1896 - Angel of MIdnight Corn and John A. Bruce, Seedsman

I just like this catalog cover.  

While I have not found much about Mr. Bruce yet, I'm a sucker for seedsmen who feature their buildings on their catalogs.   My question now is, who are the statues in the building niches representing?!!

Floating around the internet was this one identified page from a catalog.  

I admire this engraving of the corn, and the name is irresistible!

Angel of Midninght corn seems well suited for the more northern latitudes as this Maine farmer attests to in The Rural New Yorker magazine from 1902. 

CORN FOR MAINE.—The two kinds of corn giving the best yields shelled per acre here are the Angel of Midnight and Early Canada, either of which will mature a crop in from 80 to 90 days from planting. 

My opinion is that the Angel of Midnight yields the most shelled corn. I was in a gristmill a short time ago, and while there a man brought in five bushels of ears of corn to be ground corn and cobs together, and I honestly think that in that five bushels there was one bushel of ears that were at least one foot in length, which is very long corn. That cob meal was finer and looked nicer than a great deal of the feed meal that I buy made from western corn. That was Angel of Midnight corn.

Here is the whole catalog page. (year unknown)

While I am thinking about Bruce and his corn, here is another delightful engraving from a 1902 Bruce catalog.   Just that little bit more of the artist's imagination makes this so much more appealing.