MAIZE, Indian corn.
The Zea mays of botanists is much cultivated in India, and in all the islands of the Asiatic Archipelago ; is, however, more reared in the western than in the old continent. The stem and leaves, when dry, are chopped up and given to cattle. Tho seed is ground for bread, and eaten under the name of Chabena.
In China, large portions of the population depend on this grain. It is parched, or ground into meal for cakes. In Japan it is honoured with a place in the armorial bearings of the State.
The growers of Nepal reckon three kinds of maize : a white-grained species, which is generally ; grown in the low and hot valleys ; and a smaller one, called Bhoteah or 3Ituilli Moki, which is considered the sweetest of the three, but, from being less productive, is not generally grown on good lands. Maize thrives best on a siliceous, well-drained, rich soil. The finest Indian corn of , the Sikkim range is grown where the soil con sists of a substratum of decomposed mica from the under or rocky stratum, with a superstratum of from 3 to 6 inches of decayed vegetable matter from leaves, etc., of the ancient forests. Through , out Hindustan, June is the usual time for sowing.
In Behar, about two seers are usually sown upon a bigha ; in Nepal, twenty-four seers upon an English acre; in the vicinity of Poona, one and a half seer per bigha. In Nepal, the seed is sown, after one delving and pulverization of the soil, in the latter end of May and early part of June, the seeds being laid at intervals of 7 or 8 inches in the drills, and the drills an equal space apart.
The drills are not raised as for turnip sowing, but consist merely of rows of the plant on a level surface. The seed is distributed in this manner with the view of facilitating the weeding of the crop, not for the purpose of earthing up the roots, which seems unnecessary. Indian corn sowing resembles that of the gohya or upland rice in the careful manner in which it is performed, the sower depositing each grain in its place, having first dibbled a hole for it, 5 or 6 inches deep, with a small hand hoe, with which he also covers up the grain.
Cattle are voraciously fond of the leaves and stems, which are very sweet, and even of the dry straw. It is said that near Kaliyachak, though. the people give all other straw to their cattle, yet they burn that of maize as unfit for fodder. In Nepal, the stalks, with the leaves attached, often 12 feet long, cut by the sickle, are used as fodder for elephants, bedding for cattle, and as fuel. The maize crop within the hills of Nepal suffers much from the inroads of bears, which are extremely partial to this grain. In the Peninsula of India it is roasted as a luxury. Maize is increasing in cultivation in Java and some of the eastern islands. It is found to have the advan tage there over mountain rice, of being more fruitful and hardy.—Simmonds, Commercial Pro ducts ; Schouw in Jameson's Philosophical Journal ; Simmonds, Colonial Magazine, ii. p. 309.