i I
have incited his subjects to the more zealous cultivation of Corn,
by ploughing with his own hands the land surrounding his palace.
The Chaldeans recognised a god of grain, called Serakh; the
Assyrians, a god of harvests, named N irba ; the Romans, a goddess,
Segetia or Segesta, who was invoked by husbandmen, that their
harvests might be plentiful. Among the Romans, indeed, the
growth of Corn was under the special protedlion of diiferent deities;
hence the worship they paid to Seia, who protedled Corn before it
sprang up above the earth; to Occator, the god of harrowing; to
Sarritor, the god of weeding; to Nodotus, the god who watched
over the blade when it became knotty; and to Robigus, the god
who protedted the Corn from blights. In the sepulchres of the
Egyptian kings, which have of late years been opened, was discovered,
carefully preserved in closed vessels. Corn, the grains
of which retained both their pristine form and colour; when
tested, this Corn was found, after several thousand years, still to
retain its vitality. The matchless wealth of ancient Egypt was
probably in great measure due to its Corn. The Bible history of
Joseph, and the narrative of the ten plagues, set forth how famed
the land of Egypt was in those days for its Wheat. The mode of
culture in that country now is exceedingly simple : when the inundations
of the Nile have subsided, the grain is thrown upon the
mud; and if by chance it should be considered too hard, the seed
is lightly ploughed in. No further care is bestowed until the
ripening of the produce in the following April. Corn was unknown
among the Mexicans when their country was first visited
by Europeans; the foundation of the vast Wheat harvests of Mexico
is said to have been three or four grains, which a slave of Cortez
discovered in 1530, accidentally mixed with some Rice. Peru
was indebted for the introdu(5tion of Corn to a Spanish lady, Maria
de Escobar, who conveyed a few grains to Lima, cultivated them,
and distributed the seed among the farmers. The first grains of
Corn which reached Quito, were conveyed thither by Father Josse
Rixi, a Fleming, who sowed them near the Monastery of St. Francis,
where the monks still preserve and show, as a precious relic, the
rude earthen vessel wherein the seeds first reached them.— —
Among the Arabs there is a tradition that when Adam was driven
out of Paradise he took with him three plants,—an ear of Corn,
chief of all kinds of food ; a bunch of Dates, chief of fruits ; and a
slip of Myrtle, chief of sweet-scented flowers. There is a curious
custom which still survives in a few districils of Brittany, by which
the good faith of lovers is sought to be proved. On St. John’s
Eve, the men, wearing branches of green Wheat-ears, the women
with Flax-blossoms, come to one of the pillar stones, or dolmens,
still standing, dance around it, and then place their wreath upon
i t : if the wreath remain fresh for some time after, the lover is to be
trusted; but should it shrivel up within a day or two, so will the love
wither and fade away. In some parts of Italy, there is a belief
that on the night of the third of May the blessing of Heaven descends
on the Corn in the form of a minute red insedl, which remains
on the Wheat only for two or three days. In Piedmont, it
is a custom in certain distriéls, on the last day of February, for the
children to roam the meadows, crying, “ March, March, arrive ! and
for every grain of Wheat let us receive a hundred.” At Venice,
on Midsummer Eve, young girls sow some Corn in a pot, which
they then place in a position where the sun cannot enter ; after
eight days they remove the pot : the Corn has then sprouted ; and
.if it is green and healthy, it is a token to the girl that she will have
a rich and handsome husband ; but if the sprout is yellow or white,
it is a sign that the husband will be anything but a good one. In
Corsica, after a wedding, just before the feast, the men and children
retire, and the' women seat the bride on a measure full of Corn,
from which they have each previously taken a handful. The
women then commence saying an invocation, and during this each
one scatters the handful of Corn over the bride’s head. In English
harvest-fields the prettiest girl present is chosen to cut the last
handful of Corn.------In Sweden, if a grain of Corn be found under the
table when sweeping on a New Ye a r’s morn, it is believed to be a
portent of an abundant crop that year. A tuft of Corn or Grass
was given by Eugène and Marlborough as a cockade to the German,
Dutch, and English soldiers comprising the army. The facflion of
the Fronde opposed to Cardinal Mazarin wore stalks of Corn to
distinguish them. Corn and Grapes typify the Blessed Eucharist.
An ear of Corn is a prominent emblem in Freemasonry, proving
that the order did not originally confine their intelledts or their
labours to building operations, but also devoted themselves to agriculture.
Astrologers appear to be divided in their opinions as
to whether Corn is under the dominion of Venus or the Sun.------
In dreams, to pluck Corn-ears portends secret enemies ; otherwise,
dreams of Corn betoken good fortune, prosperity, and happiness.
C o r n -f l o w e r . See Centaury.
C o r n -M a r i g o l d . See Chrysanthemum.
C O R N E L .—After Romulus had marked out the bounds of
his rising city, he threw his javelin on the Mount Palatine. The
weapon, made of the wood of the Cornel {Cornus mascula), stuck
fast in the ground, took root, grew, threw out leaves and branches,
and became a flourishing tree. This prodigy was considered as
the happy presage of the power and duration of the infant empire,
According to some accounts, the Cornel, or Cornelian Cherry,
is the tree which sprang from the grave of Prince Polydorus, who
was assassinated by Polymnestor. The boughs of this tree dropped
blood when Æneas, journeying to Italy, attempted to tear them
from the tree. The Greeks consecrated the Cornel to Apollo;
and when, in order to construe/ the famed wooden horse during
the siege of Troy, they felled, on Mount Ida, several Cornelian