I.] OBSERVATIONS. 



9. Much of the ease and happiness of the peo- 

 ple of the United States of America is ascribable 

 to the absence of grinding taxation ; but that 

 absence alone, without the cultivation of Indian 

 Corn, would not, in the space of only about a 

 hundred and fifty years, have created a powerful 

 nation, consisting of twelve millions of souls ; a 

 population surpassing that of England and Wales. 

 This plant is the great blessing of the country. 

 In my " Year's residence in America," 1 describe 

 it as the greatest blessing that God ever gave to 

 man. It ripens at a time of the year, when the 

 harvest of the other grain is completely gone by ; 

 and it is a thing of such vast importance, that the 

 question from farmer to farmer, living at some 

 distance from each other, is not, " how is your 

 wheat, your barley, your rye, or your oats ? " but, 

 ^^ how is your CORN this year ? " For, by that, 

 he judges of the state of his neighbour's prosperity 

 or adversity as to his crops. 



10. I have very frequently observed, that I be- 

 lieved England to be the richest agricultural 

 country in the world, bating the want of Indian 

 Corn; and that, if it had that, it would exceed every 

 other country beyond all comparison. Perceiving 

 the Indian Corn to require the heat of America, 

 and seeing it frequently hardly coming to ma- 

 turity, even in the United States, in their most 

 northern parts, I regarded our sun as wholly in- 



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