The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Part 38

FLESH FORMING PRINCIPLES.

Gluten, alb.u.men, and casein 12.60

FAT FORMING PRINCIPLES.

Gum, sugar, starch, woody fibre, oil, &c. 77.09 Water 9.00 Salts 1.31 ----- 100.

Prof. Gorham, in "Thomson's Organic Chem.," published in London in 1838, gives another a.n.a.lysis:--

Fresh grain. Dried grain.

Water 9.00 Starch 77.00 84.60 Gluten 3.00 3.30 Alb.u.men 2.50 2.74 Gum 1.75 1.92 Sugar 1.45 1.60 Loss 5.30 5.84 ------ ------ 100. 100.

Professor Johnston supplies a table, which, he says, exhibits the best approximate view we are yet able to give of the average proportion of starch and gluten contained in 100 lbs. of our common grain crops as they are met with in the market.

From this table I extract the following:--

Starch, gum, &c. Gluten, alb.u.men, &c.

Wheat flour. 55 lbs. 10 to 15 lbs.

Oats 65 " 18 lbs.

Indian corn 70 " 12 "

Beans 40 " 28 "

Peas 50 " 24 "

Potatoes 12 " 2-1/3 "

The Professor remarks that the proportion of oil is, in 100 lbs. of

Wheat flour 2 to 4 Oats 5 " 8 Indian corn 5 " 9 Beans and peas 2 " 3 Potatoes 0 "

Maize is one of those plants in which potash preponderates, for a.n.a.lysis of its ashes gives the following proportions:--

Salts of potash and soda 71.00 ---- lime and magnesia 6.50 Silica 18.00 Loss 4.50 ------ 100.

Dr. Salisbury has also furnished the proximate a.n.a.lysis of five varieties of ripe maize or Indian corn:--

Proportions.

One hundred grains of each. Water. Dry.

Golden Sioux corn, a bright, yellow, twelve-rowed} variety, frequently having fourteen rows } 15.02 84.98 Large eight-rowed yellow corn 14.00 86.00 Small eight-rowed ditto 14.03 85.97 White flint corn 14.00 86.00 Ohio Dent corn, one of the largest varieties of } maize } 14.50 85.50

COMPARATIVE ORGANIC a.n.a.lYSIS.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- | Golden | Ohio | Small | Large | White | Sioux. | Dent | 8-rowed | 8-rowed | Flint | | Corn. | Corn. | Corn. | Corn.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- Starch | 36.06 | 41.85 | 30.29 | 49.22 | 40.34 Gluten | 5.00 | 4.62 | 5.60 | 5.40 | 7.69 Oil | 3.44 | 3.88 | 3.90 | 3.71 | 4.68 Alb.u.men | 4.42 | 2.64 | 6.00 | 3.32 | 3.40 Casein | 1.92 | 1.32 | 2.20 | 0.75 | 0.50 Dextrine | 1.30 | 5.40 | 4.61 | 1.90 | 3.00 Fibre | 18.50 | 21.36 | 26.80 | 11.96 | 18.01 Sugar and extract | 7.25 | 10.00 | 5.20 | 9.55 | 8.30 Water | 15.02 | 10.00 | 13.40 | 14.00 | 14.00 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Large quant.i.ties of starch are now made from this grain in Ohio; an establishment near Columbus consume 20,000 bushels of corn annually for this purpose. The offal of the grain is given to hogs, 500 to 600 head being annually fattened therewith. The quality of the starch is said to be superior to that of wheat, and commands a higher price in New York.

A corn plant, fifteen days after the seed was planted, cut on the 3rd June close to the ground, gave of--

Water 86.626 Dry matter 10.374 Ash 1.354 Ash calculated dry 13.053

By the above figures it will be seen that nearly 90 per cent, of the young plant is water; and that in proportion to the dry matter, the amount of earthy minerals which remain, as ash, when the plant is burnt, is large. This excess of water continues for many weeks. Thus, on the 5th July, thirty-three days from planting, the relations stood thus:--

Water 90.518 Dry matter 9.482 Ash 1.333 Ash calculated dry 14.101 (Ash very saline.)

Before green succulent food of this character is fit to give to cows, oxen, mules, or horses, it should be partly dried. Plants that contain from 70 to 75 per cent. of water need no curing before eaten. The young stalk cut July 12, gave over 94 per cent. of water. Such food used for soiling without drying would be likely to scour an animal, and give it the cholic.

