ADAPTATION OF SOILS. 485 



required for milk. "We see that a large number of these are 

 kept, and haj aud grass must be their chief support. The de- 

 mand for these articles, from causes which have already been 

 mentioned, can be most readily supplied from your own soil. 

 To meet the demand, attention should be directed to the im- 

 provement of all grounds calculated to produce good grass in 

 abundance — particularly those which from the presence of 

 water are at present unproductive, but are susceptible of 

 drainage. 



Perhaps the next most important article which can be culti- 

 vated here, is Indian corn. This strictly American grain is of 

 inestimable value. No other is capable of producing, for the 

 ground it occupies, so large an amount of sustenance for man 

 and beast. It is adapted to a great range of climate — growing 

 from Mexico to Canada. It is not extravagant to say that it 

 has been an important means in the civilization of this country. 

 To our Pilgrim fathers it was indispensable, and in reference 

 to their children, the expression that 



«' All their bones were made of Indian corn," * 



may be said to contain as much truth as poetry. Without it 

 the early settlers could hardly have subsisted. With the grain 

 they fed themselves, and with the stalks they fed their animals. 

 The labors which they accomplished in subduing the forest and 

 their savage foes, furnish proof of its strength-giving properties. 

 The transportation of Indian corn a great distance, is at- 

 tended with objections. The cost of freight is as great, per 

 bushel, as that of wheat, and when it reaches the Atlantic cities; 

 its value is only about half as much. This is a sufficient obsta- 

 cle to railroad transportation. It cannot be brought from the 

 West by any other means, except during the period of lake 

 and canal navigation ; and if brought in bulk, (as is done to 

 lessen the expense,) it is, at that time of the year, very liable 

 to injury by heating. It can be brought from the South in ves- 

 sels, in cool weather. But the comparatively uniform price 

 which the home-grown article has sustained for several years 

 past, is proof that it is not very injuriously affected by foreign 

 supply. 



* Barlow. 



