206 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



the first, he obtained about five lbs. of tubers; from the second, of 430 in 

 open ground, he obtained nearly as much. He planted these, and from 38 

 square metres of ground he obtained nearly 300 lbs. weight of excellent 

 tubers. So that the crop is much the best from tubers — far better than 

 from the seed or the bulbilles, (little tubers at the foot of leaf stalks.) 



MISTLETOE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Lindley, in his Vegetable Kingdom, says it is of the Loranthacese order, 

 302. Plants of a shrubby character, in almost all cases growing into the 

 tissue of other plants, as true parasites. Leaves opposite, (but sometimes 

 alternate,) veinless, fleshy, without stipules (at the feet of leaf stalks or pe- 

 tioles) ; seed solitary ; fruit succulent. When on the apple tree, its wood 

 contains twice as much potash and five times as much phosphoric acid as 

 the wood of the foster tree. Exceedingly curious Loranths are found in 

 Guatemala. Dutrochet Sur la Motilile tried many curious experiments 

 with Mistletoe. Loranths are about equally dispersed thi-ough the equi- 

 noctial regions of Asia and America, but are much more rare on the conti- 

 nent of Africa, only two from its equinoctial regions, and five or six from 

 the Cape of Good Hope, two from the South Seas, and one from New Hol- 

 land, (Australia.) 



The bark of Mistletoe is astringent, as it is in the Mistletoe of the oak 

 tree. The berries contain a viscid matter like bird-lime, and is insoluble 

 in water or in alcohol. The habit of the common Mistletoe gives an idea 

 of all excepting the tubular richly colored calyx. They are of small mo- 

 ment in medicine. The Mistletoe of the oak, Viscum Albuin, was conse- 

 crated by the Druids — (The priests of the Oak, as the name implies.) 



Some doubt has been entertained, in modern times, whether the modern 

 Mistletoe on the apple tree was the oak plant of the Druids ; but it has re- 

 cently been found on the oak in the west of England, leaving no doubt 

 about it. The powder of its leaves and shoots has been used for epilepsy. 



[Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, No. 41, Part 1, 1858.] 

 From this valuable work, just received from the society as a gift, we ex- 

 tract the following : 



ON THE TRANSFORMATION OF ^EGILOPS INTO WHEAT. 



Bij Prof. Henfry. 



In our 15th volume of this Journal, (page 167) we published a transla- 

 tion of a paper written by Mr. Fabre, of Agde, in the south of France, on 

 this subject. [We translated the same article in 1854, and it is in our 

 printed transactions. — H. Meigs.] 



Mr. Fabre endeavored to show that our cultivated wheat (the origin of 

 which is obscure,) had been produced from the grass called Mgilops ovata, 

 through the influence of cultivation. His explanations do not appear to 

 be conclusive, by the experiments of Dr. Godson. Mr. Regel, director of 

 the Botanical garden at Moscow, appears to have been earliest in the dis- 

 covery that the jEgilops (Aty^Awi/)) triticoides (like wheat,) (ivild oats,) 



