<S. Cereale. L. Has its specific name from Ceres, the fabled
goddess of agriculture. Next to wheat, it is the most important
grain for this latitude, as it yields the next best flour in any considerable
quantity ; it likes a colder climate, and is still more important
at the North. It delights in a soil more siliceous, and is better
adapted than wheat to much of the soil of this Commonwealth.
It contains more gluten and less fecula or starch than wheat.
Gluten, as paste, is an article of importance in some arts. Rye
is not much cultivated in England, as the soil is better, adapted to
wheat; in New England it is a grain of great value. The two
varieties, summer and winter rye, are supposed to belong to one
species;
The heads of rye sometimes become diseased,. and ergot,
large, long, black grains are produced instead of the seed. Some
have considered ergot a mere disease ; others have called it a
fungus. De Candolle named it Sclerotium clavus (Acinulac,
Fries). At any. rate, it is a poisonous substance, and exerts a
pernicious influence on breeding animals, and especially upon
sheep. The ewes should not be suffered to eat this refuse part
of rye for soma time before bearing their young, if, indeed, at
all, as many lambs are thus lost.
S orghum. L. 19. 1.
/S. saccharatum. L. Broom Corn. The value of this article,
and the extent of its cultivation, are well known ; said to have
come from India; too rough, and large, and hard, for food of
cattle. For the manufacture of brooms it is a grass of the first
necessity, and in some parts of the State an article of very
profitable cultivation.
S. vulgare. L. Coffee Corn. Grand Millet. Sometimes-cultivated
in gardens as a curiosity, or for feeding hens, &c. ; not considered
of great value, probably because we have other grasses of
more value for the same object. In Arabia and Asia Minor, it is
much cultivated, and considered an important article for the food of
man ; also in China and in the West Indies, It yields fine white
flower; in Arabia is called Durra or Dora. The generic name
is said to be derived from the Indian name of the plant. Its tops
are used also for brooms. Loudon.
Z ea. L. 19. 3. Indian Corn.
The Greek name of some kind of corn, from the Greek word
to live, on account of its nutriment.
Z. mays. L. Maize. Cultivated, but indigenous to America.
It is more abundant at the South, larger, and more productive,
and its flour is whiter and more excellent. The necessity
of hot weather to ripen this grain in this latitude, is well known,
and verified by the heat of the last summer (1839), when the corn
was, to a considerable extent, ripened at an early day in September,
even in Berkshire County. It is probable that seed which
would ripen earlier, or had become better adapted to the climate,
was planted, and the favorable season early matured it.
There are many varieties of Indian Corn, of which Maize is the
South American name ; all of which may be reduced to one
species. Some are far more hardy than the others. One of this
kind is mentioned by Nuttall as cultivated by the western and
northern Indians, and called Early Mandan Corn.” Some grow
and ripen in England. The value of this grass is immense. Its
stalks and leaves are excellent fodder for cattle.
Indian corn was introduced into England in 1562. The species
Z. Curagua, W Cross Corn, from Valparaiso, and which
parches into a cross-like form, is probably cultivated in some
parts of the State.
As our corn is liable to be affected and sometimes cut off by a
too early frost, it is important to obtain seed from a more northern
section, which will be far more likely to ripen here. Though
it may bear a smaller ear, the advantage is obvious. But, when
the crop is injured by the frost, it was clearly ascertained a few
years since, that more corn was ripened by cutting it up from the
roots and placing it. upright in small collections, than by leaving it
to Stand. In the latter case, the juice of the plant seems to be
drawn to the root, in the former, to be carried into the kernels on
the ear, and to bring more of them to maturity.
The smut of Maize is Uredo zece, Schw., a fungus of dangerous
properties. Only a little is produced in our country, and it
is avoided by animals. It is said to have a deleterious effect on
those that eat it.