590 



The oats ought to be sown in June, but it was not till August that 

 I sowed a small plot, having previously examined the seed, to see 

 that no rye was mixed with it. 



The grain soon sprung up, and to follow Dr. Weissenborn's direc- 

 tion, I cut it down twice before Christmas, and thinking that by cut- 

 ting it again, I might convert it into barley, or perchance Indian com, 

 I cut about half of the crop again in February, and again a portion 

 in March. 



Being rather impatient to see the result, a few days ago I gathered 

 stems of each of the series, and slit them up, to see how far the rye 

 was developed. In the one cut twice, the panicle was fully formed, and 

 just ready to burst from its sheath, but it was nothing like rye and 

 very much like oats. I next tried those cut three times, with the 

 same success, only the panicle was not so fully developed, and much 

 lower in the sheath. In those cut four times, the panicle was very 

 young indeed, only just distinguishable, but it would have required 

 a considerable stretch of imagination to think that it would ever be- 

 come rye : should any of it do so, I shall not neglect to inform 

 your readers. 



Should any of your readers have been more fortunate in the trans- 

 mutation, perhaps they will oblige us with a detail of their experi- 

 ments. 



Joseph Sidebotham. 



Manchester, June 11th, 1846. 



[Dr. Weissenbom would perhaps attribute the apparent failure 

 of the above experiment to his instructions not having been followed 

 to the letter : since, in order to insure success, he insists on the ab- 

 solute necessity of the oats being sown about the end of June : he 

 certainly says nothing about their being sown later than that time ; 

 but in all experiments, undertaken with the object of verifying the 

 statements of previous observers, their own directions should be 

 scrupulously followed. — Ed.] 



Extract of a letter from the late Mr. Edmondston to Mr. Sidebotham. 



I RECEIVED a letter a few days ago from Mr. Edmondston, and as 

 some of the readers of the ' Phytologist ' may feel interested, I send 

 you an extract from it. The letter is dated " H. M. S. Harold, on 

 passage from Valparaiso to Callao, December, 8th, 1845," and was 



