9 1 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



Nature, indeed, after they have laid their eggs, does not take much care of 

 them, and by-and-by they all die either a violent or natural death. The 

 eggs, however, which have been laid, are in due season hatched by the heat 

 of the ear, and the maggots which proceed from them continue their depre 

 dations until they have attained their perfect size. When they have arrived 

 at this state, they alter their form, and become dormant, "but how ana 

 where, and in what state, they spend the autumn and winter, we are not 

 very well able to say. Certain it is, however, that if they have not been 

 killed, they will be found flying' about ears of wheat the following: June, 

 depositing- eggs in the flowers, in the identical manner as their forefathers 

 have done since the creation.— lb. 297. 



Structure of a Grain of Wheat.— On laying open its skins, with a view to 

 display the kernel, we find that these are two in number, as it has been 

 already mentioned is the case with most seeds. Their thickness and coarse- 

 ness vary with the kind of wheat, and the climate in which it has grown, 

 The general law is, that the more severe the climate, the thicker is the 

 of the seed. These skins, when broken by the process of grinding, almost 

 wholly constitute the bran. The kernel we find to be composed of three 

 parts, in conformity with the general structure of seeds which has been al- 

 ready related. One of these, however, constitutes almost the whole bulk of 

 the grain. This is the nutritious matter which is contained in a little sack, 

 dose in every part except the base, by sap-vessels passing through which, 

 this nutritious or farinaceous matter is, when the grain is springing, carried 

 into the next part of the seed. This second part is a little scale, placed at 

 the base of the grain, with its back lying upon (though not attached to) the 

 sack of nutritious matter, and with the little plant, or third part, resting 

 upon its face. Into this third part, or rudimentary plant, the sap-vessels, 

 after performing the tour of the second part or little scale, enter, proceed- 

 ing first towards what is to become the root, and then ascending into what 

 is to become the stem. By means of them, when the grain is springing, the 

 sack is drained of its nutritious matter, which is altered as it passes through 

 the little scale, and ultimately converted into the specific form and sub- 

 stance of the little plant. 



Of Plant >• cultivated for their Roots.— The plants cultivated for their 

 roots, however distinguished by the botanist, may be regarded by the 

 agriculturist as forming a group. They are produced for similar purposes, 

 they are cultivated by the like means, and their effects upon the soil are 

 nearly analogous. All the cultivated plants maybe said to exhaust the 

 soils which produce them, and by the manures which their consumption 

 affords, may be termed improving or ameliorating crops, in contradistinc- 

 tion to others which may be termed non-ameliorating or exhausting crops. 

 It is a general law, that plants which are suffered to ripen their seeds, ex- 

 haust the soil more than those which are taken from the earth before their 

 seeds are matured. Our cereal grains— wheat, barley, oats, rye— are all 

 allowed to mature their seeds, and are placed by the agriculturist in the 

 class termed exhausting. Turnips, on the other" hand, are not suffered to 

 mature their seeds, and are even taken from the ground before their flower- 

 ing stems are put forth •, and the turnip accordingly is one of the least 

 exhausting, or rather it is the least exhausting of all" our crops, and this, 

 coupled with the mode of cultivating it, and the quantity and quality of 

 manure it affords, places it justly in the class termed ameliorating. The 

 turnip, however, may be cultivated for its seeds, which are, in this case, 

 suffered to be ripened, and then it becomes one of our most exhausting 

 crops. In like manner the cabbage and the rape, if cnltivated for their 

 leaves, are ameliorating crops ; if for their seeds, exhausting crops ; and so 

 are all plants cultivated for their oils, and on that account suffered to 

 mature their seeds. The potato is, for the most part, allowed to ripen its 

 seeds, and is a greatly more exhausting crop than the turnip; but the mode 

 of culture applicable to the plant, makes it be placed in the class termed 

 ameliorating. The beet is probably not materially different from the tur- 

 nip, as regards its effects upon the soil, and, like it, placed in the class 

 termed ameliorating: so are the carrot and the parsnip; but, as relates to 

 their produce, the facility of raising them, and their uses, they stand far 

 «v the turnip, the beet, and the potato. The plants termed Lcgumi- 



