Maize

“ The harvests, pale in the north, here wave with a reflex of reddish gold. A warmer sun makes the vigorous verdure shine more richly; the stalks of maize spring from the earth like discharges of rockets, and their strong, wrinkled leaves fall over in plumes; such burning rays are needed to urge the sap through those gross fibres and gild the massy spike. ”

“ Once, when all the maize was planted, Hiawatha, wise and thoughtful, Spake and said to Minnehaha, To his wife, the Laughing Water: "You shall bless to-night the cornfields, Draw a magic circle round them, To protect them from destruction, Blast of mildew, blight of insect, Wagemin, the thief of cornfields, Paimosaid, who steals the maize-ear! ”

“ The maize is another sacred life-giving plant. You raise this plant from year to year. When you prepare the ground for planting the seed you will take one grain and put it in a hill, you will press down upon it the soil with your foot, and say: “My father-in-law bade me do this, as an expression of my faith that the sky and the earth will yield to me not only one ear of maize but one animal as well, or even one herd of animals.” ”

“ The maize, or Indian corn, had attained its ripest hue, and been plucked from the dry stems, which had been deprived of their leaves as soon as the ear was fully formed, that nothing might screen the sun's hottest rays from the grain, and the golden-colored pumpkins which had been planted between the rows, that no land might be wasted, even left to ripen alone amid the withering corn-stalks. ”

“ All the wild-rice has been gathered, And the maize is ripe and ready; Let us gather in the harvest, Let us wrestle with Mondamin, Strip him of his plumes and tassels, Of his garments green and yellow!" And the merry Laughing Water Went rejoicing from the wigwam, With Nokomis, old and wrinkled, And they called the women round them, Called the young men and the maidens, To the harvest of the cornfields, To the husking of the maize-ear. On the border of the forest, Underneath the fragrant pine-trees, Sat the old men and the warriors Smoking in the pleasant shadow. ”

“ The vines of these vegetables grow in the same soil, and often from the same hill, and cling lovingly around each other, and thus are true representatives of those who watch over them. The maidens are ever young, and are clothed with the leaves of the plants among which they dwell. She who is the guardian spirit of corn, has for her drapery the long tapering leaves of the maize, ornamented with its silken tassels, which also are bound in wreaths about her brow. ”

“ MAIZE, or INDIAN CORN (Zea mays, Fig. 58) , is a species of grain much cultivated in America and other climates: the grains are of yellow colour, somewhat shaped like flattened peas, and grow closely set round the upper part of high perpendicular stalks.
To the inhabitants of many countries of warm climates the cultivation of maize is a very important pursuit. These plants are propagated by sowing the seed in rows, in March, April, or May: they generally produce two crops in the year, and yield, according to the soil, from fifteen to forty bushels per acre. ”

“ The head or cob of maize swells out and forms at its summit a great silky pale golden tassel, while, as the cob becomes larger and larger, much of the upper part of the stalk in the process of the ripening dies and falls off. Then the lower leaves drop away, the grand beauty of the field of maize passes, and from the time the crop is ripe until the harvest the field seems to be composed of stumps with bunches of dead leaves at the top. ”

“ The grains of maize will need soaking for several days. Plant about a dozen of each in damp sawdust, and in the meantime examine others.
2. The maize grain.—A grain of maize is really a fruit, as a pea-pod is. A pea-pod contains several seeds; a maize fruit contains only one seed, which fills it. Notice the shape of the grain—flattened, rounded along one edge, and bluntly pointed at the opposite edge (Fig. 14) . Notice a whitish patch on one of the flattened sides; a ridge (E) down the middle of this marks the position of the embryo. ”

“ They are noticeable features of every landscape, and some of them are romantic-looking buildings, with a cross at one gable and a pinnacle at the other. In the autumn the granaries are filled with the maize which has been gathered from the fields and stripped and dried in the sun. On village pavements, in fields, on the beach, and in all sorts of odd corners the cereal is spread out to dry, and makes glorious golden patches in the sunshine. Women, helped by children, prepare the maize for grinding into flour. ”

