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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



different braird from that sowa above, and only one or two 

 inches deep. The deep-planted braird-leaf rose much slen- 

 derer, and much taller above the surface of tbe ground, than 

 the shallow-planted, the latter being far the sturdiest braird. 

 In dry weather, however, ploughing down the barley with a 

 shallow furrow, or drilling it deep, is to be preferred, the 

 bottom damp more than compensating for the tall slender 

 form of the braird. In the case of the deep-plauted seed 

 there may be a want of oxygen-supply to form the farina 

 sufficiently into a sugary uourishmeut for the germ. This 

 may, along with the distai.ce it has to rise, account for the 

 slenderness of the braird, but not for the tallness, which must 

 b3 ascribed to a habit or correlation. 



But to return from this digression. In the case of wheat 

 exposed to the dew and drying air, there might take place 

 every night a commencement of the imbibiog of oxygen, pre- 

 paratory to germinatiou, altering the character of the farina. 

 Every dewy evening, the living seed would be stimulated by 

 the moisture, and the moistening would raise up the bran, 

 like sprushed up feathers upon a fowl, to allow the oxygen to 

 be imbibed. Many have been surprised at the effect of a 

 slight damping diminishing so greatly the weight per bushel, 

 and I never found any one cognisant of the cause, which is a 

 liitle complex. The moisture thus raising up the bran enlarges 

 the size, while it (the moisture) gives a stickiness to the bran 

 surface, which pievents the grains from slipping past eech 

 other close down in the bushel. Thus, a quart of water given 

 to a quarter of grain, will cause it to diminish in weight, in 

 each bushel fully as much as the weight of a quart of water, 

 while the wheat will increase in measure some ten times the 

 quantity of water. I have seen the Baltic merchants hoist 

 their wheat up some five storeys high in their lofty granaries, 

 and run it down through bushes of thorns tied the whole 

 distance to the hoisting rope. This rubbed bare the downy 

 end, and polished the skin of the wheat, causing it to pack 

 closer together in the bushel, and weigh several pounds per 

 bushel heavier; of course it would inlake more than in pro- 

 portiou. For seed it would not benefit, and might injure. 



To recapitulate : the grain of last season's crop, in the greater 

 pait of England, is not healthy. From the rainy, ungenial 

 summer, and bad harvesting, it has been seriously affected 

 with mildew of various kinds, mouldiness, and partial sprout ; 

 is no doubt deficient in stamina, and by no means well suited 

 for seed. It is, therefore, important to procure a sound article 

 from Scotland — especially oats. In Scotland no brimstone 

 fumes are employed, as in Ireland, to give fair colour. Even 

 although the crop of oats in the south half of England were 

 completely sound, the change of seed from Scotland would be 

 highly judicious. The thickest-bodied oats I have seen in any 

 couotry— thick, in the body as barley— grew within sight of 

 the Orkneys, near Thurso. 



2nd, as regards life continued by tubers or 

 cuttings. 



I stated, in my last letter, that in the case of seeds proper, 

 attention to change of place is no doubt of great importance; 

 but in the case of tubers and cuttings, much more so. In 

 seeds proper, though the habit of the parent and race — consti- 

 tutional vigour or weakness, is to a considerable extent com- 

 municated, and especially lurking disease, yet the progeny- 

 seed is so far a new individual, often considerably different in 

 variety, and much dependent upon the climate and soil where 

 it has been produced ; even the seeds of the same apple, all 

 differ in variety from the parent, and from each other. Here, 

 as the apple blossom is an open flower, the pollen of fructifica- 

 tion may be much varied. Even in the case of the seedling 

 of n weak or aged parent, there is lomething of the fresh- 



ness of infancy, the vigour of youth, in the progeny, though 

 inferior to that of a healthy parent or parents. In life con- 

 tinued by tubera aud cuttings things are different : renovating 

 infancy, vigour of youth, is wanting. It is not a new indi- 

 vidual—new from the nucleus monad, or primal germ cell— but 

 a mere continuation of the same individual, varied only a 

 little by soil and climate influence. It gradually, in the 

 course of years, loses vigour ; at least, in most cases that we 

 know of; becoming infirm, and liable to disease, and disappears, 

 apparently sinking under old age. The greater portion of the 

 varieties of the potato, continued by tubers for a number of 

 years, loses even the capacity of producing seed. In ccn- 

 tiflued propagation by cuttings, a number of trees, those of 

 soft wood, and which prosper in moist situations— willows, 

 poplars, limes— do not, however, seem to lose vigour, or become 

 dwarfed in size. The old stag's head, or red wood ozier, the 

 wood of which almost equals oak in durability, is the only 

 species of the willow family that seems to be a little infirm in 

 constitution, being much disposed to canker as if it were too 

 far in years. Most of trees whose habitat is dry ground, 

 even at first, do not acquire strong stable rooting when raised 

 from slips, remain dwarfs, soon come into seed, soon look 

 aged, and soon disappear. Here, one defect seems to be, im- 

 perfect rooting. The roots given out by the slip do not even 

 swell out sufficiently strong to sustain the tree from being up:- 

 rooted by the wind, but remain slender and creeping, com- 

 paratively like the roots of quickening grass. In the case of 

 slips of trees of dry soil habitat, being grafted upon seed- 

 ling rooti of the same kind, more especially the natural 

 wild species, life is much longer continued, in many kinds 

 almost indefinitely ; but in others we find a disposition to in- 

 firmity and disease resembling old age, however young and 

 healthy the root. 



Recurring to the potato, the most important vegetable 

 next to the cereals, we find it almost useless in the seedling 

 state. In nearly all seedlings the tubers are npt larger 

 than cherries, and with few to the stem. And it is only after 

 the tubers are repeatedly planted in rich toil that they attain 

 their maximum size. When this has been ^st reached, the 

 form is generally coarse — shoulders, and deeply indented large 

 eyes. This largeness and depth of eye, along with stringy 

 leaders inward from the eyes, indicates stamina of constitution. 

 The colour of flesh is also generally bad, the flavour rank 

 when cooked, and the quality of a consistency the opposite 

 of floury. By repeated planting in good rather dry land a 

 great improvement of form and of quality takes place. The 

 figure becomes more regular, more of the oblate oval, the eyes 

 smaller and more shallow (we tee this in excess in the fluke 

 variety, where the eyes, except the strong one at the ex- 

 tremity, scarcely retain the powerof germinating), the flavour 

 becomes less rank, the itiside whiter and more floury—con- 

 tains more farina, and altogether the tuber is much improved 

 as a table potato. In Germany, however, where the potato 

 after boiling is generally fried in fat, the choice of the seedling 

 to be acted on and the treatment are a little different, as a 

 well-tasted small waxy hundred-fold variety is best suited for 

 this purpose. To obtain a good-sized potato with much 

 farina ^nd good form from the seedling, some eight or twelve 

 years is required, and considerable tact in procuring and 

 choosing the seedling of most improvable character. To 

 effect the improvement in the shortest time, the furthest-back 

 eyes are to be preferred to those at the point, as conducing 

 more to farina, though of less stamina, It unfortunately hap- 

 pens that when a superior quality is thus obtained, a delicacy 

 of tbe variety is induced, which requires much care to retain 

 it at its m»ximum of excellence, or preserve it from decline. 



