76 



ASRieVLTVnXh ESSATSi 



An opinion has heretofore prevailed, that corn is a very ex- 

 hausting crop, much more so than potatoes. Tliis is denied by 

 some distinguished modern agriculturalists, especially by Doct. 

 Elliot, called the father of New-England husbandry. In his 

 Essays on Field Husbandry, published in 1747, he remarks, 

 that "the larger the crop of corn, the better the succeeding 

 erop; which is contrary to the fact from- which the knowledge 

 of an exhausting crop is usually derived. 



Respecting the great value of this plant, it has been observ- 

 ed by an eminent agriculturalist,* that "if the theory which sup- 

 poses that plants extract most or all their matter from the at- 

 mosphere, and that the whole wf this matter is manure, be true, 

 then that plant which produces most vegetable offal must be 

 the most improving crop ; and it will hardly be denied that In- 

 dian corn 19 entitled to this preeminence ; compared with 

 Wheat, suppose the same land to produce as much grain of the 

 one as the other, which in its use will make equal returns to 

 the earth. Here the equality ends, if indeed it exists even in 

 this point. The corn stalks exceed the wheat stalks in bulk 

 weight, and a ?apacit^ for making food for the earth. If any 

 one who converts both his stalks and straw into manure, will 

 compare their product in April, when he may distinguish one 

 from the other, he will find in the former a vast superiorhy in 

 quantity. The English fiirmers consider wheat straw as their 

 most abundant resource for manure, and corn stalks are far 

 more abundaot : corn, therefore, is a less impoverishing, be- 

 cause more compensating crop to the earth, credited onTy for 

 its stalks, than any in England. In comparing crops, to ascer- 

 tain their relative product and operation on the earth, we must 

 compare farinacious crops with each other ; and consider the 

 litter and ofFal th6y produce, not as wasted, but as judiciously 

 applied to the compensation of the land. Corn produces a re- 

 turn, from the same land, of more offal or litter, in its stalks a- 

 lone, than wheat does altogether. But to the stalks of corn, its 

 blades, tops, husks, and cobs, remain to be added, each of which 

 will nearly balance the litter bestowed on the land bv the 

 wheat." .. ^ 



The celebrated Arthur Young, in his travels through France, 

 in 1789, makes the following remarks respecting Indian corn ; 

 Perhaps, says he, it is the most important plant that can be in- 

 troduced into the agriculture of any country, whose climate 

 will suit it. For the inhabitants of a country to live upon that 

 plant which is the preparation for wheat, and at the same time 



*■ Col. John Taylor, of Virgiaia; 



