^ INDIAN CORN. 383 



to the volumes of the American Farmer, which I founded and edited nearly thirty- 

 years ago, you will find that in the numberless cases of fruits, plants, animals 

 and fowls received from abroad, and especially from officers of the Is'avy, I al- 

 ways insisted, where they bore no particular name, on tiie policy of calling them 

 after those whose jmblic spirit had led tliem to procure and import them for the 

 benefit of our country ; and the public should honor more higiily, if it knew its 



own interest, actions like these, and the fame ihey deserve, than . 



The public taste, however, is far otherwise, and powerless would be the effort of 

 an individual to change it. 



I have accordingly given to these the name of the Williamson Potato ; and 

 have registered your note, on the principle that all such liiincs should be pre- 

 served, as the means of tracing the iiistory of fruits, trees, vegetables, animals, 

 &c. to which they may refer, and which in time to come may be the subject of cu- 

 rious and interesting inquiry, as has been the introduction of coffee, tobacco, &c. 

 in Europe. The Yuca will, when it arrives, be thankfully received, and dis- 

 tributed in the South. Should it succeed there, it may be coaxed along to the 

 North in process of time, though it may be against the general tide of migration, 



Respoctfully, your ob't servant, J. S. SKINNER. 



INDIAN CORN AND ITS VARIETIES. 



The most remarkable specimens that we have ever seen accompanied the let- 

 ter from which the following extract is made. 



There are few things in nature more remarkable than the hivariableness of an 

 even number of rows on corn. The procreation of male and female by the pigeon 

 is said to be not without exceptions. Is it so? We have seen ears of corn which 

 commenced with a certain number, always even, at the end attached to the stalk 

 — say 12 rows — and which, for some reason, perhaps dry season or failure of ma- 

 nure, it could not complete, and accordingly changed the number, and run into 

 a smaller one, say 10, but always dropping so as to maintain an even number. 

 We recollect to have seen an ear at the Newcastle (Del.) Exhibition, where 

 this change took place twice in the growth of one ear, so that it ended with 

 four rows less than it began ; but, Avhat is remarkable, it never drops one, or three, 

 or any other odd number of rows. 



We had once, many years ago, nigh got into a scrape by saying that we 

 had seen an ear of corn Avith 40 perfect rows. It was the yellow gourd seed, (and 

 in fact, we have seen them not unfrequently) on a farm where ears of the larg- 

 est number of rows had been selected for seed for a succession of years. 



The fact is that grains and vegetables may be bred to run into excess, as well 

 as animals, in particular points and qualities ; but climate, after all, will not be 

 forced to adopt what any willful experimenter may choose to transplant from one 

 region to another. The large corn of the South can't be forced upon the North, 

 nor vice versa. 



We question if any man in the Union has experimented with this noble grain, 

 m as many varieties of kinds and ways, and with as much intelligence, j^rsever- 

 ance and success as the writer of the following. 



We had written thus far before we saw again that the writer had forbidden 

 the use of his name. We received the letter while Assistant P. M. General at 

 Washington, and then distributed the corn. Since then, far from having ground 



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