous roots, and these joints cannot be too 
short and stout. 
The seed germinates most freely when fresh, 
but I have found it age quickly, and when 
three or four years old refuse to grow. I am 
speaking of home-grown corn; but even in 
America, care is taken that the seed is “full 
of germ.” 
A very moderate bottom heat is sufficient at 
first, and need not be continued when the 
plants are. up. They will enjoy a temperature 
of 65° with 10° more by sun heat, and a night 
temperature of 55°, with air on all safe occa¬ 
sions. They grow fast, and by the middle of 
April should be sturdy little plants with four 
or five leaves, if sown in March. 
They require growing with as short and 
“stocky” a habit as possible, by means of 
light and air and moderate warmth; and 
towards the latter part of May they must be 
most judiciously hardened off. It will not be 
safe to plant them in the open air till about 
the 10th of June, by which time they should 
be strong plants with 8 or 10 leaves, and be 
allowed to stand a yard apart. 
The four great events in the life of this 
stately cereal, under English culture, are : 
the sowing, the planting out, the blooming, 
and the ripening. To keep fully up with the 
season there should be an interval of eight 
■weeks between each of those stages. The 
plants cannot, however, be too early in bloom, 
so long as they have not been hurried beyond 
their strength. From the middle of July to 
the middle of August is the safest flowering 
period. I have never had those very strong 
that bloomed earlier, nor well ripened that 
were later. Maize loves a deep strong rich 
soil, with abundance of moisture, though well 
drained. When the plants are strong, they 
will throw up side stems that had better be 
removed, for they will only make late un¬ 
shapely heads, often combining the different 
formation of the male and female ears. 
All the lower joints as they are developed 
must be thoroughly well earthed up, to encour¬ 
age the different circles of vigorous main roots, 
of -which the viscid mouths, if they are kept 
waiting, will be seen to literally water for the 
taste of fat earths. 
All through July the progress should be most 
rapid, and in the third -week the plants will 
be distributing their broad foliage, in lengths, 
upon the ascending stem—the blossom-head 
carried up gracefully to the top. 
The flowers of Maize are not hermaphrodite, 
as in our own more lowly cereals ; nor are the 
sexes borne on different plants, as, for instance, 
in the case of hemp. Maize is monoecious, 
bearing its stamens and pistils, its flowers and 
seeds, in ears differing widely in position and 
character. This is a most convenient forma¬ 
tion for hybridising purposes, since the culti¬ 
vator can so easily secure the purity of any 
