1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



427 



To ploughing ihe «rrouiid, 



do. hnrrowinLT povcral limPR, 



<lo. pou-inir the sood, 



tie. Imir Imslicl f:pt>(l, 



ilo. 20 (lays' work clcarint;, tliinning 



and lioing iliri'o tiiiips ihiougli 



tlie. summer, iVH^ els. . 

 do. 6 days' gatlierisig, drawing and 



covering, .... 

 do. interest on the value of an acre 



ol" land, 



Cost of the crop, .... 883 55 



There were over 850 bushels of turnips at 56 



lbs. to the bushel, and 4 tons ol' tops. — Several 



cart loads of the turnips were sold in the market 



at 16 cts. per bushel, but the principal part of these 



was consumed upon the larm in feeding milch 



cows. The hay was sold lor ^20 per ton, which, 



after allowing .*;6 for expenses of moving, making 



and taking to market, leaves for 2 tons, ^34 00 



By 850 bushels of turnips, at 16 c. 136 00 



do. 4 tons tops at $2 per ton, 8 00 



Total value for the produce, 

 From which deduct the expense, 



S178 00 

 83 55 



Ijeaves the net proceeds, $94 45 



The jrround last spring was in a fine condition, 

 one half of which we put in with the mangel 

 •wurtzel beet, the other part with the parsnip. 

 The crop was put in with very little manure — the 

 beets look in a very flourishing condition, but the 

 parsnips are poor, they did not come up in time 

 to make a crop. 



We have this season about 4 acres of the rufa 

 baga, but planted in a different manner ; the par- 

 ticulars of which I will reserve for future. 



A CoMMC'NICATION. 



JVilmington, Del, 8 mo. 20, 1836. 



From the Genesee Farmer. 

 SQUASHES TURNING TO PUMPKINS. 



Mr. Buckingham, the able editor of the Boston 

 Courier, appears to appreciate the importance of 

 the agricultural interest to the prosperity of the 

 country, and devotes a column or two of his jour- 

 nal weekly to the dissemination of information on 

 this topic. Besides evincing much skill in his se- 

 lections, he gives some original papers of value. 

 In a late number of his paper is a communication 

 signed 'Ruricola,' who requests an explanation ol 

 the fact that squashes do sometimes change to 

 pumpkins, or rather that squash seeds will when 

 planted produce pumpkins. Ruricola selected his 

 squash himself, took out the seeds, and planted 

 them; they grew freely, and when he was expect- 

 ing a feast of this excellent viand, he found they 

 had been metamorphosed into pumpkins. Ruri- 

 cola asks if this is any thing new under the sun ? 

 and requests Mr. Buckingham to explain "this 

 singular freak of nature." 



Mr. Buckingham in reply makes in part the 

 following remarks: — " We would observe, how- 

 ever, that it is not an unvarying law of the vege- 

 table kingdom, that like ever does, and ever will 

 produce the like. It is a well known fact^ that 

 the seed of apples, pears, peaches, and other 



fruits, seldom, (perhaps not once in a hundred 

 limes,) |)roduco fruit like that of the parent tree. 

 Hilt perhaps our correspondent will Bay that these 

 are not parallel cases, and to make them so, we 

 should cite one in which the seed of an apple 

 should produce a pear, or that of the peach a 

 |iliim. We will not attempt to remove this difli- 

 culty. It is beyond the reach of our knowledge. 

 Anci we submit it to those whose better expe- 

 rience, and deeper research into the mysterious 

 laws of vegetation qualify them to unravel and 

 explain the same." 



Without any pretension to 'better experience' or 

 'deeper research' than Ruricola or Mr. Bucking- 

 ham, we think the matter can be explained very 

 easily; and we give what we conceive such ex- 

 planation, the more readily, as the transmutation 

 of squashes into pumpkins, a well known fact, 

 has by many been considered a proof that wheat 

 could be changed to chess, an event which we 

 think never has been, and probably never will be, 

 proved. 



To make the matter plain we may remark that 

 botanists divide all plants into species, and these 

 into varieties. Of the species we may give as 

 examples the cucumber, (^cuciimis,) and the 

 squash, (cucurbitis.) Of the first there are seve- 

 ral varieties, as is known to every gardener, and 

 that these varieties will intermix by the seed is 

 also well understood. The squash is another 

 species of plant, with numerous varieties also, 

 among which we may enumerate the tagenarm, 

 or gourd; the ovifera, or egg squash; the verruco- 

 sa, or club squash; the citrullits, or water-melon; 

 and ihepepo, or pumpkin. The musk-melon be- 

 longs to the cucwmis, or family of cucumbers. 



Now it is well known to the naturalist that 

 while varieties will intermix by their seeds, a re- 

 sult caused by the impregnation being perlbrmed 

 by pollen from another variety of the same spe- 

 cies, speciei, never do this; but that while all the 

 varieties of the squash, if planted in the vicinity 

 of each other, are liable to have their seeds affect- 

 ed in this way, so that no certainty can be placed 

 on their producing plants precisely like the parent, 

 there is no danger of change in the cucumber or 

 musk-melon from being planted in the vicinity of 

 any variety of the squash. In the varieties of the 

 squash, therefore, great care is necessary to keep 

 the kinds distinct, or prevent, in the way assign- 

 ed, their intermixing with and degenerating each 

 other. The probability is, that the squash from 

 which Ruricola took his seed was impregnated by 

 pollen from the flowers of pumpkins in the vicini- 

 ty, and hence the fruit was of course a hybrid, or 

 one in which the pumpkin nearly or entirely pre- 

 dominated. To preserve seed like the parent plant, 

 in the squash or cucumber species, it is found best 

 to save the fruit that grows nearest the root; as in 

 this case the inale and female flowers, or those 

 that produce fruit and those that do not, are 

 brought into immediate contact, and the impreg- 

 nation more likely to be perlbrmed with pollen 

 from the same plant, than with that from abroad. 

 Thus we see that the changing of squashes to 

 pumpkins, or vice versa, belongs to the natural 

 order of events, and is nothing new under the 

 sun. 



'I'he same rules that regulate the impregnation 

 and production of the cucumis and cucurbitis, will 

 ai)ply to the plants trUicum and bromvs, or wheat 