“ Maize fields spread across the valley and on the hill slopes all around us; and on the wayside, and dividing the fields, rows of oaks, chestnuts, planes, and, above all, white poplars, ran, every tree covered to the top by a trailing vine, loaded with purple grapes. ”

“ They sow as much hemp and flax here, as they want for home consumption.
They sow maize in great abundance: A loose soil is reckoned the best for this purpose; for it will not grow in clay. From half a bushel they reap a hundred bushels. They reckon maize a very good kind of corn, because the shoot recovers after being hurt by the frost. They have had examples here of the shoots dying twice in spring, to the very ground, and yet they shot up again afterwards, and afforded an excellent crop. Maize has likewise the advantage of standing much longer against a drought, than wheat. ”

“ The maize is distinguished into a coarser and a finer sort, which last is called Moroche, the leaves and stalks affording wholesome provender for horses, and the grains or kernels, bread for the inhabitants, who make it several ways; for sometimes they boil the corn in water, and at other times, parch it in ashes, or grind it into flour, which, when kneaded into dough, they make into cakes, biscuits, etc. Moreover, maize steeped in water, boiled, and afterwards fermented, makes a very strong liquor. ”

“ In another direction, again, lies a field of new land, ploughed and seeded for the first time within the last few weeks; the young maize plants, just shooting out their glossy leaves, are the first crop ever raised there, and when harvested, the grain will prove the first fruits the earth has ever yielded to man from that soil, after lying fallow for thousands of seasons. ”

“ The maize is not wetted or sprinkled, as many believe, but, on the contrary, it is supposed that such a practice would be injurious. While the old women are performing these ceremonies, the younger ones come and put some dry pulverized meat into their mouths, for which each of them receives, in return, a grain of the consecrated maize, which she eats. ”

“ To lessen their greediness of maize, some people dip the grains of that plant in a decoct of the root of the veratrum album, or white hellebore, (of which I shall speak in the sequel) and plant them afterwards. When the maize-thief eats a grain or two, which are so prepared, his head is disordered, and he falls down: this frightens his companions, and they dare not venture to the place again. But they repay themselves amply towards autumn, when the maize grows ripe; for at that time, [77] they are continually feasting. They assemble by thousands in the maize-fields, and live at discretion. ”

“ I learn on good authority that the custom of the harvest 'maiden' is practiced at the end of the maize harvest in America. The ears form the 'maiden's' head and the husks her dress. A similar custom used to be observed in cutting the sugar-canes in Louisiana, as we learn from the Journal of American Folk-Lore. ”

“ The voices of women and young girls came cheerily from the breezy midst as they tilled the ground, where flourished in their proper divisions the three varieties of maize known to Indian culture, "the six weeks' corn, the hominy corn, and the bread corn." ”

“ This is generally known as the foliated Cross and like its counterpart it issues from a vase with a quadriform emblem, and a monstrous head. Its branches are composed of conventionalized maize plants on which human heads and faces occupy the places of the corn-cobs whilst their hanging hair simulates the tassels of the ripe corn. The maize-leaves are decorated with groups of seed-like beads amongst which distinct representations of maize seeds are discernible. ”

“ The story of the birth and evolution of maize, the plant at the basis of our national prosperity, is of interest not only to agriculturists and botanists but to historians and philosophers, for it is one of the crops whose cultivation is linked with the beginnings of civilization. ”

“ When the maize is in tassel, cow-peas are dropped between the rows; and when the lordly stalk, of which I measured many twelve and even fifteen feet in height, bearing three and sometimes four ears, is topped to admit the ripening sun, the pea-vine twines itself around the trunk, with a profusion of leaf and tendril that supplies the planter with the most desirable fodder for his mules in “rolling-time,” which is their season of trial. Besides this, the corn-blades are culled and cured. These are the best meals of the Southern race-horse, and constitute nutritious hay without dust. ”