The root at this time (July 12) gave of--

Water 81.026 Dry matter 18.974 Ash 2.222 Ash calculated dry 11.711 (Ash tastes of caustic potash.)

Ash of the whole plant above ground, 6.77 grains. Amount of ash in all below ground, 3.93 grains.

So late as July 26, the proportion of water in the stalk was 94 per cent.; and the ash calculated dry 17.66 per cent. The plant gained 21.36.98 grains in weight in a week preceding the 6th September. This was equal to a gain of 12.72 grains per hour.

The rapid growth of corn plants, when the heat, light, and moisture, as well as the soil are favorable, is truly wonderful. A deep, rich, mellow soil, in which the roots can freely extend to a great distance in depth and laterally, is what the corn-grower should provide for his crop. The perviousness of river bottoms contributes largely to their productiveness of this cereal. A compact clay, which excludes alike air, water, and roots, forbidding all chemical changes, is not the soil for Indian corn.

When farmers sell corn soon after it is ripe, there is considerable gain in not keeping it long to dry and shrink in weight. Corn grown by Mr. Salisbury, which was ripe by the 18th October, then contained 37 per cent. of water, which is 25 per cent. more than old corn from the crib will yield. The mean of man experiments tried by the writer has been a loss of 20 per cent. in moisture between new and old corn. The b.u.t.ts of cornstalks contain the most water, and husks or shucks the least, when fully matured and not dried. The latter have about 30 per cent, of dry matter when chemically desiccated.

COMPOSITION OF THE ASH OF THE LEAVES AT DIFFERENT STAGES.

July 19. Aug. 2. Aug. 23. Aug. 30. Oct. 18.

Carbonic acid 5.40 2.850 0.65 3.50 4.050 Silicia 13.50 19.850 34.90 36.27 58.650 Sulphuric acid 2.16 1.995 4.92 5.84 4.881 Phosphates 21.60 16.250 17.00 13.50 5.850 Lime .69 4.035 2.00 3.88 4.510 Magnesia .37 2.980 1.59 2.30 0.865 Potash 9.98 11.675 10.85 9.15 7.333 Soda 34.39 29.580 21.23 22.13 8.520 Chlorine 4.55 6.020 3.06 1.63 2.664 Organic acids 5.50 2.400 3.38 2.05 2.200 ----- ------ ------ ----- ------ 98.14 97.750 98.187 99.83 99.334

The above figures disclose several interesting facts. It will be seen that the increase of silica or flint in the leaf is steadily progressive from 13 per cent. at July 19, to 58.65 at October 18.

Flint is substantially the _bone earth_ of all gra.s.ses. If one were to a.n.a.lyse the bones of a calf when a day old, again when thirty days of age, and when a year old, the increase of phosphate of lime in its skeleton would be similar to that witnessed in the leaves and stems of maize. In the early stages of the growth of corn, its leaves abound in phosphates; but after the seeds begin to form, the phosphates leave the tissues of the plant in other parts, and concentrate in and around the germs in the seeds. On the 23rd of August, the ash of the whole stalk contained 19 per cent. of phosphates; and on the 18th of October, only 15.15 per cent. In forming the cobs of this plant, considerable potash is drawn from the stalk, as it decreases from 35.54 per cent. August 16, to 24.69 October 18. When the plant is growing fastest, its roots yield an ash which contains less than one per cent. of lime; but after this development is nearly completed, the roots retain, or perhaps regain from the plant above, over 4 per cent. of this mineral. Soda figures as high as from 20 to 31 per cent.

in the ash obtained from corn roots. Ripe seeds gave the following results on the a.n.a.lysis of their ash:--

Silica 0.850 Phosphoric acid 49.210 Lime 0.075 Magnesia 17.600 Potash 23.175 Soda 3.605 Sodium 0.160 Chlorine 0.295 Sulphuric acid 0.515 Organic acids 5.700 ------ 99.175

The above table shows a smaller quant.i.ty of lime than is usually found in the ash of this grain. It is, however, never so abundant as magnesia; and Professor Emmons has shown that the best corn lands in the State of New York contain a considerable quant.i.ty of magnesia. All experience, as well as all chemical researches, go to prove that _potash_ and phosphoric acid are important elements in the organisation of maize. Corn yields more pounds of straw and grain on poor land than either wheat, rye, barley, or oats; and it does infinitely better on rich than on sterile soils. To make the earth fertile, it is better economy to plant thick than to have the rows five feet apart each way, as is customary in some of the Southern States, and only one stalk in a hill. This gives but one plant to twenty-five square feet of ground. Instead of this, three square feet are sufficient for a single plant; and from that up to six, for the largest varieties of this crop.

