BOTANY. 309 



out of countenance, because it was inconsistent with preconceived the- 

 ories. Now, however, there would appear to be no doubt about it. 

 The Mark-lane Express vouches for the respectability of a gentleman 

 who states that he carefully planted some picked oat grains in his gar- 

 den in June ; and as the tillers sprang up to about a foot in height, he 

 cut them down to within an inch of the root. This process was three 

 times repeated that year, and some of the roots died ; but others sur- 

 vived ; and next year they yielded, not oats, but perfect barley, ra- 

 ther thin, but by no means of a bad type. This barley, in the follow- 

 ing spring, yielded a good return of better barley, approved by the 

 maltster ; and of the produce of subsequent years the editor says he has 

 seen a sample. It is remarkable that the grower did not look for bar- 

 ley, but rye, which he had been told had thus been obtained. The 

 editor is of opinion that oats are a " spurt " or sport from other grain, 

 not vice versa ; as wheat and barley have been known for 4000 years, 

 but not oats. 



It is said that the transmutation of oats into barley is by no means 

 infrequent in Norway and Sweden, which, by the way, geologists have 

 found to be a notable centre of plant distribution. 



A letter from Mr. William Cowper, of Wappenham, near Towcester, 

 appears in the Berkshire Chronicle, stating that he has for ten years 

 grown both wheat and barley from Dutch oats. Black oats, he adds, 

 will produce rye in the same way. 



If any one imagines, however, that when such facts can no longer be 

 denied, we will be any nearer to an admission that one species of plant 

 can be transmuted into another species, he will probably be mistaken ; 

 for Avhen the fact can be no longer resisted, it will only be seized hold 

 of as proof positive that oats, rye, barley, and wheat are not distinct 

 species at all ; so that the transmutations of species will be as far off as 

 ever, and thus may well be deemed impossible. London Builder. 



ARTIFICIAL FECUNDATION OF PLANTS. 



The following process devised by M. Hooibrenck for increasing the 

 fertility of cereal and other plants, has excited considerable attention 

 in France. When the grain is in flower, he passes over it an apparatus 

 consisting of a string set with tufts of wool, close together, and having 

 small lead weights between them. lie repeats this brushing of the 

 flowers three times, at intervals of two days. Espalier fruit trees he 

 deals with in another fashion. First, he touches the stigmata with a 

 finger carrying a little honey, and then brushes the flowers lightly with 

 a powder-puff. By this means, pollen is brought into contact with the 

 honey, and adheres. Larger trees he reaches with a sort of brush, 

 composed of tufts of wool. A commission appointed by the Minister of 

 Agriculture reports very favorably upon these processes, as increasing 

 the yield of corn, and they observe, that the fruit trees operated on 

 produced an abundant crop, but they could not so easily satisfy them- 

 selves, as to what cause it was due. 



MUMMY WHEAT. 



The Presse Scientifique des Deux Mondes contains a description of a 

 series of experiments made in Egypt by Figari-Bey on the wheat found 

 in the ancient sepulchres of that country. A long dispute occurred a 



