EXPERIMENTAL FARMING. 341 



same variety of maize. This may be done by careful selection 

 and hybridization, and careful watching for accidental varieties, 

 in which these properties seem to be combined in the highest 

 degree. "We must also call in the aid of chemistry in our exper- 

 iments on this grain, since the ingenuity of man seems to have 

 been exhausted in inventing any new mode of culture by the 

 ordinary applications. It would be useful also to make some 

 investigations into the different qualities of the white and the 

 yellow, and the flinty and mealy grains. The white corn is 

 preferred at the South for all sorts of bread and puddings and 

 for husbandry, and the white varieties only are fit for table use 

 in a green state. Yet the yellow corn is preferred by hogs, 

 cattle and poultry. What is the chemical difference in these 

 different kinds, and are different modes of culture required for 

 each ? These few suggestions are sufficient to show that there 

 is yet much to be learned with reference to the different varie- 

 ties of Indian corn, and the means of improving them. 



4. The influence of hibernation, or a state of rest in the 

 winter, on plants which are not accustomed to it, is a point 

 which has not been sufficiently investigated, and it opens a wide 

 field for curious and ingenious experiment. The results of 

 such experiments might be turned to a profitable account in 

 the culture of early fruits and vegetables. If we subject an 

 annual plant, the tomato for example, when half grown, to a 

 period of hibernation, we artificially convert it thereby, if suc- 

 cessful, into a biennial, like the cabbage or turnip. How far is 

 this practicable ? Can any method be devised by which the 

 tomato, the cucumber, and the melon, by a peculiar sort of 

 protection, might be preserved in a state of rest from October 

 until May, without injury ? There is no question that if they 

 retained their vitality and their health, after sucli hibernation, 

 they would grow with extraordinary rapidity when exposed to 

 the sun and atmosphere in the spring. We might by this 

 means obtain ripe tomatoes in June, a season of the year when 

 they would supply a very general want in the market. 



It is well known that if any plant has been forced in a hot- 

 bed or a greenhouse, it loses some of its capacity for growing 

 thriftily when transplanted into the garden or exposed to the 

 open air. It remains apparently at rest for some time after 

 transplantation, before it can acquire sufficient energy to 



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