Description of maize

Abstract

Peter Kalm (1716–1779), a student of Linnaeus and later Professor of Economy at the University of Åbo, Sweden,³ was sent to North America in 1748 by the Swedish Academy of Science to obtain seed and other planting stock of New World herbs, shrubs and trees for possible use in Sweden. Kalm was a close, objective observer of things botanical and cultural and had a distinct sense of the utilitarian. HisTravels into North America; containing its Natural History, and a circumstantial Account of its Plantations and Agriculture in general, with the Civil, Ecclesiastical and Commercial State of the Country, the Manners of the Inhabitants, and several curious and Important Remarks on the various Subjects were, as the English title of the 1770 translation of John Reinhold Forster suggests, wide ranging in interests and observations. Kalm’s own title,En Resa til Norra America, in its conciseness better reflects the student of Linnaeus.

In the Travels there are a number of references to maize and maize growing. From 1749 to 1778 Kalm contributed seventeen articles on North American subjects to the Kongliga Svenska Vetenskap-Academiens Handlingar. “Beskrifning om Mays,” published in two parts, in 1751 and 1752, has not previously been available in English translation. Kalm’s keen observations on maize culture and utilization in the late colonial period should prove of interest to students of maize and of the history of North American agriculture.