My friend John, when the corn is grown, even before it has ripened, while the milk of its mother earth is in him, and the sunshine has not yet begun to paint him with his gold, the husbandman he pull the ear and rub him between his rough hands, and blow away the green chaff, and say to you, "Look! He’s good corn, he will make a good crop when the time comes."…The good husbandman tell you so then because he knows, but not till then. But you do not find the good husbandman dig up his planted corn to see if he grow. That is for the children who play at husbandry, and not for those who take it as of the work of their life. See you now, friend John? I have sown my corn, and Nature has her work to do in making it sprout, if he sprout at all, there’s some promise, and I wait till the ear begins to swell.

– Bram Stoker

Dracula, Chapter 10. The corn metaphor represents Van Helsing’s assumption that Lucy is being attacked by a vampire. He is wary of making any rash moves and is suggesting to Dr. Seward that they be patient and let nature sort itself out.