840 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



the dangers attending the use of it in all its possible forms 

 and under all possible circumstances, the people would be greatly 

 distressed for expedients to supply them with light. One of the 

 principle desiderata in the agriculture of the present age, is the 

 discovery of some plant capable of being profitably reared in 

 our own climate and on our own soil, which shall afford an 

 abundant produce of oil ; or what would be still better, the 

 improvement of oleaginous seeds by a new system of culture. 

 It would be expedient, therefore, to submit every plant that 

 promises to be valuable in this respect, to the test of scientific 

 experiment ; or to adopt such new methods of culture as might 

 be supposed to improve the qualities of those already known. 

 If the application of certain alkalies to the soil will improve the 

 quality of fruits, and if by the application of phosphates we can 

 increase the size of grain, why may we not improve the oleagi- 

 nous properties of seeds, by some yet undiscovered method of 

 chemical fertilization ? Chemistry may yet teach us the art of 

 converting water into oil, through the agency of certain sub- 

 stances applied to the roots of the hemp or the sunflower. 



3. It is yet undeternlined whether it would be more profitable 

 in our climate to cultivate the early varieties of Indian corn 

 which yield a small crop but a sure one, or the later varieties 

 which are not so sure but more productive. A series of well 

 conducted experiments might unfold the means of turning 

 these early varieties to a profitable account, by sowing the land 

 after it was reaped, in the same season, with some other crop. 

 No species of grain can be advantageously sown after the 

 gathering of the later kinds of maize, while after the Canada 

 corn is gathered, grass and several kinds of grain might be 

 profitably sown for the next year, and increase beyond that stage 

 of growth, that is necessary to secure them from injury during 

 the winter. 



Whatever might be the success attending any such experi- 

 ments, there is undoubtedly a great deal to be learned in regard 

 not only to the qualities of the different varieties of maize, but 

 also with regard to its culture. One great desideratum is the 

 improvement of this plant by increasing its property of early 

 maturity, or its precocity, without diminishing its i)roductive- 

 ness. Experiments should be made in order to combine, as far 

 as possible, these two seemingly incompatible qualities in the 



