62 
shown by our collections, and probably was known to the 
early colonists throughout our southern country, although 
no certain identification can be made from early writers. 
Zea * amylacea, the Soft, has an extended range. A 
northern form has come to me from Manitoba; we cannot 
question that it is the Tuscarora formerly grown by the 
Tuscarora Indians of Carolina and afterwards grown by 
them in New York; the Wyandotte corn of the Illinois 
Indians ; the Squaw corn of the Mandans; the Omaha corn 
of Missouri; and in many varieties the leading corn of the 
Cocopa Indians, the Zunis, and the Indians of Northern 
Mexico, and also those of the region of the Parani river in 
Brazil. It furnished some at least of the ‘‘ Mummy ” corn 
of Peru, and was probably the Capza of de Vega. It does 
not seem to have ever reached the New England Indians, 
and we find no colonial or precolonial mention of this form 
in the Middle States. It is but rarely grown in American 
agriculture. The use of the word pone in the Southern 
States may indicate this corn, as it seeins to be best liked 
where primitive milling conveniences are In vogue. 
Zea * saccharata, the Sweet, is such a strongly character- 
ized * species, that it seems strange that its peculiarities 
could have escaped the notice of the colonists. The only 
early records we have been able to find certify that it was 
brought from the Indian country in the region of the Sus- 
quehanna, in the last century. It is now universally grown 
in’ gardens, and its use as a green vegetable admits of its 
being successfully grown beyond the northern limit in 
which it can ripen its seed, as with modern intercourse seed 
can always be cheaply obtained, and there need be no de- 
pendence on home supply. 
Zea * amyleasaccharata, the Starch sugar, is a peculiar 
species thus far only received from the Indian village of 
San Padro, Mexico. The perfection of the ears, and the 
absence of cross-fertilization in the kernels, and three vari- 
eties which are quite distinct in their characters, indicate a 
long and careful cultivation. 
In the examination of collections of corn from very 
diverse localities, one of the most striking reflections must 
be the permanency even in variety characters that is exhi- 
bited. The King Philip corn, taken from an island in New 
Hampshire in 1847, and extensively distributed through the 
agricultural department of our government during succeed- 
ing years, is at present continually appearing in our collec- 
tions from all portions of the Northern United States, 
apparently unchanged by its thirty or more years of culture 
in different climates and by different farmers. The figures 
of varieties sold in our seed catalogues of 1869 answer for 
Bee 
