20 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



was a Persian plum, once supposed to possess, in its whole 

 mass, the poisonous property which chemical analysis has dis- 

 covered in the seed. Among vegetables, the huge squashes are 

 to be regarded as monstrous or abnormal expansions of the 

 blossom stems for capsules, or seed-vessels. 



It would seem from such illustrations, as if the great Invent- 

 ive Mind and Artificer of Nature, had thus purposely left in 

 His unfinished and incomplete work, the sphere of perform- 

 ance which human intelligence may be both proud and happy 

 to fill. It is certain that there are vast capacities for improve- 

 ment concealed, as it were, in the ordinary processes of vegeta- 

 tion. It is also certain that human industry and assiduity may 

 combine with the intelligence which comes by observation, and 

 grows by its own exercise, to Avork new combinations among 

 the elements of productive life, much in the same way as these 

 same faculties contrive forms of fitness, convenience, luxury 

 and beauty, out of the clay, and sand, and metal, and wood, 

 which constitute the material world around us. 



But, view it as we may, this capacity for improvement in 

 quality, is at once a most mysterious concentration of latent 

 force, and a matter of most practical importance. The great 

 question is not an economical one, or how shall we make the 

 most of this capacity, and turn it most readily to human 

 advantage, but, how shall wo do our duty by it. And the 

 answer comes almost as readily as the question — by men for- 

 getting it in the midst of our toils, and by adding head-work 

 to hand-work. It is not enough to have the " earth yield her 

 increase " in abundance. That increase must be made better 

 in quality, and more desirable, year by year. 



Every agriculturist should conscientiously keep a two-fold 

 purpose in respect to the quality of the productions he raises. 

 First, never to allow a good thing to deteriorate on his hands ; 

 and second, to be continually taxing the forces of nature to 

 produce a better than the best product yet known. As I have 

 already said, nature is not going to ])our out her choicest 

 treasures at our feet, unsolicited : she may give us something 

 now and then to tempt us to seek for more, — as gold, scattered 

 in small particles upon the surface, guides and stimulates the 

 miner to search deeper for the real ore. 



In vegetable life, it must also be remembered that dcteriora- 



