STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 171 



b. The use of cuttings from the strongest varieties, carefully 

 selected, and carefully wintered. 



c. A coarse of culture not too protracted in the season, and at 

 such distances as shall secure the highest influence of sun 

 and air. 



d. Such a rotation of crops, especially on soils not best adap- 

 ted to the culture of the sugar cane, as shall give the soil 



adequate rest. 



3. The eemote remedy. — a. The procurement, from some cli- 

 mate, appropriate to the culture of sugar cane, of cuttings of 

 varieties adapted, in hardiness and earliness of maturity, to the 

 Icimate of the sugar growing States. 



h. The procurement of the true seed of the cane, either from 

 tropical regions, or from the cuttings just mentioned, the prefer- 

 ence being given to seed produced in our own country. 



c. The procurement of new varieties from such seed, — varieties 

 hopefully invested with high climatic adaptations. 



d. The cultivation, annually, of a small plat of cane, in the 

 manner indicated under the immediate remedy, hoping thus to 

 secure cuttings for seed cane of the highest quality, for the per- 

 petuation of the species. 



e. .Appendix to the remote remedy. — Ji substitute for the sugar 

 cane. — Should the preceding suggestions of an ultimate remedy not 

 be fully realized in experiment, we may be led to seek a substitute 

 for the sugar cane. Indian corn has long been known to be 

 rich in sugar. On the same soil and with tlie same climate and 

 culture, its weight of herbage would probably be equal to 

 the cane. 



From the higher adaptation of the species to our climate, it 

 could usually be relied on for a healthful crop. The use of seed, 

 grown farther north, for a part of the crop, would enable the 

 planter to have ripe corn at as early a period as he would be 

 found ready to begin the process of grinding and boiling. The 

 labor of destroying the embryo ears, (were that found needful to 

 give richness to the sap), would not be found expensive. Its use 

 as a source of sugar at the north, was long since suggested. At 

 the south the longer season and hotter sun would give the plant 

 larger development and greater concentration of sap, provided it 