“ The maize is of the class diœcia. The male flower developes itself in a spiked head which is placed aloft on the top of the strong green plant, somewhat like the sea-reed with us, only much thicker in stem and in leaf. ”

“ MAIZE.—Next to wheat and rice, maize is the grain most used in the nourishment of man. In Asia, Africa, and America, it is the principal daily food of a large portion of the population, especially of the colonists. In some of the provinces of France, too, it is consumed in large quantities. There are eight varieties of the maize; the most productive is the maize of Cusco. The flour of maize is yellow, and it contains an oily matter, which, when fresh, gives it an agreeable flavour and odour ”

“ As the young maize expanded in size, it was protected from the encroachments of weeds, the interval between the rows being kept as clean and well-ordered as a garden-bed, and when the stalks had risen to one-half of their expected height, hillocks of earth were drawn around their roots. ”

“ While the sun is in the northern hemisphere, flag-leaved leek, parsley, celery, cos-lettuce, endive, mustard, cress, turnips, radishes, and cabbages, thrive; but they have not succeeded in obtaining seed from them. Maize, very productive, flourishes throughout the year, in which period four successive crops are obtained. ”

“ Maize grows on the ridges of the Cordilleras where the mean temperature is about 48° of Fahrenheit, and on the plains or in the valleys where it is 80°,—where the climate is adverse to rye and barley, and where wheat cannot be produced, either owing to the heat or the cold, this grain, whose farinaceous property has the greatest volume, produces its seed from 150 to 1200 fold. Thus it may be said to be the most useful grain to man ”

“ They make it into puddings and cakes, or bread, the quality of which is extremely nutritive. Maize is useful for poultry and cattle of every kind; and, if converted into malt, a wholesome beverage may be brewed from it. Of the leafy husk which surrounds the ear of the maize a beautiful kind of writing paper is manufactured at a paper-mill near Rimini in Italy; and a greyish paper may be manufactured from the whole plant. The stalks are said to afford an excellent winter food for cattle. When the young ears are beginning to form, they have a sweet and agreeable taste. ”

“ Variation in Maize, under Different Climatic Conditions. —It is possible that most of the varieties and subvarieties of maize are simply the existing standard varieties modified by changing environments. There are certain conditions of climate, soil, and distribution of rainfall which tend to produce a large, starchy, soft grain, while other conditions tend to produce a small, hard grain richer in protein. ”

“ The eastern Indians of North America, who subsisted to a large extent by the cultivation of maize, generally conceived the spirit of the maize as a woman, and supposed that the plant itself had sprung originally from the blood drops or the dead body of the Corn Woman. ”

“ Maize is planted in rows about three and one-half feet apart and in hills of about the same distance apart, or it may be drilled between the rows so that one stalk grows a distance of about from nine inches to a foot from its fellows. ”

“ The women, in the beginning of summer, after having burnt the stubble of the preceding crop, rudely stir the ground with a long crooked piece of wood; they then throw in grain, which is chiefly the coarse but productive species of maize peculiar to the continent. ”

“ We had at a little distance a field where the tasselled maize grew lovingly with the potato, and a pasture where our cows took their clover meals, repaying us in a barter-traffic of cream and golden butter. Our poultry peopled their territory with a prolific zeal, and munificently gave us their eggs, their offspring, and themselves.
Our trees, of the peach, pear and apple, apricot and cherry genus, were so exuberant in their gifts, that neither by usufruct, or donation, could they be always expended. ”

“ To this end they levelled and cleared it of rocks and stones, made gardens and covered them over with good earth and manure brought from afar, and thereby made the ground capable of producing maize, which, by reason of its elevation and its consequent coldness of climate, would not grow in the country adjacent. ”

“ Excluding the Jerusalem artichoke, some comparatively unimportant berries and some relatives of the apple, our country gave man no agricultural treasures. It merely accepted with thanks the lavish generosity of the tropics. As far as maize is concerned, the physiology of the plant itself corroborates this statement. It germinates and grows best in hot climates. We must look for the home of maize, therefore, in the plains or plateaus of tropical North ”