Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-02-06

against it, to Wit, the biennial character.
the difficulty of saving he seed and the
failure of the seed in termination. This
plant, then. though of value, must he dis
missed as one meeting al the require
ments.
The Cleome. the Rocky Mountain bee
plant, was given trial on eight acres
of land. This land was sowed i'm the fall
of 1883 with the hope of great abundance
OF bloom the next season. The results
were, only portion of the seed germina-
ted, the plants that came into flower the
following year, 1889, did not much at
tract the bees-apparently the flowers
falled to give nectar. a portion of the
land, three acres, where the plants had
made the best stand, was left the next
year unploughed, with the hope this
plot would be self-seeded; like plot of
three acres was again sowded with home
raised seeds. But so few plants appe AIRED
on either piece that both plots we're
ploughed up and that plant abandoned.
The experiments with the Melissa the
foreign mint brought forward three
facts; tested through two seasons it is
found to blossom freely, and is very
generally sought by the bees. Still it
has, with all its encouraging features it's
drawbacks. These are, it is an annual,
1t does not self-seed, it does not as vet
maintain itself without mans constant
aid and so must be cultivated as buck
wheat is cultivated as a field crop. These
drawbacks are serious. perhaps not
fatal.
such the outcome of these Michigan
experiments. While they have not
solved our problem, they have pointed
out the way to success. While, for in
stance, the Melissa cannot be regarded as
meeting all the requirements, it shows that
the plant we need, may be a mint, one
haying the same good qualities, but hay
ing in addition great hardness and per-
sistence, having the capability of main
tanning itself when it has once acquired a
foothold. If in addition its stem may be
used for paper, or its leaf when distilled
will give a volatile oil of value, the end
will be reached.
In reviewing the problems which sue
cessful Bookkeeping demands shall be
solved, we may not conclude that salts
factory result has been reached. But
may we not say that good progress has
been made toward such solution? We
have not yet arrived at the goal it is
true; but we may confidently believe
that we are far on the way; by pressing
on, time and patience will bring us
there.
SO of the magnificent problems in re-
gard to agricultural advancement. By
and by if we shall be permitted TO look
back two decades or even one, we shall
in this backward glance of twenty or ten
years wonder at our present lack of
knowledge; things seeming now so hard,
how easy then. We shall have strug-
gled slowly into the light.
How many of the questions | mention
ed at the outset will have been answered
it may not be safe to assert. But we may
assure ourselves that the principles of fer
tilization will then be vastly better under
stood, that where, and when to market
crops will have been found out; that
new life will be given to our industries
mechanical and agricultural and that
new industries of profitable character
will have been discovered. 1t is reason
able to assume that we shall be able to
protect our crops, as well as our domes-
tic animals, from the troubles that come
upon them. The industries of silk rails
ing, tea and coffee growing and olive
planting will have been tested. We may
expect that plants will be found that will
give material for tanning, and others for
papermaking.
VIII We not also wonder why we went
on importing our sugar, the cane from
the Indies, and the beet from Europe,
instead of taking our sweets from our
own sorghum or beets; wondering why
we let the sugar of our own common
corn go to waste? And of the many
hundreds of millions of acres of arid
lands, arid to-day, shall we not haye
gained back 100,000,000 acres to boun-
teous fertility? We are not beyond the
bounds of probability when we answer
these questions with an emphatic yes.
And when these most obvious needs
are met the army of scientific men may
sigh for other worlds to conquer. "Sub-
due the earth" was an early aud heaven
given command. The air, the water, the
sunlight, are not as yet under the con-
troll of man. His greatest triumphs lie
in these fields. We need ammonia for
enriching our crops. The air is full of
the constituents, the \, the II, the O, are
all there; man must in some way prop
erly combine them. Free O, rightly APP
piled, would give multiplied efficiency to
our heating arrangements it is abund-
ant in the air. Separate it, manage it,
The elements of water have in their re-