426 



the last three years has already added millions to the value of our production. Tha 

 success of the Excelsior oats has beeu remarkable, uuiformly increasing and generally 

 doubling the yield, and the White Schonen oats have, in some instances, yielded at the 

 rate of 104 bushels per acre. The Tappahannock, White Touzelle, and Arnautka vtt- 

 rieties of wheat have given general satisfaction, yielding highly remunerative I'esults 

 to the tirst cultivators, and vastly greater advantages in the aggregate to those who 

 have continued the cultivation. I greatly regret the inability of the Department, from 

 the recent meager approijriatious, to extend more widely and rapidly the benefits of 

 this distribution. 



Such are our aims and facilities for accomplishment. To attain the best results tha 

 active co-operation of all intelligent and progressive farmers, and all organized agencies 

 for rural improvement, is an absolute necessity. In closing, permit me to ask this 

 timely aid and willing association in efforts to elevate the character and increase tha 

 profits and influence of American agriculture. 



VAEIETY IN SOUTHEKIsr PEODUCTIOKS. 



The necessity of resorting to a more diversified system of industry in 

 tlie South has been often urged in these reports, and by planters of intel- 

 ligence and foresight, and at last public attention has been directed to 

 hitherto neglected products. Foremost among those who have been ac- 

 tive in investigating the indigenous resources of that section is Dr. F. P. 

 Porcher, of South Carolina, who made a report at a late meeting of the 

 Emigration and Agricultural Association of that State, on the extraor- 

 dinarily rich flora of the various climates found within the belt of States 

 extending from Maryland to Florida and from Tennessee to Texas, with 

 elevations varying from the sea-level to an altitude of 0,000 feet, with 

 every variety of soil and surface, including elevated plateaus, mountain 

 slopes, rich uplands, inexhaustible alluvion, and the fertile siliceous soils 

 of the Sea Islands, all contributing to produce a wonderful variety and 

 exuberance of vegetation. Of the plants included in this list, some sin- 

 gle article, now neglected, may become a great staple; or an improved 

 process in the arts, applied to some of these products, may give rise to 

 a new industry, as was the case with indigo, rice, and cotton, the beet 

 in France, and the silks of Italy. The plants are thus classified: 



NEW AaRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 



Siibstituies for cotton : Eamie or China grass, (Boelimeria tenacissima ; J 

 aloe, eelgrass, fZostera marina.,) reed mace, (Typlia latifoUa.J 



Plants yielding fibers : Ramie, esparto grass, sisal hemp, (Agave Sisa- 

 Una.,) bear grass, (Yucca filamentosaj }\\ie,., {whioh the Department of 

 Agriculture is now introducing from the East Indies;) Hemp, aloa or 

 Indian aloe fiber, common in Florida; or the leaves even of the plantain, 

 banana, or aloe; flax, white rush, ( Spartina junceaj fiber from the bark 

 of the cotton bush, as well as from the palmetto, {Ghamwrops palmetto.) 



Plants yielding paper stoclc and fiber : Agave, {Agai^e ISisalina and A. 

 virginica,) aloe cane, [Arundinaria gigantea and A. macrosperma.,) Chi- 

 nese sugar-cane, cat- tail, {Typlia latifolia,) Indian corn, esparto grass, 

 the pulp of poplar, camelina or false flax, [Camelina sativa,) sun-flower, 

 okra:, palmetto. 



Plants yielding sugars and saccharine substances : Chinese sugar-cane, 

 sorgho Sucre, black imphee, Indian corn, cut thickly and cut before ripen- 

 ing; sugar beet to be planted at the South. 



Luxuries: Chinese tea plant, [Thea viridis,) European olive, tobacco, 

 several varieties ; chiccory, {cichorium intybus,) silk. Some new breeds of 

 silkworms feed on the leaves of the ailanthus, the oak, and even the 

 castor-oil plant. 



