INDIAN COKN. 347 



($2 50) ; in New Netherland in 1650, 10 to 15 stivers per 

 skepel, (15 to 20 cts. per bushel); in Virginia in 1821, 2s. 

 and 6d., (62 cts.) per bushel; in Rhode Island in 1670, 25 

 cts. per bushel, and on the Piscataqua 75 cents per bush- 

 el. Taking the value of money at that early day, as com- 

 pared with the present, these prices would be equal to about 

 four times our currency. Since that day the price has fluc- 

 tuated with the supply. There is always a demand for all 

 that may be produced, but the seasons sometimes are so un- 

 propitious that partial failures in sections create a brisk 

 trade, and full prices in that section. Formerly these fail- 

 ures entailed great distress on account of the difficulty of 

 transportation, but the rail-roads have, to a great extent, ob- 

 viated that difficulty. We all remember the drought of 

 1854, when nearly the whole crop, except on the river bot- 

 toms, was a total failure, and then corn was in great de- 

 mand, at from $1 50 to $2 00 per bushel. In 1874 anoth- 

 er drought rendered it necessary for much of our supply to 

 be brought from the Western States, but it was freely sold 

 at $1 00 per bushel. A total failure of this important crop 

 would entail a degree of distress on the United States incal- 

 culable, but there is such a diversity of climate and soil, and 

 its cultivation is so universal that a general drought will 

 not in all probability ever take place, and the whole coun- 

 try being intersected and threaded by rail-roads, the fa- 

 cility of quickly supplying any deficiency at any point will 

 always save, at least, a famine for man or beast. 



VARIETIES. 



When first discovered in America there was but one va- 

 riety known. But since that time, its importance has stim- 

 ulated experiments, with the view of improvement, and the 

 result is that the species has been divided into innumerable 

 varieties. These modifications are the result of differences 

 in soil, cultivation, and climate, and subsequent hybridiz- 

 ing. Many of these varieties are suitable to the section in 



