Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/53

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MAIZE MAJESTY 45 ance is brought into play to reduce the cost of cultivation; corn planters and sulky cultiva- tors allow one man to manage many acres ; and now machinery has been invented to save the 'grower from the most irksome task of husk- ing; and where the corn is sold in the shape of beef and pork, the animals are turned into the field and made to do their own harvesting. In planting, the seed is put in hills or in drills, the distance apart being governed by the kind of corn and the richness of the soil; each method of planting has its advocates; if the land is full of weeds, it is said that these can be more readily kept under if the corn is in hills, to allow of cultivation by plough or cultivator in both directions. By hill, an elevation is not to be understood, but it is used to express the station for the plants ; the old practice of hill- ing, or drawing the earth up to form a mound around the plants, is abandoned by good culti- vators. The cultivator has numerous enemies to contend with; crows and blackbirds will take the seed when sprouting, or even before it starts, and to prevent this a thin coating of tar is sometimes applied; cutworms take off the young shoot above ground, and the white grub eats the roots below; the chief remedy for these is to sow enough seed to allow for their depredations. The boll worm, so destructive to cotton, also attacks corn, even in the northern states; the moth lays her eggs upon the silk, and the young larva soon finds its way beneath Alabama 16,977.948 Missouri New York North Carolina. Ohio .. 66,084,075 . 16,462,825 . 18,454,215 67 501 144 Georgia Illinois . . 17,646,459 129 921 395 Indiana Iowa . . 51,094,538 68,935,065 Pennsylvania.. Tennessee Texas . 34,702,006 . 41,343,614 . 20-554.588 Kansas Kentucky Michigan Mississippi . . . . . 17,025,525 . . 50,091,006 . . 14,086,238 . . 15,637,316 Virginia 17,649.304 Wisconsin 15,033,998 Corn Smut. the husks, where it revels upon the tender ker- nels. The most serious enemy to the crop is not an insect but a fungus, mtilago maydis, which produces what is known as smut; it manifests itself by abnormal growths upon va- rious parts of the plant, but more frequently it attacks the growing grain ; a single kernel will sometimes be found transformed into a soft grayish fungoid mass, as large as an egg or larger ; this when broken open will be found to contain a blackish powder, the spores. This is not only destructive to the corn, but danger- ous to the animals which eat it ; the death of animals has been directly traced to feeding on corn stalks badly affected with smut, and it is said that mules fed upon corn thus diseased lose their hoofs, and that it produces abortion upon cows; it seems to have properties similar to those of the ergot of rye. According to the federal census, the United States produced 592,- 071,104 bushels of Indian corn in 1850, 838,- 792, 742 in 1860, and 760,944,549 in 1870. The states which produced more than 14,000,000 bushels in 1870 are as follows: During the year ending June 30, 1873, 38,541,- 930 bushels of Indian corn, valued at $23,794,- 694, were exported from the United States, chiefly to Great Britain, besides 403,111 bush- els of meal, worth $1,474,827. In 1872 the total import of Indian corn into Great Britain, chiefly from the United States, amounted to 24,532,670 cwts., valued at 8,691,192. For a full discussion of the origin of maize, see De Candolle, GeograpMe botanique, quoted above. A description of the leading varieties is given in Fearing Burr, jr.'s "Field and Gar- den Vegetables of America" (Boston, 1865). A full and exhaustive treatise is Edward En- field's "Indian Corn, its Value, Culture, and Uses " (New York, 1866). MAJESTY, a title of the highest honor, first used by the Romans to designate the supreme power and dignity of the people (majestas po- puli Romani), as well as of its highest chosen representatives or rulers, as dictators, consuls, and the senate. On the overthrow of the re- public, the emperors assumed the same title (majestas Augusti), and in the middle ages it was adopted by the German emperors. Of kings, it was given to Louis XI. of France in 1461, and Henry VIII. of England assumed it in 1520. When Charles V. was elected em- peror of Germany in 1519, he took the title also as king of Spain. It is now generally be- stowed on all emperors and kings of Europe, except the sultan, who is styled highness, as well as on the emperor of Brazil. The emperor of Austria is addressed as imperial and royal apostolical majesty. The titles of Catholic majesty and most Christian majesty were be- stowed by the see of Rome on the kings of Spain and France respectively. James I. of England used the style " sacred " and " most excellent majesty." Violations of the majesty