The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 383, August 1, 1829Various
General
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 383, August 1, 1829
Various
Popular literature -- Great Britain -- Periodicals
"I do confess, that I was very hard to be convinced; I became interested
to be sure, and I resolved to give the thing a trial immediately, if
possible, or rather to set about it immediately; but, I confess, that if
the thing had been urged upon me by almost any other person, I should not
have done it. 'Well, then,' said I, 'William, we will give your little
corn a trial, for it is not too late yet.' But now a difficulty that
appeared to be insuperable arose; namely, that the seed was all gone! The
seed was all planted in Sussex. As soon as I reflected on this, I became
really eager to make the experiment; so true it is, that we seldom know
the full value of what we have had, till we have lost it. I recollected,
however, that I had rather recently seen an ear or two of this corn in
some seed-drawers that I had in the garden-house, not being quite sure,
however, that they were of the true sort; and now I, who had so long
turned from the subject rather with indifference, could not go to sleep
for my doubts, my hopes, and fears, about these two bits of ears of corn.
We had no light, or I should have got up to go and hunt the boxes, which I
did as soon as day-light appeared, and there, to my great joy, I found two
bits of ears of corn, which from the size and shape of the cobb, I knew to
be of the true sort. This was upon the 8th of June in the morning."
Indian corn is a kind of corn tree, so that it would be exempt from the
sneer of the Tartars who despise the men that live on "the top of a weed."
The top of Indian Corn supplies the place of hay or of straw for fodder:
it is the flower of the plant, and bears the farina like the wheat-ear,
but the grains are deposited in the ears which come out of the stalk lower
down. These ears are enveloped in their leaves which are called the husk.
The number of ears varies in different plants, three is the common number.
Seven are a curiosity. One stalk in Mr. Cobbett's field bore seven ears,
and Mr. Cobbett, jun. sent it as a present to the king's gardener at Kew,
comparing it to that "one stalk mentioned in Pharaoh's dream of the seven
years of plenty." For it must not be forgotten that Mr. Cobbett maintains
that Indian corn is the true corn of scripture, and defends this opinion
by many plausible arguments. We have no room to discuss them, and shall
only observe in contravention, that Indian corn is not now known in
Palestine or Syria, and that it is dangerous to raise a verbal discussion
founded upon a translation. His argument is, however, well worth the
attention of all our biblical readers. In America the Indian corn alone
monopolizes the name of corn: all other corn is called grain: so important
is the cultivation of it there, that it puzzles the Yankees exceedingly to
know how the old country can get on without corn; and so identified is the
great roll of grain, with the name of an ear of corn, that when Mr.
Cobbett once read an account to an American farmer, of a young English
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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