any hands make light work, and in consequence the
whole ground under maize cultivation was thinned in little over a week.
Latterly the maize had grown so fast that the boys declared they could
almost see it grow, and, at the end of two months after sowing, it was
all in flower. The maize, or Indian corn, strongly resembles water
rushes in appearance, and the feathery blossom also resembles that of
the rush. Indian corn forms the main article of food in South America,
and in all but the northern states of North America. It is equally
useful and common in India, and in other tropical countries. Scarcely
less is it used in Italy, and other parts of southern Europe. It was
first introduced into Europe from the East by the great family of
Polenta, who ruled the important town of Ravenna for nearly two hundred
years. Ground maize is still called Polenta throughout Italy; and the
great family will live in the name of the useful cereal they introduced,
when all memory of their warlike deeds is lost except to the learned.

One evening when Mr. Hardy, with his wife and children, was strolling
down in the cool of the evening to look with pleasure upon the bright
green of their healthy and valuable crops, Hubert said:

'Isn't Indian corn, papa, the great yellow heads covered with grain-like
beads one sees in corn-dealers' shops in England?'

'Yes, Hubert.'

'Well, if that is so, I cannot make out how those long delicate stems
can bear the weight. They bend over like corn to every puff of wind. It
does not seem possible that they could bear a quarter of the weight of
their heavy yellow heads.'

'Nor could they, Hubert; but nature has made a wise and very
extraordinary provision for this difficulty. All other plants and trees
with which I am acquainted, have their fruits or seeds where the blossom
before grew. In maize it is placed in an entirely different part of the
plant. In a very short time you will see--indeed you may see now in most
of the plants--the stalk begin to thicken at a foot or eighteen inches
from the ground, and in a little time it will burst; and the head of
maize, so enveloped in leaves that it looks a mere bunch of them, will
come forth. It will for a time grow larger and larger, and then the
plant will wither and die down to the place from which the head springs.
The part that remains will dry up until the field appears covered with
dead stumps, with bunches of dead leaves at the top. Then it is ready
for t