Though wheat is characterised as the most nutritious food for man in all quarters of the world, yet the Indian corn crop of the United States is not second in value to any product of the earth; cultivated in the middle and Eastern States, nay, even in the rich cotton-growing districts, Indian corn is fast rising in importance, and will soon equal in value that important commercial staple. This indigenous grain yields to the nation an annual average of five hundred millions of bushels, and has, within the last five years, attracted much attention as a life-sustaining food, more particularly at the period of Ireland's severe suffering, in 1847, and the following years. Nations, as well as statesmen and farmers, have found it an object worthy of their consideration and esteem.
When due regard is paid to the selection of varieties, and cultivated in a proper soil, maize may be accounted a sure crop in almost every portion of the habitable globe, between the 44th degree of north latitude and a corresponding parallel south. Among the objects of culture in the United States, it takes precedence in the scale of cereal crops, as it is best adapted to the soil and climate, and furnishes the largest amount of nutritive food. Besides its production in the North American Republic, its extensive culture is limited to Mexico, the West Indies, most of the States of South America, France, Spain, Portugal, Lombardy, and Southern and Central Europe generally. It is, however, also cultivated with success in Northern, Southern, and Western Africa, India, China, Japan, Australia, and the Sandwich Islands, the groups of the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, and numerous other oceanic isles.
Maize is not a favorite grain as bread-corn with the European nations, for although it abounds in mucilage, it is asserted to contain less gluten, and is not likely to be much used by those who can procure wheaten flour, or even rye bread.
The large importations which were made by our Government during the prevalence of the potato disease, brought it into more general use among some classes, and the imports for home consumption are still extensive, having been as follows in the last few years:—
| 1848. | 1849. | ||
| Indian corn, | quarters | 1,582,755 | 2,249,571 |
| " | meal, cwts. | 233,880 | 102,181 |
| 1850. | 1851. | ||
| Indian corn, | quarters | 1,286,264 | 1,810,425 |
| " | meal, cwts. | 11,401 |
The trade in maize, or Indian corn, is totally new since 1846. The famine in Ireland in that year, and the potato rot in almost every successive year since, have now fully established it. Like the gold discoveries, the potato rot may be regarded as a providential means of effecting a great change in the condition of society. Those discoveries are not without their influence in the East, and, combined with the potato rot, they have rapidly increased the commerce between the East and West of Europe, while they are spreading broad paths between all Europe and the lands in the Southern Ocean. The imports of maize from all parts, in 1852, amounted to 1,550,000 quarters, of which about 1,100,000 quarters arrived in vessels from the Mediterranean, &c., calling at Queenstown or Falmouth for orders. The balance consisted of imports from America, France, Portugal, &c., and also of cargoes addressed direct to a port of discharge, without first calling off the coast for orders. The quantities received in 1851 and 1852 from the Mediterranean were as follows:—
| 1852. | 1851. | |
| Received from | qrs. | qrs. |
| Galatz | 223,000 | 286,067 |
| Ibraila | 362,600 | 211,779 |
| Salonica | 35,640 | 95,377 |
| Odessa | 219,170 | 74,065 |
| Egypt | 50,960 | 86,260 |
| Italy | 8,250 | 162,544 |
| Constantinople, Malta, Trieste, and other ports in the Mediterranean | 190,720 | 286,358 |
| 1,090,340 | 1,202,450 |
The various quarters from whence we derive supplies of this grain, are shown in the following table of the imports for the last three years, which I have compiled from the most recent Parliamentary returns.
| INDIAN CORN AND MEAL IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM. | ||||||
| PLACES. | 1849. | 1850. | 1851. | |||
| Corn. qrs. | Meal. cwts. | Corn. qrs. | Meal. cwts. | Corn. qrs. | Meal. cwts. | |
| Russian Ports in Black Sea | 25,519 | 19,721 | 98,176 | |||
| Denmark | 1,300 | 250 | 5 | |||
| Hanover | 1,344 | |||||
| Belgium | 67 | |||||
| France | 135,115 | 510 | 102,978 | 26 | 164,128 | 29 |
| Portugal Proper | 61,446 | 67,518 | 53 | 21,922 | ||
| Azores and Madeira | 17,214 | 7 | 7,794 | 6 | 4,356 | 1 |
| Spain and Bahama Islands | 26,856 | 48 | 19,982 | 48 | 34,771 | |
| Sardinian Territories | 13,357 | 25 | 2 | 1,302 | 1 | |
| Tuscany | 11,481 | 95 | 15,612 | 94 | 34,760 | |
| Papal Territories | 8,927 | 1,876 | 75,588 | |||
| Naples and Sicily | 18 | 10,066 | 101,489 | |||
| Austrian Territories | 90,540 | 45,748 | 73,966 | |||
| Malta and Gozo | 18,198 | 4,969 | 11,002 | |||
| Ionian Islands | 5,390 | 7,324 | 5,967 | |||
| Greece | 57,520 | 8,712 | 3,252 | |||
| Egypt | 12,767 | 71,808 | 127,692 | |||
| Turkish dominions, including Wallachia, Moldavia and Syria | 563,799 | 348,456 | 748,180 | |||
| Morocco | 760 | |||||
| West Coast of Africa | 889 | 2,322 | ||||
| B.N.A. Colonies | 1,645 | 164 | 1,530 | 4,377 | 7 | |
| U.S. of America | 1,170,154 | 100,859 | 538,155 | 11,253 | 295,978 | 9,522 |
| Brazil | 1,253 | 468 | 725 | |||
| Other places | 1,756 | |||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 2,225,459 | 101,683 | 1,277,070 | 11,482 | 1,807,636 | 9,561 | |
| (Parliamentary Paper, No. 14, Sess. 1852.) | ||||||