No. 7. 



JlsricuUural Address. 



223 



until ploughing' or other change of circum 

 stances, produces vegetation. It would be 

 a poor return for your kindness in inviting 

 me this day to address you, were I to take 

 advantage of my position, which by courtesy 

 admits of no reply, to force upon you my 

 crude ideas on these disputes "never end- 

 voured to invite your attention to efforts made 

 ing, still beginning." I have rather endea- 

 in your noble calling in by-gone days. 



In taking a short review of our principal 

 crops, it will be necessary to refer to my 

 own opinions and practice. I shall do so 

 with due deference to the more matured ex- 

 perience of others; for of all subjects it 

 least becomes a man to dogmatize on agri- 

 culture. So various are the qualities of 

 land, and the proportions of vegetable and 

 mineral ingredients of soils, even in the 

 eame vicinity, that opposite results often oc- 

 cur in contiguous positions. Experience is, 

 therefore, the safest teacher, and will re- 

 main to be so, even when our country shall 

 be filled with agricultural societies; and 

 farmers shall carry a portion of their soils 

 to the laboratory of the chemist, to ascertain 

 the kind and quality of manure or stimulus 

 required for any given crop. 



Indian corn is usually our first crop after 

 it is considered necessary to plough the sod; 

 and consequently commences our system of 

 rotation. According to the able report of 

 the Commissioner of Patents for 1845, whose 

 statistics I shall hereafter quote, the yield or 

 Pennsylvania, that year, was 17,126,000 

 bushels. 



The relaxation of the British corn laws 

 and the failure of the potatoe crop, have 

 made Indian corn an article of immense 

 commercial importance. Though long cul- 

 tivated in the south of Europe, yet every 

 effort of enlightened and scientific men to 

 introduce it into general use, had failed. 

 Joel Barlow's poem in praise of hasty pud- 

 ding, or mush, as we call it, and William 

 Cobbett's extraordinary efforts proved alike 

 unavailing, until the anathema of the latter 

 upon the potatoe, seemed realized by the 

 universal blight. 



It is probable that some inferior descrip- 

 tions of corn were indigenous in both Asia 

 and Africa — though on this disputed point 

 much ink has been shed, without settling 

 the question. It is however certain, from 

 the testimony of the early navigators, that 

 Indian corn was in universal use among the 

 native tribes of this continent, from Canada 

 to Patagonia. Botanists have likewise dis- 

 covered it in a state of nature, especially 

 Humboldt and Bonpland. By the kindness 

 of Peter A. Browne, Esq., of Philadelphia, 



who has written an interesting essay upon 

 Indian corn, I am enabled to exhibit to you 

 an ear of native corn ; each grain of which 

 is covered with a husk or glume. There is 

 evidence that this corn has been found at 

 the base of the Rocky Mountains ; and it is 

 certain that it grows wild in South America. 

 Upon being cultivated it loses the husk on 

 the grain, and assumes the appearance of 

 several varieties. To the same gentleman 

 am I indebted for the rare specimen of fossil 

 corn from the neighbourhood of Wheeling. 



The large sample of Gourd seed corn is a 

 specimen of the yield of Oregon; this ear 

 having however been produced from seed, 

 introduced from that country last season. 

 After having tried many varieties, as the 

 Baden, Jackson, White, Gourd seed, and 

 Dutton corn, I am convinced the old Penn- 

 sylvania eight-rowed yellow — the King 

 Philip corn of New England, is in this 

 latitude safest and most productive. Safest, 

 because its hardy habits and early maturity 

 secure it from frost; and most productive 

 from the extraordinary number of ears to 

 the stalk. I have for many years selected 

 seed from the most fruitful stalks, which 

 sometimes produce four perfect ears. Ma- 

 nured in the hill, its yield is, according to 

 the season, from 60 to 70 bushels shelled 

 corn to the acre; not guessed at, but mea- 

 sured. When to these advantages is added 

 10 per cent, additional price, which is usu- 

 ally realized upon this variety of flint corn, 

 and the preference given to it by millers 

 who grind corn and cob together, have we 

 not made a strong case ! The cob has been 

 estimated to contain more nourishment than 

 bran ; and distillation proves it to produce 

 both oil and spirits. I have fed largely in 

 this way for several years by substituting 

 the cob in place of oats, usually chopped 

 with the corn — which is too concentrated 

 and heating, without some admixture. It 

 must be borne in mind that the capacious 

 stomach of the ox or cow requires disten- 

 sion, as well as strong nourishment. For 

 milch cows, we always add one-half of wheat 

 bran to the mess — and to all kinds of feed, 

 a proportion of at least one-eighth of cake 

 meal. 



The only author that I know of who has 

 vilified Indian corn, is the famous Charles 

 Dickens, in his "Notes on America;" who 

 declares that our corn bread laid like molten 

 lead upon his stomach: which is the best 

 apology he has yet made for the atrabilarious 

 character of his book. 



The oat crop, which usually succeeds that 

 of corn, has important claims upon the good 

 opinion of the farmer — its yield in Pennsyl- 



