d, and forms thus an excellent and nourishing diet. At a later
period it may be grated, and furnishes, in this form, the sweetest
bread. The grains boiled in a variety of modes, either whole or broken
in a mortar, or roasted in the ashes, or popped in an oven, are well
relished. If the grain is to be converted into meal, a simple tub-mill
answers the purpose best, as the meal _least perfectly ground_ is
always preferred. A bolting-cloth is not needed, as it diminishes the
sweetness and value of the flour. The catalogue of the advantages of
this meal might be extended further. Boiled in water, it forms the
frontier dish called _mush_, which was eaten with milk, with honey,
molasses, butter or gravy. Mixed with cold water, it is, at once, ready
for the cook; covered with hot ashes, the preparation is called the ash
cake; placed upon a piece of clapboard, and set near the coals, it forms
the journey-cake; or managed in the same way, upon a helveless hoe,
it forms the hoe-cake; put in an oven, and covered over with a heated
lid, it is called, if in a large mass, a pone or loaf; if in smaller
quantities, dodgers. It has the further advantage, over all other flour,
that it requires in its preparation few culinary utensils, and neither
sugar, yeast, eggs, spices, soda, potash, or other _et ceteras_, to
qualify or perfect the bread. To all this, it may be added, that it
is not only cheap and well tasted, but it is unquestionably the most
wholesome and nutritive food. The largest and healthiest people in the
world have lived upon it exclusively. It formed the principal bread of
that robust race of men--giants in miniature--which, half a century
since, was seen on the frontier.

"The dignity of history is not lowered by this enumeration of the
pre-eminent qualities of Indian corn. The rifle and the axe have
had their influence in subduing the wilderness to the purposes of
civilization, and they deserve their eulogists and trumpeters. Let
paeans be sung all over the mighty West to Indian corn--without it,
the West would have still been a wilderness. Was the frontier suddenly
invaded? Without commissary or quartermaster, or other sources of
supply, each soldier parched a peck of corn; a portion of it was put
into his pockets, the remainder in his wallet, and, throwing it upon his
saddle, with his rifle on his shoulder, he was ready, in half an hour,
for the campaign. Did a flood of emigration inundate the frontier with
an amount of