23-Dec-2009 Subject: Quick kinda urgent question Jeff ==== >>> I want to know, Jeff. Could you put together a crop of corn or other staple flora? >> >> You mean, me personally? Do I have any resources? The result is untested, and >> unknowable unless pressed. > > I guess what I'm saying is that we're going to need some .. what's the word? > Domains -- we're going to need some domains whose maintenance can (at least > in part, as seed capital, if you will, though the concept's anachronistic) > finance the Crown and thence the State. > > See what I mean? We need some stable, fertile terrain, and we need some > people who know how to live off the land, and nurture it, and tender it. I think the problem is not intractable. For there are two resources that can contribute directly to the execution of such a project. Firstly, there is the gathered knowledge on the agricultural sciences that may be perused at leisure, from plant classification and availability of exotic species, to the studies in breeding the plants to produce certain alleles, to the practice of husbandry, though it may be wise to heed the history of the future Emperor on this particular matter if I may take the exchange out of context: """ The Emperor: It has been been ten thousand years, and still few grasp even the principal of agriculture that is the bond of our existence. Wythe [his attache]: Agriculture? The Emperor: Well, husbandry. """ Secondly, as such an enterprise must become a self-sustaining mechanism, expertise, as needed, could be absorbed or imparted by collaborators. As for the securing of these Domains, did you have any particular stratagem? If the seeds are to be sewn for next fall, it must be soon before the land thaws. David ===== >>> I want to know, David. Could you put together a crop of corn or other staple flora? >> >> Perhaps if I had a manual. > > Who do I need to ask, to get you one? Do you have any idea? I guess an agriculture library would be a good start. Seb === >>>>> I want to know, Seb. Could you put together a crop of corn or other staple flora? >>>> >>>> Yes. In particular, potatoes. But poorly. Why? >>> >>> How long do the potatoes take to germinate, and how efficient is their yield? >> >> I don't know. I'm afraid I have no expertise here. I was just trying to say >> that if I needed to, I am confident that I could find a way to grow them, as >> long as I didn't have to do it in Ireland. >> >> I am sorry I don't have the information you need. > > David told me an agriculture library would be a good place to start finding out > the necessary information. Do you know where there are agriculture libraries? > > Do you think a sturdy almanac of lore would maintain this knowledge? I do not know where there are agriculture libraries. But perhaps there is an agriculture section in a general purpose library? Hazarding a guess, I predict that a disproportionate amount of the Dewey Decimal System is dedicated to agriculture. An almanac of lore might maintain that knowledge, yes. Especially a sturdy one, and one of the appropriate lore. However, we are in a modern era. Perhaps the solution to your problems is right under your finger tips. Here is a start: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4069/is_200405/ai_n9441976/
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