[Sca-cooks] Maize and Cubits

[Daniel Schneider]

>
> Stefan Wrote
> Something doesn't seem right here. Looking up the length of a "cubit"
> on the web I get varying measurements, but they range from "about 17
> to 22 inches (43 to 56 centimeters)". Even assuming a conservative
> number of 17 inches that makes the shortest "Indian millet (maize) 102
> inches or 8.5 feet tall and the taller up to 136 inches or 11.3 feet
> tall.
>
> I know we've been breeding maize to be shorter and thus easier to
> harvest, but these numbers seem awfully tall.
>
> Stefan
>
>
> That doesn't seem too unlikely to me- I know that the19th c field corn we
> grew at Sturbridge Village reached 10+ feet fairly commonly- I realise
> that's 400 years later, but considering the usefulness of the stalks  as
> animal fodder and bedding, I would suspect that big was seen as good back in
> period as well...
> Dan