1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



209 



^reat degree, as most. corn-makerf3 would proba- 

 bly deem it, ynur own paper, I ihink, lias furnish- 

 ed a snliicicnt number of tacts (unices you discre- 

 dit them,) to conquer your incredulity — at least, as 

 (o tlie twin-corn ; lor several of your correspond- 

 ents have stated to you somethino; much more 

 credible than mere "supposed resvlis.'''' But the 

 utmost dill'erence in productiveness you seem will- 

 ing to admit possible, either between varieties of 

 corn, or of any other plants, is marked by the very 

 qualified and discouraging expression, '^ somenihat 

 mora productive.'''' This indicates so little differ- 

 ence, that were the opinion to become general, it 

 would very soon, I think, effectually prevent all 

 trials whatever between varieties of plants, unless 

 made (or some other purpose than to ascertain 

 which would produce most. 



In commenting upon Mr. Carmichael's opinion, 

 that more than 15 per cent, difference may be ex- 

 pected Irom twin-corn in fertile land, you remark, 

 that " this amount of increase, if actually ascer- 

 tained, is sufficiently great to induce the trial of 

 this corn, on soils recommended as suitable, and 

 in a latitude not very different from that of Queen 

 Ann's county, Md. But this increase is fiir 

 short of what the sanguine expect ; and the writer 

 entirely objects to planting it on any but the very 

 small portion of rich lands?'' Now, I do not thus 

 understand him ; lor his words, as you give them, 

 are — " my experience induces me to think, that 

 no great advantage is derived if this corn is plant- 

 ed on lands naturally poor, or exhausted by culti- 

 vation." This certainly admits some advantage, 

 even on such lands, and is very diflerent from an 

 entire objection; although to plant any one thing 

 in preference to another, in a naturally poor or 

 exhausted soil, would hardly be deemed of much 

 advantage by any one who had ever tried, even 

 without Mr. Carmichael's caution. What "the 

 sanguine may expect'" from cultivating the twin- 

 corn, I have no means of knowing ; but I can very 

 confidently assert, that there is no authority, either 

 in print or manuscript— at least none that I have 

 ever seen or heard of— to justify them in expect- 

 ing much, if any more, than Mr. Carmichael has 

 stated. 



In the first part of your remark just quoted, you 

 speak of "latitude?'' as the chief circumstance to 

 be regarded in choosing among the varieties of 

 corn ; and in a i'ew lines below you add : "This 

 corn is a forioard kind, even in Maryland— of 

 course, it is too forward for our location." Of its 

 forwardness, I can assert, from three years' trial, 

 that the difference in comparison with our common 

 corn, does not exceed ten or twelve days ; and in 

 regard to your conclusion, that it is " too forward 

 for our location," I must call it a non sequHur; at 

 least, if the opinion of Monsieur de Candolle, one 

 of the greatest botanists who ever lived, be cor- 

 rect. This gentleman spent six entire years in 

 prosecuting, through the different departments of 

 France, such investigations as were calculated to 

 determine, with all attainable precision, the gene- 

 ral laws by which the geography of plants isregu- 

 lated. The very numerotis fiicts collected by him 

 during this highly interesting research, proved 

 conclusively, that although temperature, arising 

 from climate or elevation, light, moisture and as- 

 pect, exercise each a considerable influence over the 

 growth and productiveness of vegetables, the dis- 

 tribution of heat, in the different seasons of the 



Vol. VI.— 27 



year, has more power than any other cause what- 

 ever. Now, here is an opinion opposed to yours, 

 and founded on a multitude of facts which the 

 author was six whole years in collecting — con- 

 firmed, too, by the general fact known to us all, 

 that in European latitudes corresponding with 

 ours, many plants grow in the open air, which 

 here require the protection of green-houses for 

 more than half the year. On the other hand, 

 your opinion as to the effisct of much less than 

 two degrees difference of latitude, (for the middle 

 of Virginia is in 38", the middle of Maryland in 

 SO'^,) is unsustained by any fiicts or experiments 

 whatever — at least you mention none. But as a 

 farther proof that the twin-corn is not too forward 

 lor our location, I have authentic information ii-om 

 several gentlemen residing in difl^erent and distant 

 parts of our state, (one as far south as Mecklen- 

 burg,) who speak very favorably of this corn in 

 comparison with all the other varieties which 

 they have heretofore tried. The only gainsayer 

 whom I have seen in print, is your correspondent, 

 Mr. Andrew Nicol, who has gone so far as to say 

 — " the bread made from it appears to me less 

 sweet, also drier and harsher to the taste, than that 

 made from our common corn j''^ and this, too, in 

 addition to condemning it as less productive than 

 the commorT corn of his neighborhood. Upon 

 this anathema against twin-corn bread, it has 

 been remarked, that "Mr. Nicol's mouth must 

 have got most marvellously out of taste, when he 

 uttered this sentence." But I, who have always 

 maintained both the truth and justice of the old 

 adage, " de gustibus nil disputandvm,''^ have in- 

 sisted on his right to avow any taste he pleases, 

 notwithstanding, in this case, it is unique, and di- 

 rectly opposed to that of some hundreds of persons, 

 who have declared that twin-corn made the best 

 and sweetest bread they ever ate. 



Having at last reached a kind of resting-place 

 in my voluntary and unsolicited labors, I have 

 deemed it best to look back before I proceed fiar- 

 ther. This retrospect has elicited a "thinks I to 

 myself," how friend Ruflin and my other read- 

 ers, (should I get any,) chuckle and exclaim — 

 " what a self-corn Ibrting side our friend J. M. G. 

 has given himself on his twin-corn hobby, flatter- 

 ing himself all the while, credulous soul ! that he 

 is edifying us, rather than gratifying his owiipas- 

 s(Oft lor prosing, in which he indulges somewhat 

 too I'reely, although we are willing to allow him 

 good motives." I have a strong presentiment 

 that some such reflections will certainly be made, 

 although they may not possibly find utterance in 

 words. Yet, notwithstanding I may increase the 

 risk of exciting a laugh against mysel/J I must add 

 a few more words in explanation of what I have 

 written. 



The facts stated in regard to twin-corn, and the 

 conclusions I have drawn from them, are applica- 

 ble to every variety of cultivated plant ; and my 

 only reason for confining them to one variety of a 

 particular species, is, that I have made more ex- 

 periments with that than with any other. I have 

 no pets among any of them ; my sole object be- 

 ing to ascertain, as far as I cat , which are best in 

 every respect to promote human comfort and gene- 

 ral prosperity. As a proof of it in regard to corn, 

 I am now making an experiment with six varie- 

 ties ; and should the twin-corn prove best, it cer- 

 tainly shall not be, from the least imaginable ad- 



