52 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



cinity. It would seem as if this were in some . 

 way connected with the mere size of a seed, the i 

 enaallesl eeeda of a given variety producing plants 

 capable of fructifying quicker than those of a 

 much larger Size. VVe have, at present, but lit- 

 tle inlbimation upon this subject ; but there are 

 some most curious experiments relative to ii by 

 Messrs. Edwards and Colin, who tbund that, 

 although winter wheat cannot, in France, be 

 made to shoot into ear, if sown in the spring, j 

 jirovided the largest grains of the variety are em- 

 ployed, yet that, il the smallest grains are picked | 

 out, some will ear like spring wheat .(see Aiinahs 

 des Sciences Naturales, v. 1.) Out of 530 grains 

 of winter wheal, sown on the 23d ot April, and 

 weighing 7 ounces 52 grains, not one pushed into 

 ear, they tillered abunduntly, but the iillers were 

 excessively stunted, and concealed among the 

 lul'ts of leaves ; in short, they lormed nothing but 

 turf: on the other hand, of 530 other grains, 

 weighing 3 ounces 56 grains, and sown on the 

 same day, 60 pushed in ear. 



It would seem as if many of our most esteemed 

 garden plants were the result of debility, and that 

 ihe succulence, the sweetness, or the excessive 

 size, which render them so well suited for lood, 

 were only marks of unhealthiness. At least, it is 

 almost necessary to assume this to be the case, in 

 order to account lor the efficacy of one of the 

 modes of maintaining races genuine. It is per- 

 fectly well known, that, il' such an annual as a 

 turnip ia transplanted shortly belbre ii runs to seed, 

 the characters ol' its variety will remain more 

 strongly marked, and have far less tendency to 

 vary, than if, all other circumstances remaining 

 the same, the seed is saved without the process ol 

 transplantation having been observed. Now, the 

 only effect of transplanting, at the season immedi- 

 ately preceding the Ibrmation of a flower- stak, 

 would seem to be thai of checking the luxuriance 

 of the individual operated on ; or, upon the above 

 assumption, of increasing its debility of constitu- 

 tion. And the same explanation appears applica- 

 ble to a strange cusiom mentioned by Mr. Ingle- 

 dew as being practised in the Dekkan, to prevent 

 the rapid deterioration, in that climate, of tl^e car- 

 rot, the radish, and the parsnip, the favorite table 

 vegetables ot the inhabitants. He stales that the 

 Indian gardeners, in the first place, prepare a com- 

 post of buffaloes' dung, swine's dung, and red 

 maiden earth, mixed with water till they have the 

 consistence of paste, and scented with a small 

 quantity of assalcetida, the latter of which seems 

 to be perfectly useless. 



*' The vegetables for this operation are drawn, 

 when wanted, from the beds, when they have at- 

 tained about one third of their natural growih, 

 and those plants are chosen which are the most 

 succulent and luxuriant ; the tops are removed, 

 leaving a few inches from their origin in the 

 crown upwards ; and a little of the inferior ex- 

 tremity, or taproot, is cut straight off likewise, 

 allowing nearly the whole of the edible pan to 

 remain, from the bottom of which to within about 

 an inch of the crown, are made two incisions 

 across each other entirely through the body of 

 the vegetable, dividing it into quarters nearly to 

 the upper end. They are then dipped into the 

 compost until they are well covered by it, both 

 externally and internally, and are immediately 

 placed in beds, previously, prepared for their re- 



ception, at the distance of fifteen or sixteen inches 

 from each other, and so deep in the ground that 

 the u(>per extrerniiics only ajipear in eight. They 

 are alierwanis regularly watered ; and when they 

 take root, and fresh tops have made some advance 

 ingrowth, they require but liitle attention. The 

 tope speedily become large, and grow into strong 

 and luxuriani stalks, the blossoms acquire a size 

 larger than ordinary, and the seed they produce 

 is likewise large and vigorous, and superabundant 

 in quantity. Innumerable roots are thrown out 

 from the incised edges ol these plants ; they con- 

 sequently receive a greater abundance of nourish- 

 ment, which occasions their luxuriant growth, 

 causes them to yield not only a more than ordi- 

 nary crop of seed, but also ot a superior quality." 

 (^Hort. Trans. ^ v. 517.) The operation is per- 

 formed at tlie beginning of the dry season. 



Besides " ruguing out" (i. e. eradicating) all 

 individuals having the slightest appearance of 

 degeneracy from among the plants intended for 

 seed, care must be taken that the croj) is so far 

 from any other of a similar kind as to incur no 

 risk of being spoiled by the intermixture of its 

 pollen. This substance is conveyed to considera- 

 ble distances by wind and insects ; and it is scarce- 

 ly possible to be secure li^om its influence, if simi- 

 lar crops are cultivated within some miles of each 

 other ; whence we find certain villages, in differ- 

 ent pans of Europe, celebrated lor the purity of 

 the seed of particular varieties ; this usually hap- 

 pens in consequence of the villagers cultivating 

 that variety and no other, as happens at Castel- 

 naudary with beet, at Altringham with the carrot, 

 and in Norfolk with different kinds of turnip. 



It is, however, to be observed, that the deterio- 

 ration of seed by bastardizing happens to a greater 

 extent to single plants than to large masses of 

 them ; and it seldom happens that good seed can 

 be saved in a garden, or near gardens, Irom a sin- 

 gle individual. Solitary specimens of the turnip, 

 the cauliflower, and such plants, have been fre- 

 quently selected on account of their perfect cha- 

 racters, and been carefLilly planted in gardens for 

 a stock of seed, but their produce has as frequent- 

 ly been of the worst desciipiion, bearing no re- 

 semblance to the parent. In such cases as these, 

 it would seem as if beea and other insects were 

 attracted from all quarters by the gay colors, or 

 odor, of such isolated individuals, and, arriving 

 from a hundred flowers which ihey had previously 

 visited, bring with them so many sources of 

 contamination. 



When, however, the aciion of other flowers 

 can be prevented, as in the melon and other 

 unisexual plants, by " setting," the largesi, heal- 

 thiest, and most cultivated varieties will yield seed 

 of the purest and finest quality. The tendency of 

 Persian melons to degenerate in this country was 

 remarked soon alter their introduction ; and, for a 

 long time, it was thought impossible to preserve 

 them for many generations. Mr. Knight, in hia 

 numberless experiments upon this fruit, found that 

 to be the case ; lor his fruit, at one time, became 

 less in bulk and weight, and deteriorated in taste 

 and flavor. But when he came to consider that 

 " every large and excellent variety of melon must 

 necessarily have been the production of high 

 culture and abundant food, and that a continuance 

 of the same measures which raised it to its highly 

 improved state must be necessary to prevent its 



