310 



On the Mixing of Corn. 



Vol. I. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 On the Mixing of Corn. 



I wish to remark, on an article "On the 

 Mixing of Corn," which was copied into a 

 late number of the Farmers' Cabinet, from 

 the New England Farmer, in which the eru- 

 dite author, with a heroism deserving of all 

 praise, " differs from all he has read or heard 

 spoken on the subject." " The common 

 opinion (says he) is that the blossom on the 

 top stalk falls on the end of the ear and 

 causes the mixture." This he thinks is 

 " hardly possible" for and because. Catch- 

 ing the prevailing spirit of the times, he then 

 " takes the responsibility on himself," and 

 offers a new theory. " My theory — and I 

 believe it to be the true one, is — that there 

 is a silk from the bottom that is next the cob 

 of every kernel of corn ; the silk is hollow — 

 a tube, so to express it." 



Here the reader will perceive that our in- 

 genious author (like many other modern dis- 

 coverers) has discovered the old theory, and not 

 a new one : one, in fact, which has been 

 known to every body but himself for a cen- 

 tury. This, however, is a small mistake, 

 and of no consequence to any one but him- 

 self. But this new discovery of the old theory 

 — this maiden effort of his powerful genius — 

 is only the beginning of wonders. For says 

 he, " go into a field vv-ith a good glass when 

 this gendering takes place, and I believe 

 there will be seen a vapour — or myriads of 

 vapours — resembling so many spiders' webs, 

 leading in all directions from the top stalks 

 to the ends of the ears. I saw it once with 

 my naked eyes. This, in my poor opinion, 

 is the way in which corn mixes ; it is by 

 sympathy, or attraction, or whatever name 

 the learned may call it by." I wonder it did 

 not occur to our observer, that it would be 

 better to lead those vapours, or streams of 

 sympathy, or cords of attraction, or spiders^ 

 ivebs, into his silken tubes, and so down to 

 each kernel of the corn ; then to land them 

 on the end of the ear, as in the exploded the- 

 ory. But this account he must settle with 

 himself. 



Those " good glasses" which render this 

 sympathy or attraction visible by transmuting 

 it into real spiders' wehs, must be an inven- 

 tion of his own. They will no doubt prove 

 an invaluable acquisition to the philosophi- 

 cal inquirer, and must speedily yield us the 

 most prodigious results. But, to come more 

 seriously to the task. The reader who is 

 not acquainted with botanical principles, may 

 be informed that plants are of both sexes. In 

 botanical language, the mule parts are called 

 stamens — the female pistils. Thus in a lily, for 

 example, you will perceive a central column 

 rising in the middle of the cup. This is the 



pistil or female organ. The protuberance at 

 the top is called the stigma ; the young seed 

 vessel at bottom, the germ ; and the connect- 

 ing portion, the stile. Around the pistil stand 

 six other erect bodies of about the same 

 height, each bearing on its extremity an ob- 

 long body, the anther, and covered with a 

 yellow substance, which is the pollen or fe- 

 cundating dust. The pillars which support 

 the anthers are called filaments. The anthers 

 are more properly the male organs. When 

 arrived at maturity, they burst open and dis- 

 charge the pollen or prolific dust, which falls 

 upon the stigma, and through the medium 

 of the stile, impregnates the germ at its base. 

 This arrangement of parts applies only to the 

 lily and a few other plants. It must be re- 

 collected, that both the male and female or- 

 gans of reproduction vary greatly in number 

 and position in the various species of plants, 

 so as to form the basis of the elegant system 

 of classification of Linnaeus. In some spe- 

 cies the male and female parts are each soli- 

 tary, or the one solitary, and the other by 

 pairs, or in greater number; in others, there 

 are more than one of each, but the numbers 

 do not often vary in the same species. Some- 

 times the two sets of organs are on different 

 plants; sometimes in different flowers on the 

 same plant ; more commonly they are united 

 in each flower, as I have described in the 

 lily. 



The garden strawberry, and the Lombardy 

 and the Athenian poplars, are familiar exam- 

 ples of the male and female flowers being 

 produced by distinct plants. Such plants do 

 not produce fruit unless planted near each 

 other. The female of the lombardy, and the 

 male of the athenian, have never been intro- 

 duced into this country ; hence they do not 

 propagate seed. 



In many species, the male and female parts 

 exist in distinct flowers, but on the same 

 plant. As examples, I may mention the 

 hickory, walnut, chesnut — the grasses gene- 

 rally, of which the Indian corn is a notable 

 instance. The tassel on the top contains a 

 profusion of slaminate or male flowers, and 

 the silk on the ear consists of as many pis- 

 tils as there are germs connected with the 

 receptacle or cob. Each thread of the silk 

 must receive a portion oi pollen from the tas- 

 sel in order to have the germ at its base im- 

 pregnated. The inconceivable number and 

 minuteness of the particles of pollen which 

 are constantly dispersed over the field for 

 some days, affords the greatest facility for 

 effecting this end. This teaches us how 

 corn mixes, and explains the fiict that a mix- 

 ture may take place as far as the pollen is 

 carried by the wind. White and yellow 

 corn may be planted in contiguous fields. 

 The pullcn from one may be blown upon the 



