_To ripen any Impostume or Swelling. For sore Mouths. The
New-Englands standing Dish._
_Indian_ Wheat, of which there is three sorts, yellow, red, and blew;
the blew is commonly Ripe before the other a Month: Five or Six
Grains of _Indian_ Wheat hath produced in one year 600. It is hotter
than our Wheat and clammy; excellent in _Cataplasms_ to ripen any
Swelling or impostume. The decoction of the blew Corn, is good to
wash sore Mouths with: It is light of digestion, and the _English_
make a kind of Loblolly of it {53} to eat with Milk, which they call
_Sampe_; they beat it in a Morter, and sift the flower out of it:
the remainder they call _Homminey_, which they put into a Pot of two
or three Gallons, with Water, and boyl it upon a gentle Fire till
it be like a Hasty Pudden; they put of this into Milk, and so eat
it. Their Bread also they make of the _Homminey_ so boiled, and mix
their Flower with it, cast it into a deep Bason in which they form
the Loaf, and then turn it out upon the Peel, and presently put it
into the Oven before it spreads abroad; the Flower makes excellent
Puddens.[190]
_Bastard Calamus Aromaticus_, agrees with the description, but is not
barren; they flower in _July_, and grow in wet places, as about the
brinks of Ponds.[191]
_To keep the Feet warm._
The _English_ make use of the Leaves to keep their Feet warm. There
is a little Beast called a _Muskquash_, that liveth in small Houses
in the Ponds, like Mole Hills, that feed upon these Plants. Their
Cods sent as sweet and as strong as Musk, and will last along time
handsomly wrap’d up in Cotton wool; they are very good to lay amongst
Cloaths. _May_ is the best {54} time to kill them, for then their
Cods sent strongest.
_Wild-Leekes_, which the _Indians_ use much to eat with their
fish.[192]