food eaten by the people.

3, 13

194 ECLECTIC SERIES.
2. Do you know why it is called Indian corn? It is because
the American Indians were the first corn growers. Columbus
found this grain widely cultivated by them when he
discovered the New World. They pounded it in rude, stone
bowls, and thus made a coarse flour, which they mixed with
water and baked.
3. Indian corn is now the leading crop in the United
States. In whatever part of this land we live, we see corn
growing every year in its proper season. Yet how few can
tell the most simple and important facts about its planting
and its growth!
4. Corn, to do well, must have a rich soil and a warm
climate. It is a tender plant, and is easily injured by cold
weather. The seed corn does not sprout, but rots, if the
ground is cold and wet.
5. To prepare land properly for planting corn, the soil is
made fine by plowing, and furrows are run across the field
four feet apart each way. At every point where these furrows
cross, the farmer drops from four to seven grains of seed
corn. These are then covered with about two inches of earth,
and thus form "hills" of corn.

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6. In favorable weather, the tender blades push through
the ground in ten days or two weeks; then the stalks mount
up rapidly, and the long, streamer-like leaves unfold
gracefully from day to day. Corn must be carefully cultivated
while the plants are small. After they begin to shade the
ground, they need but little hoeing or plowing.
7. The moisture and earthy matter, drawn through the
roots, become sap. This passes through the stalk, and enters
the leaves. There a great change takes place which results in
the starting of the ears and the growth of the grain.
8. The maize plant bears two kinds of flowers,--male and
female. The two are widely separated. The male flowers are
on the tassel; the fine silk threads which surround the ear,
and peep out from the end of the husks, are the female
flowers.
9. Each grain on the cob is the starting point for a thread
of silk; and, unless the thread receives some particle of the
dust which falls from the tassel flowers, the kernel with
which it is connected will not grow.
10. The many uses of Indian corn and its products are
worthy of note. The green

196 ECLECTIC SERIES.
stalks and leaves make excellent fodder for cattle. The ripe
grain is used all over the earth as food for horses, pigs, and
poultry. Nothing is better for fattening sto