No. 133.] 185 



STATEMENT Or MR. JACOB P. GIRAUD, JR., TO THE BOARD OF MANAGERS 

 OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Gentlemen — In conformity with your regulations, circumstances 

 again require that I should allude to my agricultural operations 

 of the past season, the most prominent of which is the cultivation 

 of Indian corn, which is to me a subject of untiring interest, not 

 only in regard to the utility of its production, which is of the first 

 importance, but also of its capability of development in numerous 

 forms and colors, which renders it, \n connection with a just ap- 

 preciation of its high value as a cereal, the most interesting crop 

 we till. 



Of the fifty varieties exhibited at your late Fair, the utility of 

 continuing so large a number, will doubtless suggest itself to the 

 minds of some. To those unacquainted with its tillage, I would 

 say that each variety has habits peculiar to itself, in regard to 

 time for ripening, extent of foliage, and ability for producing seed. 

 Thus a variety is held in high estimation at the north, on account 

 of the short period required for ripening, while in a more south- 

 ern latitude its place is supplied by those of greater value when 

 grown with the great advantage afforded by the longer season of 

 a milder climate. Nor are we by climate only to be governed in 

 selecting seed; the condition of the soil, and our ability for pro- 

 curing- fertilizers in sufficient quantity, should be well considered 

 before selecting a variety suited to our circumstances. Tor ex- 

 ample, the proprietor of land, ricli in the requirements for Indian 

 corn, or facilities for making it so, may indulge in the rich and 

 stately growing " Golden Sioux,'' while he whose soil and oppor- 

 tunities would suffer by comparison, would wisely act by planting 

 a variety of less pretending growth. 



At local fairs, especially those representing counties only, we 

 should not, in a strict utilitarian view, expect to meet with so 

 many representatives of this valuable grain. But your institution 

 claims a much wider field ; as its title proclaims, it represents, at 

 its industrial exhibitions at least, the United States ; where then 

 can be a place more appropriate for exhibiting, in numerous va- 

 rieties, the product of this accommodating plant, now cultivated 

 throughout the length and breadth of the Union. 



