INDIAN COEN. 



INTEODUCTIOK 



IT appears, from the census returns of 1860, that 

 there were at that time, 3,381,583 farmers in the 

 United States, which, by the ordinary ratio of increase, 

 would make the present number not far from four 

 millions ; most of whom are, doubtless, in the habit of 

 raising an annual crop of Indian corn. This, at least, 

 is to be presumed, for the crop is so universally culti- 

 vated, and so essential to the husbandman, that those 

 omitting it must be extremely few in number. 



Allowing for these exceptions, and for the interrup- 

 tions resulting from the war, it may be taken for 

 granted that there are, in round numbers, not less 

 than three and a half millions of proprietary farmers 

 engaged in the cultivation of this grain ; some on 

 fields measuring hundreds of acres, and some on limit- 

 ed patches of a few square rods ; some producing fifteen 

 or twenty bushels to the acre, and others one hundred 

 and fifty or more ; but all contributing to the grand re- 

 sult, and swelling the aggregate crop of the nation to 



