THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



60 as to cause every seed in the soil to sprout^ and 

 then (0 be destroyed. At the time of sowing 

 wheat, marl< off a square of ten or twelve leet 

 accurately into checlis ol a certain size, (say eight 

 inches,) and at every crossing of the hues plant 

 three grains ol' impeilect wheat. The grains 

 should be dropped together in a hole made by 

 thrusting a small siicli to the proper depth. In 

 ihe spring, let the plants be cut or grazed once or 

 oftener, but not so late as to prevent the formation 

 of seed stalks. All the causes that are severally 

 supposed to produce cheat would here operate; 

 and if any stalks of cheat should be produced, 

 their situation and number would clearly show 

 whether they sprung from the grains of wheat 

 or not. 



Being entirely ignorant of botany, 1 am not sure 

 that all of us refer to the same plant when we 

 speak of cheat. That name here is sometimes 

 made to include the two very diflerent plants, 

 which will accompany this letter; though one 

 of them (marked No, 2) is now generally distin- 

 guished by the name of spelt. The latter is by 

 far the worst pest of the two— and though now 

 less abundant, is, like the cheat, (No. 1,) Increas- 

 ing in spite of all the means yet used lor its de- 

 struction—and both together threaten the most 

 serious injury to the wheat-grower. The gene- 

 ral opinion is, that both these plants are produced 

 from wheat, by the operation of some of the va- 

 rious causes that have been urged by your cor- 

 respondents who believe in such transformations. 

 But no reasons have been offered, why wheat 

 should sometimes change to cheat, and sometimes 

 to spelt— nor why neither should have been suf- 

 ficiently plenty twenty or twenty-five years ago. 

 to be a noticeable evil in our crops, though our 

 cultivation then was even more slovenly than it 

 IS at this time. The grains of cheat being con- 

 siderably smaller, and specifically lighter" than 

 wheat, may be mostly got out of a crop by good 

 .anning and losing much good wheat with it. 

 But the grains of spelt are so nearly of the same 

 size and weight with those of wheat, that it is 

 impossible to separate them by either the fan or 

 the screen. 



Whenever our negligence has permitted cheat 

 and spelt to be scattered over our farms, it seems 

 almost impossible to stop their growth, even lo 

 those farmers who suppose that they never are 

 produced except from parent plants of the same 

 Kind. The purchase of pure seed wheat (which 

 18 already extremely difficult) does not remedy 

 the evil, as the seeds of both cheat and spelt will 

 otien remain uninjured a year, or perhaps much 

 longer, without germinating, when buried deep 

 by the p ough. But with those who believe that 

 wheat changes to cheat and spelt, it is obviously 

 tmpossibe to get rid of the evil ; and that opinion 

 IS calculated to repress every effort for that pur- 

 pose. Hence the necessity of deciding by lair 

 and careful experiments, whether these pests are 

 legitimate or bastard vegetable products, E. R. 



Remarks on the above, by the Editor of .American 

 farmer. 

 The specimens enclosed in the above commu- 

 nication were, a head of cheat, (jBromus secalinus,) 

 and ahead of darnel, {Lolium temulentum.) The 

 iduer IS the first specimen we have seen of the 



plant, and were not before aware of its having 

 made its way across the Atlantic. It is the plant 

 which the English farmers suppose originates 

 Irom wheat. We have also found a specimen of 

 Bromus mollis, soft brome grass, which some 

 suppose originates from timothy. It resembles 

 cheat very much, except that it is more delicate, 

 with smaller heads and seeds. It is somewhat 

 curious that this timothy cheat, as it is called, 

 (soft brome grass) was found in a wheal field, 

 where there never had been a spear of timothy. 

 Jpropos. A farmer who is a firm believer in 

 the degeneracy of wheat to cheat, informed ua 

 that he saw a whole field of cheat, and that the 

 owner was cutting it lor hay. It proved to be a 

 fine crop of rye grass — Lolium perenne. 



Poplar Grove, June 30, 1832. 

 Mr. Smith :—l herein enclose you two heads of 

 darnel or cheat, the one with a head resembling 

 oats, is that kind which has been known in this 

 section ol the country, time immemorial— the 

 other is a plant which from us peculiar form of 

 growth, resembling the teeih of a saw or notches 

 on a board, has acquired the name of the notch 

 darnel, ii fiist appeared on Kent Island, soon 

 alter the British encampment on thai Island, 

 during the late war, from whence il has been 

 cairied by birds, and has spread considerably else- 

 where. It has a larger and heavier gram than the 

 common darnel, and henceit is with moie difficulty 

 separated from the wheat in winnowing. How far 

 its more fiirinaceous character renders it a better 

 food for stock than the old darnel, 1 know not. 

 Like the Hessian fly which soon apjieared after the 

 encampment of the British on Long Island, it is 

 believed to have been introduced by them ; but 

 whether with more truth or not, 1 am unable to 

 say. I should be glad, if you can furnish them, 

 to have the true botanical names ol both these 

 plants, and also the vulgar names they are known 

 tiy in England ; where I presume they are both 

 known, and where ihe latter may probably be in 

 cultivation lor some edible purpose, as I believe 

 it to be extremely productive.* It has long been 

 a matter of surprise to me that intelligent farmers, 

 and particularly my highly intelfigent I'riend 

 JVluse, should believe thai wheal is capable ol" 

 turning to darnel. It is against the order of na- 

 ture, and I venture to assert, it will be against 

 all yatr experiments to produce Hhe change. It 

 cannot, in my opinign, be in the power of man or 

 beast te effect it. h you sow wheat on a clean 

 soil, you will have wheat, and if you sow darnel 

 you wi I have darnel, without any danger of its 

 turning back, to the end of time. A sound rule 

 ought to work both ways; but you can no more 

 convert darnel in'o wheat, than wheal into darnel. 

 * * » # # 



T. Emory. 



By the Editor of American Farmer. 

 ^We are much indebted to Col. Emory, of the 

 Eastern Shore, of Maryland, lor the communi- 



* Is it German spellz, fares or vetches, neither of 

 which plants, although grown and known in Europe, 

 I have any knowledge of ? Tho samples I send are 

 unripe. 



