172 NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



of a cultivated field, and if it has not appeared before on a 

 particular spot, it has probably been owing to the fact that it 

 has been occupied by other plants and grasses which ex 

 clude it. 



Facts, when properly ascertained and sifted, never sustain 

 the doctrine of a change of one species to another. There is 

 in nature no transmutation of the kind. Northern Indian corn 

 after growing in the south for a few years, assumes the habits 

 and appearance of southern corn, which is a thing quite dif 

 ferent from the one under consideration, the change of one 

 species into another. Chess, though it possesses some nutri 

 ment, yet it is too low to encourage its propagation. It is 

 rather a pest which should not be allowed to mature seed, 

 and thereby propagate itself among the valuable grains and 

 grasses. It is an annual grass, but if cut early, will spring up 

 and propagate itself the succeeding year. 



