AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 285 



tened with corn, cost 5 cents per pound. The balance over expenses on the whole farm for 

 last year was $953.42. 



Mr. Johnson practices the following system of rotation: — 1. Corn, to which is applied all 

 the unfermented manure he can get. The next spring it is sown with barley, at the rate of 

 2 J bushels of seed to the acre ; then sown to wheat in the fall, with a top dressing of fine 

 manure of about 6 loads to the acre. The following spring it is sown with 8 quarts of clover- 

 seed and 4 quarts of timothy, with one bushel of plaster per acre, when it is allowed to 

 remain 3 years in grass. The usual product is 55 bushels of corn, 30 of barley, and from 20 

 to 30 of wheat per acre. The manure is all kept under cover, and a regular system of under- 

 draining is being carried out. — Rural New Yorker. 



Origin of the Wheat-Plant. 



Some curious botanical facts have been recently laid before the French Academy relative 

 to the transformation of two grasses, JEgilops ovata and the JEgilops triaristata. A gardener, 

 M. Esprit Fabre, of Adge, in France, has, without the aid of books, and by simple experi- 

 ment, brought forward a capital fact showing the mutability of vegetable forms. By experi- 

 ments, which occupied seven years' time, he proved that the above grasses were capable of 

 being the source of all or the greater part of our species of wheat. He first sowed the seed 

 of the ovata in the fall of 1838. In 1839, the plants grew to a height of two feet, and ripened 

 in the middle of July. The ears here and there had one or two grains in them. The crop 

 was five for one, and the straw was brittle and thin. In 1840, the seed of 1839 produced 

 ears more numerous, and generally each contained a couple of grains of an appearance more 

 like wheat. In 1841, the ears were more like wheat, and each had from two to three grains. 

 The figure of the plant was almost like wheat. In 1842, the fourth year of his experiments, 

 the progress was not so sensible as in the pi*evious year. Many of the plants were attacked 

 by rust. The stalks were like JEgilops. The ear gave two or three grains each. In 1843, 

 the stalks grew three feet high. In each ear was two or three well-grown grains, and the 

 straw was stronger. The figure of the plant was like wheat. In 1844, all of the ears were 

 filled. In 1845, the seventh year, the plants had reached the condition of true wheat. These 

 experiments were made in an enclosure surrounded by high walls. There was no grass 

 inside of it, and no grain raised near the spot. In 1846, he sowed this grain in a field broad- 

 cast, and continued it for four years. In 1850, the straw was full straight, over two feet 

 high, and each ear contained two or three dozen grains of perfect wheat. Thus, a savage 

 plant, subject to cultivation, changed its entire figure and aspects, and gradually assumed 

 a new character. 



New Method of Increasing the Produce of the Wheat-Plant. 



Among the recent French inventions is one for "increasing the produce of autumn wheat," 

 patented by Mr. D'Urcle. The inventor grounds his discovery upon the fact — positively ascer- 

 tained " by study and repeated experiments" — that autumn wheat is not an annual, but bien- 

 nial, like the beet-root and carrot class ; and he therefore proceeds to develop the alleged 

 biennial properties by a novel plan of planting and treatment for the increase of the produce. 

 The ground is to be well manured, either before winter or at the beginning of spring, to 

 receive the seed between the 20th of April and the 10th of May, this time being chosen to 

 prevent the chance of blossoming during the year. But the time of sowing may be advanced 

 from year to year ; for if it were not for the present degeneracy of the plant, it might occur 

 now in March. Each grain is sown separately, allowing it a large area of ground if the soil 

 is rich, but diminishing according to its sterility. It is deposited in rows in holes at regular 

 distances, from 9£ to 23J inches asunder in each direction, the holes in one row opposite the 

 spaces in the next. Each hole is to contain four or five grains, 2J inches asunder. When 

 the plants have attained a height of four inches, all but the finest one in each group are pulled 

 up, and this single one is then left for the harvest of the succeeding year. This curious pro- 

 cess is stated to increase the produce very greatly. 



