STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 167 



raised by liim? Is it not barely possible, to say the least, that the 

 '^quinoa plant," the pyrethrum ; the New Zealand flax; the raraie 

 plant; the angola panic; the New Zealand salt bush; that cotton, 

 sumach, sorghum; the large varieties of foreign forage grasses, and 

 a large number besides, now unknown to us, may be better adapted 

 to our soils and climates, and more remunerative than some of our 

 present crops? Is it not possible that there are varieties of oats, 

 barley, wheat, etc., that would drive out all the varieties now pro- 

 duced, by reason of their adaptability to our soils and climates, and 

 make remunerative returns? We do know that the seeds now in use 

 have superseded other seeds, and the fact suggests a probability of 

 further improvement. 



But after all this must be a continuous work, it can have no end 

 until the seeds of the world have been tried ; each variety must be 

 tested in the several soils and climates, and the conditions of suc- 

 cess or failure must be positively ascertained. In the East anything 

 that will succeed in a given place, will also succeed in any other 

 place within, say, five hundred miles. Here a plant that may be 

 successfully grown in one place may be unfitted to the soil and climate 

 of another place fifty or even ten miles distant. Successful experi- 

 ments have been made, but we know little, because we do not know 

 the conditions as to soil, climate, culture, and treatment. 



But this much you Avill admit, namely, that we cannot consider 

 our agriculture developed to a high state until we produce the crops 

 best suited to our soil, climate, and market; that fact cannot be 

 established without elaborate and careful experiment. 



Then, I say, in the name of our common humanity, let the State 

 and nation expend its millions in true experimental work, for in so 

 doing they will hasten the day that will find on this coast a compre- 

 hensive and ever progressing system of agriculture. 



But I must particularize somewhat in the matter of crops, for the 

 purpose of impressing upon your mind the necessity of experimental 

 work. Much attention is now given by our people to the subject of 

 wine production, especialh' the production of claret grapes, and we 

 are spending vast sums of money in the advancement of this interest. 

 Is it not probable that our people are planting grapes on soils that 

 will not produce what they expect? Experience as well as the 

 investigation of the Viticultural Department of the State University 

 answer this question affirmatively, by facts that cannot be denied. 

 I will not go into the details of this subject, as the Viticultural Com- 

 missioners and the State University have done a work in this direc- 

 tion that cannot be overrated. 



This variety of soil and climate, giving to the same grape a deci- 

 dedly different composition, according to the peculiarities of locali- 

 ties, pushes to the front the unmistakable fact as good wine can be 

 produced in California as elsewhere, only by blending of different 

 varieties. What grapes can be most advantageously used in blend- 

 ing is the question of the hour. As yet we do not know. And few 

 know the fact that with but two or three exceptions there is no one 

 variety of grape that will by itself produce the best wine. Aside 

 from these exceptions the best wines of Europe are produced by 

 blending. Their advantage over us in this respect is found in the 

 fact that they know by long experience what varieties to use in blend- 

 ing. Much is expected in this line of experimentation from the 

 work of the College of Agriculture, now in progress upon the.farm of 



