INDIAN CORN. §47 



($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 Piseataqua 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 



