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AGRICULTURAL TEXT-BOOK. 



cording to the moan temperature. In Europe, it is grown from 

 the shores of the Mediterranean as far north as the Nether 

 lands. The region of cultivation appears to be gradually ex 

 tending further north; probably by the origin of new and 

 hardy varieties. It is also grown in Northern, Southern, and 

 Western Africa, India, China, Japan, Australia, the Sandwich 

 Islands, the Azores, the Madeiras, the Canaries, and numerous 

 other ocean islands. With the exception of Rice, it is the food 

 of a larger number of human beings than any other grain. 



275. In the United States, it was first cultivated by the Eng 

 lish on James River, Virginia, 1608; the Indian mode being 

 closely followed,. Since then it has been everywhere a favorite 

 crop, and annually a larger quantity is produced. The increase 

 from 1840 to 1850 was 214,000,000 bushels, equal to 56 per 

 cent over the former period. In New England it has increased 

 nearly 50 per cent, ; and no State has retrograded. 



The following is the production of the most important States 

 according to the census of 1840 and 1850: 



Total production of the United States in 1850, 592,326,612, 

 bushels, which at the low average of ten cents per bushel on 

 the farm, gives an annual return of $59,232,661 in this one 

 crop alone. The corn crop, however, represents not only the 

 vegetable food of man, but also animal food in the shape of 



