Note 239 — Chapter XXV · ACCOUNT OF THE MANDAN INDIANS

I brought to Europe specimens of the several kinds of maize grown among the Mandans; these have been sown, but only the early species were ripe in September, 1835. The heads have by no means attained the same size, on the Rhine, as in their native country. There the plant attains a height of five or six feet, and the colours of the grains are very various, bright, and beautiful: while, on the Rhine, the plant grew to the height of four or four and a half feet. The later sorts grew to the height of ten feet, and were not quite ripe at the end of October. (See Bradbury, [our volume v, p. 158, note 96], for an account of the maize of the Mandans.)

According to Tanner (page 180), an Ottowa Indian first introduced the cultivation of maize on the Red River, among the Ojibuas, or Chippeways.—Maximilian.