LIMIT OF PKODUCTIOK 



To the yield of this grain, as to that of every 

 other, Nature has somewhere placed a limit, or rath- 

 er, perhaps, has surrounded it with a series of limits, 

 which no skill or ingenuity of man may exceed. 

 There is, for example, a limit in the prolific power of 

 the seed ; another in the capacity of the soil ; and 

 still another in the area or space required by each 

 grain for perfect development and fruition. These 

 might be called, respectively, the limit of fecundity, 

 the limit of fertility, and the limit of area, or dis- 

 tances. 



It is safe to assume that neither of these has ever 

 yet been reached. The productiveness of Indian 

 corn has not yet been tested to its ultimate boundary. 

 There is a possible yield greater than any yet accom- 

 plished. "What that yield may be we do not know. 

 It may be two hundred and fifty bushels per acre ; 

 probably more ; possibly less. But what we do know 

 is, that two hundred bushels per acre have been 

 achieved. Beyond that lies the domain of uncer- 

 tainty, a vast undefined region of dim twilight, which 



