Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1895-08-08
NEW CEREALS
AND FRUITS.
Some Foreign Products to Be
Introduced.
GIANT CORN FROM PERU.
-Four Times the Size of the
Ordinary Kind.

Ordinary Kind.
Washington special: Samples of corn o.
a giant species have been obtained from Per,
by the department OF agriculture. The
grains are four times the size of those of ord.
mary maize, and Secretary Morton believes
that the plant may be turned to most valu.
able account in this country. 1t is very pro-
life and bears ears of huge dimensions. The
The species is quite distinct from any known
in North America, and the name 'szea amla-
cea' has been given to it. All of our corn
comes under the head of s.zea mails" Prof.
E. L. Sturtevant is now making a study of
this remarkable Peruvian cereal, with a view
to finding out how it may be cultivated most
advantageously:
The grains are extraordinarily starchy even
for corn, hence the name ''amylacea." AL.
ready ten distinct varieties Of the species
have been ascertained. One of them would
probably be excellent for canning, inasmuch
as it contains an unusual percentage of sugar
1t has been named ''zea amylacea sacchara-
ia" Undoubtedly the species is derived
from the same source as the maize of the
United States. All known varieties of this
cereal, it is believed, came originally from
the ''zea tunicrta,' or ssclothed corn, which
still grows wild in Mexico. Each grain on a
ear If this primitive maize is enclosed in a
little husk.
1t is believed that the earliest home of the
maize plant was the highlands of central
Mexico. The vegetable originated in a cir.
cumscribed locality, above 1850 feet eleva-
ton, north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
and south of the twenty-second degree of
north latitude, near the ancient seat of the
Maya tribes. The Mayas we're the FIRST to
cultivate it, and from them the use of it
spread north and south. Probably corn was
known along the Rio Grande by 100 A. d.
Three hundred years later it mad reached the
coast of Maine. In Peru the Incas grew it
before the year 100. The tombs of ancient
Peruvians are commonly found to contain
maize. They built great irrigation works to
help the cultivation of corn.
Hope of the discovery of a new and valua-
bic cereal has been raised by the fruiting this
season of the common cane of the southern
canebreakes. This is an extraordinary event
Only very rarely docs the cane produce seed,
its ordinary method Of propagation being like
that of the sugar cane by underground root
stocks. This year farmers in the south have
gathered thousands Of bushels of the seed for
fodder. 1t is likely that they serve excell-
emily for human food, if the plant could be
induced to bear annually. Whether or not
it could be persuaded by cultivation to alter
its habit in this regard is an open question.
The farmers claim the seed will not germi-
nate, but experiments made within the last
few weeks by the department of agriculture
prove that they do sprout, though they are
very slow about it. The root sent out by
the seed is enormously long compared with
the little green shoot.
A man in Illinois has applied to the de-
partment of agriculture for seed of bamboos.
He wants to grow them on islands in the
Mississippi river, believing that the culture
would be profitable for the wood and other
uses. Bamboos, however, are usually prop
agated from cuttings of the roots; they rarely
fruit. The cane above referred to is a species
Of bamboo. A number of successful bamboo
plantations have already been established in
southern California. Bamboos are utslized
for making water pipes. ship riggings, carts
boxes, mats, cordage and paper. Furniture
manufactured from the stems is much in
fashion at present. An Indian species some
times attains a height Of forty feet in as many
days.
Quite a number Of tropical nuts have been
introduced into cultivation in this country
Already on the east coast OF Florida are
growing ago, 900 cocoanut trees, $4,000 being
in one plantation. 1t is believed thai the
first trees of this kind in that state sprouted
from nuts brought from Central America and
the West Indias by the gulf stream. At Key
West and about some Of the old forts cocoa
nuts were planted at an early day. as certain
trees now standing bear witness. In 1874
bark freighted with c~ocoanuts was caught on
the coast Of Florida and beached near Lake
Worth. Several thousand Of the nuts were
saved and planted, the satisfactory growth OF
the seedlings giving an impetus to cultivation.
The FIRST importations of cocoanuts OF
named varieties was made in 1889, when the
secretary Of agriculture obtained through the
state department t~o shipments OF selected
NUT. from the Philippines. These, with two
other shipments in 1890 from the same
islands, comprised fourteen varieties. TO
get 30 many varieties was no easy task, mas
mrch :. not more than two or three grow in
.nv one district or island Of the archipelago
and they were collected by botanist, who
m.de / tour for the purpose. The nuts
thu. received were forwarded to growers IN
rlorida. Certain specimens from the islands
81 Albay Misanis were Of the smallest
variety. which yields little oil and y @
,,fer,or favor. The shells are carved by the
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