Mr. Humboldt states the production of maize in the Antilles as 300 for one; and Mr. H. Colman has seen in several cases in the New England States of America, a return of 400 for one; that is to say, the hills being three feet apart each way, a peck of Indian corn would be sufficient seed for an acre. If 100 bushels of grain is in such case produced by an acre--and this sometimes happens--this is clearly a return of 400 for one.

Of the whole family of cereals, _Zea Mays_ is unquestionably the most valuable for cultivation in the United States. When the time shall come that population presses closely on the highest capabilities of American soil, this plant, which is a native of the New World, will be found greatly to excel all others in the quant.i.ty of bread, meat, milk, and b.u.t.ter which it will yield from an acre of land. With proper culture, it has no equal for the production of hay, in all cases where it is desirable to grow a large crop on a small surface.

Although there has been much written on the Eastern origin of this grain, it did not grow in that part of Asia watered by the Indus, at the time of Alexander the Great's expedition, as it is not among the productions of the country mentioned by Nearchus, the commander of the fleet; neither is it noticed by Arian, Diodorus, Columella, nor any other ancient author; and even as late as 1491, the year before Columbus discovered America, Joan di Cuba, in his "Ortus Sanitatis,"

makes no mention of it. It has never been found in any ancient tumulus, sarcophagus, or pyramid; nor has it ever been represented in any ancient painting, sculpture, or work of art, except in America.

But in that country, according to Garcilaso de la Vega, one of the ancient Peruvian historians, the palace gardens of the Incas, in Peru, were ornamented with maize, in gold and silver, with all the grains, spikes, stalks, and leaves; and in one instance, in the "garden of gold and silver," there was an entire cornfield, of considerable size, representing the maize in its exact and natural shape; a proof no less of the wealth of the Incas, than their veneration for this important grain.

In further proof of the American origin, it may be stated that this plant is still found growing, in a wild state, from the Rocky mountains in North America, to the humid forests of Paraguay, where, instead of having each grain naked, as is always the case after long cultivation, it is completely covered with glumes or husks. It is, furthermore, a well authenticated fact, that maize was found in a state of cultivation by the aborigines, in the island of Cuba, on its discovery by Columbus, as well as in most other places in America, first explored by Americans.

The first successful attempt to cultivate this grain in North America, by the English, occurred on James' river, in Virginia, in 1608. It was undertaken by the colonists sent over by the Indian company, who adopted the mode then practised by the natives, which, with some modifications, has been pursued throughout this country ever since.

The yield, at this time, is represented to have been from two hundred to more than one thousand fold. The same increase was noted by the early settlers in Illinois. The present yield, east of the Rocky Mountains, when judiciously cultivated, varies from 20 to 135 bushels to an acre.

The varieties of Indian corn are very numerous, exhibiting every grade of size, color, and conformation, between the "chubby reed"

that grows on the sh.o.r.es of Lake superior--the gigantic stalks of the Ohio valley--the tiny ears, with flat, close, clinging grains, of Canada--the brilliant, rounded little pearl--the bright red grains and white cob of the eight-rowed haemat.i.te--the swelling ears of the big white and the yellow gourd seed of the South. From the flexibility of this plant, it may be acclimatised, by gradual cultivation, from Texas to Maine, or from Canada to Brazil; but its character, in either case, is somewhat changed, and often new varieties are the result. The blades of the plant are of great value as food for stock, and is an article but rarely estimated sufficiently, when considering of the agricultural products of the Southern and Southwestern States especially.

To supply slaves on plantations with bread, including old and young, requires from twelve to thirteen bushels of corn each a year. Taking thirteen bushels as the average consumption of breadstuffs by the 22,000,000 of people in the United States, the aggregate is 286,000,000 bushels per annum.