3ii 



raent, 1 planted this season, on the 20th of June, pure seed lu 

 fifty or sixty hills, some of it in cold, and some in vv.irm ground; 

 it was taken in Oct 25th — it was well grown, and apparently 

 ripe, and keeps well in trace, yet the cob Avas so full of mois- 

 ture that I am confident it would injure, as corn is usually placed. 

 I am far from considering the mixed-seed as liable to the above 

 objection. 



• But if it could be made certain that the pure seed would in 

 all seasons come to maturity as fully as our common seed, yet 

 I think the mixed-seed is to be preferred for the heaviest crops ; 

 from the mixed seed I believe much more may be expected 

 than from any corn we have among us. In saying this, I am 

 aware to whom I am addressing myself, and that I ought to be 

 diffident, and to think that a more competent judge than I know 

 myself to be, might give a different opinion. Another objection 

 is its weight. I weighed some of it as soon as taken from the 

 cob ; it was fifty eight pounds to the bushel — it was then thor- 

 oughly cured by kiln-drying, and its weight was then exactly 

 fifty pounds. Here, perhaps, it is just to recollect its freeness 

 from flint. After drying, it was ground into meal, and tried in 

 various ways for bread, and the result was much in its favour. 

 It requires of boiling water, to wet a pound, six and a half gills — 

 at the same time, trial was made of some of our yellow meal, 

 from the last years corn, and it required only four and a half 

 gills to the pound. 



I have now, to the extent of my observation, traced this ex- 

 periment, from the receipt of the seed to its conversion into 

 bread. If I have been minute and prolix to tediousness, 1 must 

 find my apology in the responsibility 1 have felt, from presum- 

 ing that no other field of corn of this description is offered to 

 your notice. 



I am, sir, with much respect. 



Your humble servant, 



DANIEL BURNHAM. 

 J^ewburyport, November 18, 1822. 



John W. Procter, Esq. Secretary of the 

 Essex Agricultural Society. 



