a F. ADAMS'S ADDRESS. 433 



are the grain growing States of the middle and the west, which 

 furnish for the whole country the main article of human food, 

 and thirdly, there are the grazing and pasturing regions of 

 the north and east. The first and third classes will, probably 

 for a long time to come, find it cheaper to be customers of the 

 second for their breadstuffs than to attempt to compete with 

 their new soil in the production of them for market themselves. 

 The only doubt which I have heard raised, has been respecting 

 the article of Indian corn, which some persons maintain may 

 yet be grown with us for sale at the prices at which it can be 

 imported with profit from abroad. In order to solve this prob- 

 lem it is only necessary to call for estimates of the cost at 

 which Indian corn can be grown in this county, on any scale 

 worthy of consideration in a statistical point of view. If I do 

 not greatly mistake, the answers, if given from many quarters, 

 would show a great inequality among themselves, it is true, 

 but not even the minimum cost would come at all in competi- 

 tion with that price which pays a farmer of Ohio a profit. Of 

 course, if this be conceded, it follows that corn cannot be raised 

 with us for an article of export. An unquestionable fact is that 

 a great deal more is consumed than what is produced in the 

 county. The only way in which it can be advantageou'^ly 

 raised is as a crop for home use on a farm, devoted to the pro- 

 duction of something else. In this particular, nothing on the 

 whole can be considered so valuable to the New England 

 farmer, as Indian corn. 



And this very naturally brings me to what I intend as the 

 main point of my address. After all the reflection and obser- 

 vation which I have been able to give to the subject, my con- 

 clusion is, that whatever the forms of agriculture may be that 

 are best suited to other regions, the best, I had almost said 

 the only one for us in Norfolk county, is to be found in the 

 multiplication of the cow. Let that be the leading idea of 

 farmers here. Whatever their ingenuity or their skill can de- 

 vise, either to improve the breed or to enlarge the products 

 which it supplies, will be the most likely to contribute to the 

 prosperity and extend the agricultural industry of the people 

 within our limits. 



55 



