THE BONNEWITZ GARDENS, VAN WERT, OHIO 
of these two beautiful Ohio rivers appear like one continued village 
for a number of miles both above and below this place; nor have 1 
ever beheld such fields of corn .” This I think gives a new light on the 
extent to which corn was used by the Indians just a few years be¬ 
fore the pioneer grandfather came to Ohio. 
After finishing my visit with Professor Essig, I went to Palo 
Alto, California, to see my friend, Doctor W. F. Wight of the United 
States Department of Agriculture. He, in conjunction with Leland 
Stanford University, is devoting his life to developing a strain of 
peach trees which will waken from their winter slumber and put 
forth buds, blossoms, leaves, and fruit, for our Eastern peach trees 
when planted in Southern California, fail to notice any difference in 
the climate of January and April, thus remaining dormant. 
Of course I could not refrain from telling him my sweet corn 
story just as I have told it to you, concluding with Professor Es- 
sig’s statement that he believed the corn had been originated by 
the Indians, and I am glad to give you Doctor Wight’s reply. “Mr. 
Bonnewitz, I am not prepared to tell you whether an Indian, an 
American or a Mexican originated your corn, but I believe I can 
state it as a fact that no one, whatever his nationality, originated 
that corn in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, or in 
any other state which joins them. If you have correctly told all the 
facts concerning it, this corn must have originated in some pro¬ 
tected valley which had a very long ripening season, and which had 
no rain until the following spring. Such valleys are found in some 
parts of California and possibly in old Mexico, Arizona, and New 
Mexico.” 
I of course do not know whether or not this is an old Indian 
corn, and I do not tell this story to create the impression that it 
is. But if Professor Essig is correct in his surmise, there have 
undoubtedly been many Aunt Nancys and Aunt Marys among the 
Indians, as this corn passed as a friendly gift from one tribe to 
another. 
Seed of Aunt Mary Atkinson’s 
Sweet Corn 
Everyone who has read the story of Aunt Mary Atkinson’s 
sweet corn, knows that I am endeavoring to pay off her mortgage, 
from the sale of seed of this excellent and interesting variety. 
I am telling this story to all my six thousand or more peony, Iris 
and poppy customers, for I am sure that among them are many 
persons who like to eat corn on the cob as well as I, but I do not 
ask anyone to buy seed of it from me, or from Aunt Mary without 
eating of it, or without having some friend eat of it. Van Wert is 
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