Story of the Highest Priced Corn in the World 
While eating of the corn which to me is sweeter, more ten¬ 
der and more delicate in its flavor than any other, I asked 
her the name of the variety and where she had procured it. 
She then told me of Cephas, the original Ohio Atkinson, who 
had obtained it before her marriage into the family in 1850, 
and also that during all the thirty-five years in which she 
had been mistress of the home, that she herself had gathered 
it and ripened the corn indoors, sometimes in unfavorable 
years bringing it to the warmth of the kitchen stove. 
Her son William’s wife, Mary Atkinson had become mis¬ 
tress of the old home in 1884, and Aunt Mary herself at that 
time told me that she had continued grandmother’s custom 
of gathering the green corn and ripening it indoors. 
I met also at that time another Cephas Atkinson, a banker, 
and a grandson of the pioneer Cephas. This grandson was 
younger even than my wife, who belonged to the next genera¬ 
tion, being herself a great granddaughter. I was immedi¬ 
ately attracted by the personality of this young man, and by 
that of his wife Alma, and on that day, a generation ago, a 
friendship was established which I value very much, and 
which I am sure will continue as long as we live. This cousin 
also had this corn growing in his garden, and we commented 
upon the fact that we had never eaten any other sweet corn 
which compared with it in quality, but neither of us at that 
time had any idea that there were no other plantings of this 
variety in the world. 
Seed of it was given to me, and when I, like ninety per 
cent of all others to whom it had ever been given, had lost 
all my seed on account of failing to bring the ears indoors to 
ripen, then another planting was given to me. My own farmer 
failed to ripen a single ear of it in 1933, and when in the fol¬ 
lowing spring I began to think that growing sweet corn 
might be more profitable than managing a department store 
or growing peonies, I wrote to my friend Cephas, sent him 
a dollar bill, and asked him to send me a quart of seed. He 
answered promptly, returned my dollar, and sent me a small 
box containing about four ounces of seed, and in his letter he 
said that he did not believe there was even a peck of seed of 
this wonderful corn in all the world. Of course this made me 
more anxious than ever to grow it commercially. 
When I first received the seed, I had given my brother 
Van, a planting of it, and he quickly appreciated the quality 
and had been more careful than my own farmer in saving 
seed of it. When I told him of its scarcity, and that I wished 
to grow it commercially he very generously gave me two 
quarts of seed. He had given a planting of it to his neighbor, 
Luman Balyeat, who in his turn had given a planting to my 
friend, Jessie Vorpe, who I am sure was glad to be able to 
give me eight good ears of it. 
One quart of my brother’s seed I planted in newly plowed 
ground in my garden, but the drouth in May and June and 
