Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1859-10-27
From the Cincinnati Gazette.
Indian COrn..Its prOduct-.In.
f1uence and Results.

| IIWtnCc duO AkeSUItSs
To an observer of the agriculture and
climate of the United States, it is quite ev-
ident that corn is the most important pro
duce of land in this country. Estimating
as we may fairly do, the aggregate crop Of
1859 at nine hundred naillions of bushels,
and the price, at an average of 40 cents
(and it is probably more,) the curn crop is
worth three hundred and sirty millions of
dolzars-considerabls more than double
that of the cotton crop (of which so much
is said, and of much greater relative i'm
portance to the comfort and Substance Of
the people. The quietness with which the
crop is gathered, and passes into the gen.
erai current of commerce, stands in sim
gular contrast with the, continual buster
and parade of cotton and sugar planters.
There is reason for this, in the fact, that
cotton enters so largely into our foreign
exchanges-and on it depends so much
the value of negroes, that most sensitive
of all commercial elements. 1t is time,
however, that We had learned, that the
Republic did not depend on either cotton
or negroes, and especially that the Western
people who will never be much interested
in those articles, should know something
of their own products, and interests. In
this present year 1859, if it were not for
Indian corn, there woald be almost fam
inc in the land. But that product is
abundant, and enters into so many depart
ments of food and convenience, that it
stands in place of the deficiency in other
crops. 1t fattens hogs, it fattens cattle; it
enters into the food of man, and makes
the basis of the profitable, though danger
Gus commerce, in domestic, and manufac-
tured liquors. In 1858, there were 7OO,-
600 hogs killed in Ohio, and in some form
exported. 1t required eight millions of
bushels of corn TO fatten them. This corn
made the pork, lard, lard oil, candles, &C.,
which were exported from Cincinnati and
other ports. Ten millions of bushels were
made into whisky. Two or three millions
more made fat cattle, and thus the surplus
corn of Ohio was manufactured into vari-
Gus forms of food, light and liquor. In this,
there was the treble profit of the farmer,
merchant and manufacturer, all realized in
one community. The fact that Cincin-
natl concentrates the result of this triple
operation, is no small element in her pros
perity. TWenty millions Of dollars per
annuno will not cover the commercial ope-
rations of Cincinnati, arising from the sin
gle article, Indian Corn. To have good
crop (Which in this region is generally the
case, is of vast importance TO this COM
muniiy.
The crop of this year, we have reason
to believe, is abundant, but probably not
greater, if as much, as 1857. Taking sew
al years together, the crops of coin in the
Ohio Valley States rapidly increase; espe-
cially so in the States of Ohio, Indiana
and Illinois, where the population increases
rapidly. The crop in any one year must
depend on combination Of the people to
cultivate, the adoption of soil, and the
change of season. With the increase of
people, the soils adapted to corn (and in
these States it is more than half the
whole surface) will be more and more cul-
tivated. The quantity of acres planted |
will of course increase from year 10 year;
but the average product per acre depends
much upon the season. This is fully illus
trated by the Ohio statistics of Agricul-
ture.
The following table of four years cult
vation of Indian ccrn in Ohio, will exhibit
the relation of surfaces and averages in the
periods of large and small crops:
Crop Average