The Newest Variety Sweet Corn on the Market 
hire him to watch it for me. We quickly made a bargain, but 
he informed me that he could not look after it for the entire 
twenty-four hours. I went to another friend of mine who 
was three or four weeks out of the hospital, but whom the 
doctors would not allow to do any manual labor, and he was 
glad to assume half of the responsibility. I furnished these 
two men a tent, lanterns, chairs, and promised them a bonus 
if not a single ear was taken, and for two very good reasons, 
I am glad to report that the bonus was earned, and that the 
entire crop from the 1,536 hills was all gathered and every 
ear ripened in my own basement. 
While my men were watching the corn I received a mes¬ 
sage that Aunt Mary was ill, and might never be able to 
plant another garden. Knowing that she probably had either 
a growing garden of the corn or some seed from former 
years, I made the one hundred and twenty mile trip to her 
home located between London and Plain City, Ohio, and 
found her extremely sick both physically and mentally. 
There was a long-term amortized mortgage on her farm, 
and within four weeks it was absolutely necessary for her 
to have $142.50 to make the semi-annual payment, and she 
had no money at all. 
I asked her how much seed she had of great grandfather 
Atkinson’s sweet corn, and her son brought out a small metal 
trunk which contained the little pile of corn shown in the 
picture, and which I later found weighed eight pounds two 
ounces when shelled. She was delighted when I told her that 
I would give her the amount of money she needed for this 
seed which she had saved from her spring planting. I doubt 
very much that $17.50 per pound has ever before or since 
been paid for a like amount of any variety of corn over 
seventy-five years old. 
Fortunately her son had planted a large garden of it, and 
in October after she and her relatives had put up in cans, all 
they could use from the garden, and before the first frost of 
the season, I drove again to her home and gathered all the 
green ears which were still on the stalks. These I brought 
to my own home, where I ripened them in my basement, and 
when the next payment was due on the mortgage, I took care 
of it in payment of this green corn. 
I tested every ear, and made a nice planting of it. It grew 
magnificently, and when the ears were ready for table use, 
I had my man load a small truck with it, and visit every gro¬ 
cery and restaurant in our city of 8,500 people. To every 
grocer, manager, and restaurant owner he gave a dozen ears 
of this corn, and to every salesman he gave a half dozen 
ears, telling all of them that it was “Aunt Mary’s Sweet 
Corn,” and that all of them should eat of it in their own 
homes. The next day he visited these business places again, 
and sold to eight of them the green corn to be placed on sale. 
The following day he sold sixteen of them, and at the end of 
