HARVESTING CORN. 95 



whether right or wrong, that somebody cannot be found to 

 uphold : but I think the balance of convenience for the whole 

 State would greatly outweigh the inconvenience, if we had a 

 uniform axle. 



Mr. Beown. If you would pass a law that all heavy 

 wagons should be of a certain width, all market-wagons of a 

 certain width, and all light carriages should be narrower, you 

 would have level roads, and the ruts which we now find in 

 some portions of the State would be avoided. I certainly 

 think it would be a very great advantage to have no ruts. 



The Chairman. In the absence of Professor Stockbridge, 

 the paper prepared by him will now be read by Secretary 

 Russell. 



HARVESTING CORN. 



BY PKOFESSOK STOCKBRIDGE. 



" Corn is king." So the trumpeter of his Majesty has 

 proclaimed in no uncertain sounds. Yet the farmers of 

 Massachusetts have been slow to acknowledge fealty, or pay 

 tribute. They have thought the Bay State was outside the 

 confines of his territory, and that his real realm was in the 

 great valley of the West. But corn is king, nevertheless, 

 "from the mountains to the sea ; " and the sooner we arrange 

 ourselves under his banner, acknowledge his supremacy, and 

 obey his dictates, the better it will be for us. He holds 

 sway, not alone by virtue of the absolute wealth he is able 

 to bestow, but because of his ever present help in supplying 

 the numberless wants of the farm, the family, and the home, 

 and his contributions to the comfort and sustenance of his 

 subjects. Dropping this personification here, we observe 

 that the drift of agricultural opinion in Massachusetts from 

 about 1865 to 1875 was, that we could not grow this crop 

 with profit, either because of the cheaply produced and 

 transported western product, or because of the demand of 

 our markets for supplies, in producing which the West could 

 not compete ; and therefore it was a stroke of good policy 

 to i)roduce for this market demand, and purchase the corn 

 needed for home consumption. Between 1875 and tlie pres- 

 ent time, this opinion has been ipaterially modified ; and corn 

 production has undoubtedly increased, though we have as yet 



