THE FAllMEliiS' liE«l«TE.R. 



Vol. V. 



DECEMBER 1, 1837. 



No; 8. 



RDMUNn RIIFFIN, EDITOR AND PKOPRfF, TOR. 



From Lewis's Observations on Experimental Farming. 



ON THE PURIFICATION AND CLASSIFICA- 

 TION OF SKKDSj ROOTS, &C. 



It has been alreariy stated that farmers are ex- 

 tren)ely cautious, and even backward, in the adop- 

 tion ot' anytiiing new. Potatoes, for instance, al- 

 though hrousht Mito England about the end of ihe 

 16ih century, were long confined to the gardens 

 ol' the nobiliiy and gentry; and in Scotland were 

 not planted in the open fields until the year 1792, 

 upwards of 200 years after their first introduction. 

 So prejudiced, indeed, were the Scottish peasantry 

 against their admission, that they attributed the 

 origin of every disease, no matter of what nature, 

 to the influence of this vegetable. Turnips, also, 

 although known in Britain before the potato, did 

 not come into general cultivation until long after 

 the days of Tull, a Berkshire airriculturist, who 

 introduced the system of drill husbandry in the 

 year 1701. He obtained very i'ew tbilowers lor 

 more than 30 years, and Scotland was the first to 

 reduce his system to practice. In 1760 it was 

 tliere in pretty general adoption. Hence it was 

 introduced into Northumberland in 1780; and if 

 has since slowly found its way into the more south- 

 ern parts of the island. Such has been the intro- 

 duction of two ot the most valuable roots tiiat are 

 now in cultivation; and assuredly we could not 

 have well adduced a stronger practical illustration 

 of the probable usefulness of an experimental 

 fiirui for [jromulgatini; a knowledge, and exjiedit- 

 ing the culture of those vegetables whose quali- 

 ties and merit?! have been previously untested, or 

 partially ascertained. 



The introduction of potatoes and turnips, it mav 

 be said, took |)lace when education was at a very 

 low ebb, and when the supineness of our agricul- 

 turists was at its height, and therefore, that any 

 deductions drawn li'om this subject are inapplica- 

 ble now. But we shall shortly make it more than 

 probable that, even wiih all the science and en- 

 terprise of modern times, there is yet a wide 

 field of discoveiy lying before us, and which hith- 

 erto has been almost wholly neglected. 



We allude more particularly to the classification 

 and purification ol" seeds. In hviduals no doubt 

 have at difi'erent timef?, directed their attention lo 

 this subject, but their l.ibors, instead of remedying 

 tlie existing deltjcts, have only tended lo show 

 the almost unlimited extent to which improve- 

 ment in this department mi^rlu be carried. They 

 have failed, not from the iiiili-uitlulness of the sub- 

 ject, but fi-om the inadi'quacy of individual exer- 

 tion ibr the task, and their fiilure is a powerful 

 practical argument in favor of"a combined and 

 collected etlbrt for the full developement of the 

 latent and hitherto dormant susceptibilities of the 

 vegetable kingdom. 



The grand dislinguishing characteristic of plants 

 over inorganic matter— that which characterises 

 their latent powers and living iiinctions— is their 

 susceptibility of improvement; animals have it to a 

 certain degree, but not nearly to such an extent a? 

 Vol. V— 57 



plants, for the productive faculty of the former 

 cannot be increased like that of ihe latter. As is 

 well remarked by Mr. Sharon Turner, most agree- 

 able and surprising transformations have arisert 

 from this property. The rose is the product of 

 cullivation; the original plant from which all our 

 beautiful varieties have proceeded is considered 

 by botanists to be the common wild brier. Our 

 |)iunis are cultivated descendants of the sloe; the 

 peach and nectarines, of the common almond tree; 

 filberts are the improvements of the wild hazel; 

 the delicious apiiles, whose species may now be 

 reckoned by hundreds, are cultivated successors of 

 the small austere crabs and wildings which swine 

 will scarcely eat; the original pear is a petty fruit 

 as hard and crude as the former; our cauliflowers, 

 cabl)ages, and ol her domestic vegetable"!, may be 

 regarded as almost artificial products, so much 

 has human skill had to do in tiieir procluction. 



IfJ then, so great a susceptibility of improve- 

 ment exists in the productions of horticulture, i( 

 becomes a question of great interest, and momen- 

 tous importance to ascertain whether or not the 

 difierent sn('cies of grain, roots, and grasses, em- 

 ployed in agriculture are possessed of a like inhe- 

 rent susceptibility. It is a well known fact, that 

 grain, if allowed to degenerate, reiurns into a 

 stale very similar to that of some of our coarser 

 grasses, which of itself is a very strong argument 

 tor the point at issue. But we have still more 

 unefjui vocal evidence that, even in what may be 

 denominated iis present improved state when com- 

 pared with the inleriorty of its supposed original, 

 it is possessed of the principle of productiveness 

 to an extent fully as great as the vegetables men- 

 tioned in the above quotation. To prove this we 

 shall insert the following statement being the re- 

 sult of the experience of Colonel Le Couteur, one 

 of the deputies fr*oni the island of Jersey. Three 

 years ago this ijentleman became acquainted with 

 jjrofcrssur Le Gasca, one of the most celebrated 

 botanists of Europe, who had been curator of the 

 Royal Gardens at Madrid, and oblifred to leave 

 Spain, where he is now again restored to hia 

 friends and former situation. The professor was 

 '.hen grov/ing about eighty sorts of wheat in the 

 garden of Mr. Saunders, nurseryman in Jersey. 

 The variety, classification, and beauty, struck Co- 

 lonel Le Couteur, who sought to procure all the 

 irifijrmalion he could from professor Le Gasca. 

 'I'he latter told him that tor the last twenty-five 

 years he had been employed insiudying the pro- 

 perties aiid characters of wheat, and had collected 

 in the Royal Gardens nine hundred varieties and 

 sibvarieties. He came lo Colonel Le Couteur'a 

 farm, and picked more th-^n Hventy sons out of 

 three fields then (in August) growing and gave 

 daily all the instruction and information wanted 

 by Colonel Le Couteur, who resolved to profit by- 

 such an opporlimity, and heiran seriously to culli- 

 va'e the important plant of wheat, so aa to pro- 

 cure the several sorts distinct from each other, and 

 keep notes of the experiments made on the cul- 

 ture, produce, weiirht of the grain, and qualities ol 

 the corn, flour, and straw. 



