I02 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



between ten and eleven million dollars worth of grain every 

 year. Now gentlemen, the hen tells us that this is extravagant, 

 and she knows, and she says in tones that we ought to listen 

 to, that if we are able to pay those fearful prices for grain, 

 and she still pay a profit, she would pay a great deal bigger 

 profit if we could save some of that bill. Now one of the most 

 astonishing things to me that I saw in Iowa was a corn show. 

 The state agricultural society paid nearly four hundred dollars 

 in cash for prizes for single ears for the collection of ten ears 

 of corn. They had it down to a standard and had a regular 

 judging by points. In my judgment, it was one of the most 

 valuable things that has ever been done. It seems to me that 

 one of the most useful things that could be done for Con- 

 necticut farmers would be to make a collection of the various 

 kinds of corn that have been grown in the state for so long. 

 If we do not do it, some of these varieties are going to be 

 lost, and I am inclined to think that it would be a misfortune 

 because some of these are among the most fruitful grains that 

 you can raise in this state. If some one would take hold of 

 this, pick the ears, judge them, and find out about them, it is 

 my belief that it would add millions of value to the state of 

 Connecticut in a few years ; and. gentlemen, let me tell you that 

 you cannot afiford to go on and pay the fearful prices which 

 you Connecticut farmers have been paying for grain. I 

 understand that here and in the city of Bridgeport, and in the 

 city of Hartford, if we could get at the exact figures, it would 

 show an enormous total of carloads of grain that are shipped 

 from the west into these markets and sold for consumption 

 here. I believe that Connecticut farmers should do some- 

 thing to save some of this bill. It is all right for us to say 

 that these hundreds of thousands of dollars which are ex- 

 pended for grain are bringing fertility to us from the heart of 

 the west. That is true, to a certain extent, but if we can raise 

 our own grain, and particularly our own corn, we ought to do 

 it. A beginning should certainly be made on that line. The 

 time is fast coming when we have got to do it. There is no 

 doubt about it. You cannot go on and make a reasonable 

 profit on your farming and pay this enormous expense for 

 grain. You must retrench on your expenses in this respect. 

 Now if it had not been demonstrated that it was perfectly 



