Maize Sugar.—­The stem and branches of Indian corn, during the time that its grain is filling, abounds with sugar, even when grown in this country; so much so, that it might be turned to account by those of the peasantry who have small plots of ground attached to their cottages; and I applied a simple method by which a rich syrup may be obtained from it, equal in sweetness to treacle, and superior to it in flavor.  The proper time for cutting down the plant (which should be done within an inch of the ground), is when the corn in the ear is small and full of a milky juice.  All the large and old leaves should be stripped off, leaving only the young and tender ones; they should then be cut into short lengths, thoroughly bruised, and the juice entirely pressed out from them.  Where the means cannot be obtained for expressing the juice by this method, the following may be employed:—­After the plants have been cut into small pieces, put them into a large pot or copper, with only just sufficient water to extract the juice; boil for one hour, and then strain off the liquor; to each gallon of this liquor add a wine-glass full of lime-water whilst warm; but if it be the expressed juice, obtained as above mentioned, add double the quantity of lime-water.  When the liquor is cold, for every three gallons beat up an egg with some of the liquor; put altogether into a boiler, and boil gently till the syrup acquires the consistence of treacle.  Whilst this is going on, the liquor should every now and then be well stirred, and the scum which rises to the surface taken off.  This syrup, which will be found a better substitute for sugar than treacle, and more wholesome, should be kept in lightly-covered vessels, in a dry place.

My own observations, twelve years ago, acquainted me with the fact, that when the grain in the ear has acquired one half of the full size, the quantity of sugar in the sap has passed its maximum, or begun to decrease, and continues to do so until it disappears entirely.  Lopping off the young ears makes shorter work of it.  It is like taking the young from an animal giving suck, in which case the milk soon ceases to flow into the breast, and that which produced it is elaborated into other fluids necessary to the nourishment of the different parts of the body of the parent.  In the corn-stalk, when deprived of its ears, the elements of sugar are dissipated by increasing the size of the plant.

Sugar may also be obtained from the carrot and the parsnip, as well as from all sweet fruits.  It is abundant throughout the vegetable kingdom; it forms the first food of plants when they germinate in the seed; when the first little sprout is projected from a grain of corn, a portion of the farina, or starch, is changed into sugar, which may be called the blood of the plant, and from it is drawn the nourishment necessary to its expansion and appearance above the surface of the earth.  In the latter growth of many plants an inverse process is carried on, as in