12. The power most commonly employed to put heavy machinery in operation, is that supplied by water. This is especially the case with regard to mills for grinding grain; but, when this cannot be had, a substitute is found in steam, or animal strength. The wind is also rendered subservient to this purpose. The wind-mill was invented in the time of Augustus Cæsar. During the reign of this emperor, and probably long before, mules and asses were employed by both the Greeks and Romans in turning their mills. The period at which water-mills began to be used cannot be certainly determined. Some writers place it as far back as the Christian era.
13. Wheat flour is one of the staple commodities of the United States, and there are mills for its manufacture in almost every part of the country, where wheat is extensively cultivated; but our most celebrated flour-mills are on the Brandywine Creek, Del., at Rochester, N. Y., and at Richmond, Va.
14. In our Southern states, hommony is a favorite article of food. It consists of the flinty portions of Indian corn, which have been separated from the hulls and eyes of the grain. To effect this separation, the corn is sometimes ground very coarsely in a mill; but the most usual method is that of pounding it in a mortar.
15. The mortar is excavated from a log of hard wood, between twelve and eighteen inches in diameter. The form of the excavation is similar to that of a common iron mortar, except that it is less flat at the bottom, to prevent the corn from being reduced to meal during the operation. The pestle is usually made by confining an iron wedge in the split end of a round stick, by means of an iron ring.
16. The white flint corn is the kind usually chosen for hommony; although any kind, possessing the requisite solidity, will do. Having been poured into the mortar, it is moistened with hot water, and immediately beaten with the pestle, until the eyes and hulls are forced from the flinty portions of the grain. The part of the corn which has been reduced to meal by the foregoing process, is removed by means of a sieve, and the hulls, by the aid of the wind.
17. Hommony is prepared for the table by boiling it in water for twelve hours with about one fourth of its quantity of white beans, and some fat bacon. It is eaten while yet warm, with milk or butter; or, if suffered to get cold, is again warmed with lard or some other fat substance, before it is brought to the table.
