Star.
London, England, 1829-10-15 00:00:00

NEWSPAPERS.

COBBETT'S CORN.
Barn-Elm Farm, Oct. 12th, 1829.
Gentlemen,—That great undertaking, in which many of you,
casting aside all political quarrels, so cheerfully and so ably assisted
me, has been accomplished; and that, too, under circumstances the
most unfavourable that could possibly have existed. I have now
before me letters, authentic letters, signed by persons of character,
from which I learn, that corn has been cultivated with success in
eery county of England, in six counties in Wales, in twenty places
in Scotland, in one place in Ireland, and in the island of Guernsey.
I know what quantity of corn I sold for seed; and on the pre-
sumption that it was all planted. the aggregate crop in this king-
dom, cannot be less than a hundred aria twenty thousand bushels, the
produce at the end of three years of one an,* ear of corm, containing
Z 42 grains.
The common farmers have almost every where shown, as I, in
my treatise, said they would show, their hostility to this crop,
thinking that It will tend to raise rents and tithes, and, which in
their ryes is worse still, render the labourers more independent
of them, and, of course, raise the wages of labour. This is mon-
strou. fully, to be sure ; but, if to reason with them be useless, a
striking tact may, perhaps, open their eyes. An English gen-
tiernao, named Tooke, brother of Mr. Tooke, of Hammer-
smith, has been to see my field of corn ; and has informed
me, that he, from " two ears" bought for hint at my shop,
has a crop of corn now ripe near Koningsburg, in Prussia. In the
Netherlands there are several crops from seed bought of me : there
is no doubt that the crop will ripen well in Prussia, in Poland, and
indeed is. every latitude not further north than Scotland. So that
English fat mera may be satisfied, that if they do not cultivate the
crop, their great rivals in the north of Europe will : and that what.'
ever advantages these rivals may now have over :hem, will be
k.reatly augmented by their persevering in their lolly.
But it is, indeed, tolly to suppose the possibility of this perseve-
rance. They must raise this crop; each must do it in hts own
defence ; for in another year or two, it he do riot do it, he will not
te able to give the same rent, and pay the same wages as those
who do cultivate it, will be able to give and to pay. .Ms will
y.tskly teach him to overcome 'what arc called his prejudices; for
these stubborn as they may be, never,excipt accompanied with in-
sanity, or something very near it, are stiff enough to stand out
long, when interest thumps heartily at the breast.
In the producing of this great era in agriculture, this great
addition to the food of the country, I claim no very great and
reculiar merit. This corn must hear my name, because the sorts
are endless in number; and because I ant convinced, that this
the only sort that can be cultivated in England with certainty
of success. But lam not the maker of the c'srn, Moe was
the discovery that it would ripen in England, reserved for me
to make ; for Miller communicated the fact to the readers of
his famous work more than, I teheve, seventy years ago; and
though I was not, until about a ',ear ago, apprised of this circum-
stance, I might have been, it I lt.d read his book with due at-
, ten tion. The share of the merit that belongs to me has been
given me by a singolar assemblage, of Concurring circumstances.—
To make the experiment, and to give such immediate and extensive
...affect to its result, required, in the first place, a min who had a
Atrutig natural taste for agricultual pursuits; it required that he
idiould, in hia character. he sanguine, and 'somewhat adventurous
•,r as t? tda priirate interests ; it required that he should potsess the
• power of stating the advantages of the thing, and of persuading,
other, to adopt his opinions it required, moreover, that he
'6Ol .bilYe at, his commands a pOrtioh, at least, of the Press,
"byrthe dieatli of *hitt to confastMiaate Ms statements and
• hi;-erieuning'; besides all these, itkrdquired a disposition io
you to sacrifice, political hostility fo in?equivocal public good;
and even in addition to this, if still required;' peitaps, 'that