460 Does Wheat Turn to Chess? [October, 



passed siuce then, and I think I may safely say that not a grain of 

 wheat has changed to chess on that farm, though it has been exposed 

 to all the casualties that are commonly supposed to produce the 

 change. I will even venture the prediction that not a grain ever 

 will change. It matters not what field has been sown, what the cir- 

 cumstances of sowing, what the character of the winter may have 

 been, what casualties may have bcfiillen it — such as cattle pasturing 

 it, or fly eating it — the result has been invariably the same ; as far 

 as chess was concerned, almost entire freedom from it. Our neigh- 

 bors, seeing the success of the experiment, have adopted a similar 

 practice, and with like result ; so that the opinion, once generally 

 entertained, has now few advocates among them, or in the adjoining 

 counties. 



I have detailed this experiment at considerable length, not merely 

 for the purpose of disproving what I conceive to be an erroneous 

 opinion, but for the beneficial effect its disproof would have on care- 

 less farmers. Many who now raise from three to ten bushels of 

 chess per acre would, if they did not believe this pernicious doctrine, 

 soon raise as much wheat in its stead. It will take some time, as 

 well as labor, to rid old farms of this unprofitable weed. But three 

 years will more than repay both, in the larger yield of wheat, and 

 the better quality of flour. 



Besides the facts which I have given, I will say a few words by 

 way of argument of the question. The theory is eontrai'y to nature. 

 We do not find that other plants change. Then why should this ? 

 Difi"evcnt varieties of the same plant intermix ; but the seed of one 

 plant does not produce another distinct and altogether different from 

 its parent plant. It is just as reasonable to suppose that chess will 

 change to wheat; yet we never hear of such a change as that. If 

 there are changes, why are they not mutual? Because the laws of 

 God forbid it, which laws are written, not only in the Avorks of 

 nature around us, but also in the book of Revelation, which speak 

 thus: "The herb shall bear seed after its kind, and the fruit tree 

 after its kind." Again : " Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs 

 of thistles?" And again : " A good tree can not bring forth evil 

 fruit ; neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit ;" or, to 

 change the terms, wheat can not bring forth chess ; neither can 

 chess bring forth wheat. 



Chess often grows in meadows, from which it has been supposed 



