SECRETARY'S REPORT. 49 



wliicli, at the price of eighty-three cents per busiiel, is valued at 

 ^3,016,156. 



The statistics given above are sufficient to show the compara- 

 tive importance of this crop in the agriculture of countries 

 adapted to its growth. Some account of its history, its varie- 

 ties, its cultivation and its uses, can never be out of place, 

 therefore, in treating of the crops most profitable for cultivation 

 in American agriculture. 



The vast importance of this plant has naturally attracted the 

 attention of agricultural writers, and no point connected with 

 it has passed unnoticed, it can hardly be expected, therefore, 

 that the subject can be invested with any great degree of 

 novelty, or that much can be said which has not been said 

 before. Something may, however, be done by way of bringing 

 together the information which is now scattered and inaccessi- 

 ble to the great majority of readers, while on some points, the 

 results of practical experiments may be of service to the farmer 

 and contribute something to our present stock of knowledge. 

 Nor is the labor required to do this so trifling as might at first 

 sight be supposed, for it must be borne in mind that on the most 

 important practical points connected with its cultivation the 

 opinions of farmers differ widely, and even the results of expe- 

 rience, and the statements of practical men are in many cases 

 full of contradictions and discrepancies which it is not possible 

 to explain or reconcile. 



Most farmers have opinions upon the questions which suggest 

 themselves to the mind of the inquirer, but few possess a 

 sufficient store of facts to satisfy his expectations. Who can 

 say with certainty what variety is best for particular localities, 

 or from what part of the ear the seed should be taken, or 

 whether it is best to prepare the seed by soaking previous to 

 planting, or not ? Who can give the exact depth at which the 

 land should be ploughed for corn, the kind and quantity of 

 manure it is best to use, the distance the hills or the drills 

 shoidd stand apart ? How many can say with exactness what 

 is the cost and the profit of raising an acre or a bushel by any 

 particular method of culture ? Or who even with the aid of a 

 thousand reports of agricultural societies, can form a practical 

 opinion as to whether this will be the most profitable crop for 

 him to cultivate in his own field ? Even in Massachusetts, the 

 7* 



