474 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



ment of the germ. That sugar does, in fact, play 

 an imporlant part in the germination of seeds and 

 the first developement ol the plumule and radicle, 

 is manifest from the tact that all tlie minutia seeds, 

 parsley, carrots, Sic, germinate belter if steeped 

 for a lew days in a solution ofsugar or in a diluted 

 syrup. But though sugar is unquestionably of 

 great importance in the germination of seeds and 

 in the earlier developement of plants, I do not 

 maintain nor assert that the successful issue of the 

 process ia the effect, exclusively, of this substance. 

 On the contrary, I am convinced that, to secure a 

 propitious result, the presence also of alkalies, 

 sulphates, and chlorides, in due quantities and pro- 

 portions, is absolutely requisite. 



There are soils which imperiously require an 

 annual change of seed. But it is, in most cases, 

 sufficient to procure a supply Irom places in the 

 immediate vicinity, or not more than three or lour 

 miles distant— a circumstance which the principles 

 above indicated will serve to explain. 



Climate also has a very conspicuous and impor- 

 tant influence on the quality of seed grain; and 

 experience teaches that, lor seed, such grain is 

 best suited as was grown in a colder region or 

 district. Chemical analysis shows that such grain 

 contains a smaller quaniity of ghiien than that 

 grown in warmer climates. Wheat trom the 

 north of Europe contains much less gluten than 

 ihat from the southern coasts of the iMediterra- 



mestic oat, though not so early as in its native re- 

 gion. 



Finally, it may be considered as an ascertained 

 fact, that soils chemically ill constituted, require 

 the most perfect and best seed grain. A judicious 

 selection will, in such cases, very materially in- 

 crease the quantity of the product— the difference 

 being in some cases not less than filly per cent. 



ucaii. .... , 



The deterioration o( grain, so as to become un- 

 fit for continued seeding, £ have most frequently 

 observed in oats. But I remarked, in every in- 

 stance that the soils which produced bad seed 

 oats were deficient in litne, magnesia, or some 

 other substance or ingredient requisite to the full 

 developement of the germ. Oats invariably be- 

 come unfit lor seed if sown in soils deficient in 

 lime or potash ; and chemical examination shows 

 that trood seed oats contain much lime and potash. 

 Nowf though we may, (rem these and similar cir- 

 cumstances" deduce in part the reasons why a 

 chantTe of seed is oftiimes necessary, it is not to 

 be denied that, for ihe full elucidation of this mat- 

 ter, more numerous experiments and observaiions 

 are desirable. Probably results highly satisfactory 

 could be arrived at, if good and bad seed grain, as 

 well as the soils on which they respectively grew, 

 were subjected to accurate chemical analysis. 



The great benefit resulting from frequent 

 changes of seed is particularly striking in the cul- 

 ture of flax ; it being well ascertained that seed 

 imported from Russia is greaily superior to that of 

 domestic growth. Russian flax-seed, though 

 commonly an ill-looking, unpromising ariicle, in- 

 variably produces a much longer stalk and fibre 

 than native seed, apparently much better. That 

 climate likewise, in this case, exerts an important 

 influence on the due proportionment and admix- 

 ture of the ingredients o( the seed, may be consi- 

 dered certain. But what the ingredienis really 

 are which contribute to, or effectuate, ihe more vi- 

 gorous growth of the flax li'om Russian seed, re- 

 mains to be ascertained. 



Again, by means of seed grain, climate may in 

 some sense, and to some extent, be transferred 

 from one region to another. Thus, if we sow, in 

 a colder climate, seed oats from a warmer district, 

 where oats ripen early, the plant will, in its new 

 locality, mature at an earlier period than the do- 



ANCIENT AND MODERN AQUEDUCTS. , 



From the New York State Mechanic. 

 The firemen of the city of New York have 

 chosen the 10;h ol September, the anniversary 

 of Perry's victory on L^ke Erie, to celebrate the 

 achievement of the Croton aqueduct, the most 

 perlect and efficient structure of the kind of ancient 

 or modern iimt?s. Although contrivances for the 

 conveyance of water from distant sources, for the 

 supply of cities, are of great antiquit}', we have 

 no ace lunte of aqueducts, properly so called, till 

 the lime of the Romans. The city of Samos, says 

 Herodotus, was supplied with water by piercing a 

 hill 300 leet in height, by a tunnel 4,200 feet long, , 

 8 feet high and 8 leet broad. In Egypt, in Ba- 

 bylon, and in Judea, works of considerable ex- 

 tent were constructed for the conveyance of water. 

 The Romans were celebrated for their aqueducts, 

 which were not confined to the capital, but were 

 constructed at many of their most important cities in 

 Europe, Asia, and Africa, the remains of which 

 are still seen. That ol Segovia, in Spain, built in 

 the time of Trajan, is a magnificant work, consist- 

 inw of double rows of arches, 109 in number, ac- 

 coTdinLMo Malte Brun, the largest of which are 

 nearly 90 feet in height from the ground to the 

 conduit, and wholly consisting of enormous stonea 

 joined together without mortar, by which water 

 has been conveyed into the town for seventeen 

 hundred years. The neighborhood of Rome is 

 disdnguished by a long series of these almost 

 unperTshns memorials of her ancient magnifi- 

 cence. Some of Ihem are still in use, and others, 

 thoui^h in a sta'e of ruin, are among the greatest 

 ornaments of !laly. Some idea may be had of^ 

 the extent and importance of these works, from the 

 fact that the city, containing a population of four _ 

 millions, was supplied with water from sources 

 varying' from thirty to sixty miles in distance, and 

 that at°one period no less than twenty aqueducts 

 brought as many streams across the wide plain in 

 whic^h the city stands. Artificial channels wind- 

 incfalontr the hills and mountains, and tunnels 

 tlKoutrh interposing barriers, led the water the 

 (rreater portion of the distance: but the aqueduct 

 was required to cross the valleys, and to conduct 

 the stream from the surrounding hills to the walls 

 of the eternal city. In some places their manner 

 of construction required arches of 200 leet in 

 hei'^ht, and one aqueduct is said to have consisted 

 of nearly 7.000 arches, in many places more than 

 one hundred leet hiiih. There is nothing more 

 interestintr, or more really beautiful, says a writer 

 on this eulnect, in the existing ruins ol ancient 



Rome, than the remains of these splendid works, 

 which radiate in almost every direction, and run 

 across the almost level plain, out of which its hills 

 arise in long arcaded series, whose simplicity and 

 Ion'' unbroken continuity produces a degree ot 



