CORN. . 71 



instead of being green, you lose a very large portion of nutri \ 

 tious matter which you would otherwise obtain from it. 



I will remark here, that we are becoming too careless 

 about growing corn. I have seen farmers who were careful in 

 the selection of their seed, who, every year of their lives, were 

 getting a little more from an acre. By paying strict attention 

 to this — and I know no better way than to do as Judge Buell 

 did — a farmer may increase his eight-rowed corn to ten, in a 

 few years. I have seen eight-rowed corn converted into six- 

 teen by this process. And selection is very important in 

 reference to size and quality. I do not know of any practical 

 limit. If a farmer begins when he is a young man and con- 

 tinues during the whole period of his life, I think he would 

 be astonished at the amount of improvement he had made. 

 Certainly, the improvement which I have seen careful farmers 

 produce in this direction is fully equal to the improvement in 

 cattle which has been made by careful and attentive selection 

 of animals from which to breed. Breed from the best, is the 

 principle which lies at the foundation of all successful farming. 

 If you are going to breed animals, breed from the best ; if 

 you are going to breed seeds, breed from the best, and it will 

 surely pay, in the most extraordinary manner. 



The importance of the corn crop, gentlemen, cannot be 

 overrated. The amount of corn raised in the United States, 

 in 1869, was a thousand million of bushels. Just think of 

 that ! Conceive, if you can, what an enormous heap a million 

 of bushels will be, and then multiply that by a thousand. 

 There is hardly a man in the whole community who has the 

 imagination to conceive of the vast amount of this crop. It 

 is enormous. My impression is, that the average price 

 throughout the United Slates was ■ fifty-five cents a bushel. 

 That would be $550,000,000 as the value of your crop. We 

 talk a great deal about our national debt. Well, less than 

 four years of our corn crop would wipe it out. Now, suppose 

 that by any care of ours, by increasing our depth of plowing, 

 by paying more attention to the selection of seed, by adapting 

 our manures more closely to the wants of the corn crop, we 

 should raise two bushels of corn where we now raise one — ■ 



