10 



Well does Whittier, the poet, whom farmers delight to honor, 

 sing, 



" Heap high the farmer's wintry hoard! 



Heap high the golden corn ! 

 No richer gift has Autumn poured 



From out her lavish horn ! 

 Still let the good old crop adorn 



The hills our fathers trod; 

 Still let us, for his golden corn, 

 Send up our thanks to God." 



Yet another use for this plant has been found within recent 

 years. Our honored friend, Francis H. Appleton, has made 

 knowu to the couutry through an article written for the Essex 

 Agricultural Society the art of preserving ensilage and con- 

 structing pits or silos that the benefits of green fodder might be 

 enjoyed through one long winter. There is also some hope that 

 a practical method is being perfected for making syrup and a 

 good article of sugar from the stalk. If it succeeds the Yankee 

 farmer will not care a continental for the sugar trust. He can 

 now raise his bread, his beef, pork and poultr}* from the grain 

 and fodder of the corn-plant, and if he gets sugar also, he will 

 guess that it was lucky for him when his ancestors got so hun- 

 gry and hunted up the original supply. 



The potato, too, is an American vegetable, our market reports 

 quoting "Irish potatoes" to the contrary, notwithstanding. It 

 is a native of South America, where it is still growing wild 

 among the Andes, and it is also found in Colorado. 



These two American gifts to the world go far to reciprocate 

 the benefits we receive from the wheat and onions of Egypt, the 

 beets of Spain, and the cabbage of Holland. 



At this time, amid many books on agriculture, it is interesting 

 to know that the first work on the subject published in America 

 was written by Jared Elliot of Connecticut in 1747. The first 

 agricultural society in the country was that of South Carolina in 

 1784 followed by New York in 1791, Massachusetts iu 1792, 

 and numerous others at later dates. It is largely in consequence 

 of the influence of such societies that the American fanner is 



