276 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 5. 



the completion of the locks from Albaiiy to Syra- 

 cuse is estimated at three years— and six years to' 

 Complete the Canal. The enlargement it is sup- 

 posed will be commenced in about one year. By 

 ihis arrangement the width of the Canal will be 

 increased twenty feet and its depth two feet. It is 

 believed the expense of this great work will be 

 paid out of the canal revenues by the year, 1845, 

 which is the time fixed for the redemption of the 

 ori rinal canal debt. 



WHEAT AND CHEAT GROWKG FROM THE 

 SAME EOOT. 



To the Editor of the Fanners' Register. 



FampUUce, King William, June 22, 1835. 



As there seemed to be a great difference of opin- 

 ion sometime rip.ee in the Farmers' Register 

 among some of the farmers with regard to chess 

 ok cheat in wheat, f think the following ought to 

 decide the matter. My manager found this morn- 

 ing a bunch containing three heads of cheat and 

 two of wheat, growing from the same root. It 

 has always been my opinion that cheat was de- 

 generated wheat. 



THOMAS CARTER. 



White Sulphur Springs, July 21, 1835. 



Dear Sir — Yours of the 28th ult. has just 

 come to hand, and 1 am sorry the plant alluded to 

 was net preserved, or it would afford me pleasure 

 to send it to you. It was found by my manager, 

 and not taken care of. He says he has seen the 

 same thing before. 



I am, yours respectfully, 



THOMAS CARTER. 



Being desirous of establishing truth, and not our own 

 particular opinions, and considering with Mr. Carter 

 that such a fact as this, fully established, would decide 

 the controversy, we wrote immediately after receiving 

 his first letter, to ask that the entire plant might be sub- 

 mitted to such scrutiny as wouldleave no suspicion of 

 a mistake. This request was dictated by no doubt of 

 the good faith either of Mr. C. or of the person who 

 stated to him the circumstance — but by the remem- 

 brance of a mistake of our own making. Before ha- 

 ving formed a decided opinion on this disputed matter, 

 we once found a bunch of wheat, then just getting in- 

 to head, and of which some heads were of cheat. The 

 fact seemed conclusive: and if the bunch had been 

 then thrown aside, after what was deemed close exam- 

 ination, we probably would have been always willing 

 to swear to its truth, and of course to the fact of the 

 transformation. But intending to preserve the bunch 

 as a curiosity, and for permanent evidence, it was car- 

 ried to the next brook to be well washed, so as to clear 

 the roots of all the adhering dirt. In this operation, 

 and without applying any fo.ee. or having any expec- 

 tation of such a result, the roots separated, and showed 

 two distinct bunches, so closely interlocked that they 

 before had seemed to be one, and to L.. e ?•' Ting from 

 the same seed. 



MANURE ON POOR SOILS. VVBtAC IMPROVE- 

 MENTS, AND POLITICAL JORS. 



To the Editor of the Fanner's Register. 



Caroline county, Va. July 27, 1835. 



Your remarks on my letter, (Farmers' Regis- 

 ter, Vol. II. page 614,) have, 1 have learned, dis- 

 heartened many farmers on poor land, and I as- 

 sure you, sir, I saw nothing in them to cheer my 

 spirits, or increase my ardor in attempts to im- 

 prove lands naturally poor. The consumptive pa- 

 tient does not always despair after an unfavorable 

 prognosis. "Hope ever lingers in the hectic 

 breast." Your experience, it seems, as well as 

 my own, goes to prove the difficulty, if not im- 

 practicability, of enriching lands naturally poor, 

 (and exhausted too, by long cultivation) by vege- 

 table matter alone. You have pursued the four, 

 and I the three-shift system. You have fortunate- 

 ly found a remedy in marl: I have not. You seem 

 now to pursue a course calculated to make amends 

 lor all your lbrmer errors and disappointments, as 

 well as your toils and losses. In this situation, 

 sir, I think you seem to abandon us to our fate, if 

 not with disgust, at least with but. little or no hope 

 for our success. Without marl or lime, we are 

 doomed to poverty or emigration: and to add to 

 our sufferings, your "Commentator" laughs at our 

 calamity. This is more than we can bear. You 

 are elated with your discovery of the catholicon — 

 he with a smile points you to the opprobrium medi- 

 cines. Whatever may be the success ot your pa- 

 nacea, we cannot but hope that the God of na- 

 ture has provided other available remedies. Do 

 not too hastily conclude that human genius and 

 human effort must centre in lime. Do not believe 

 that all lands naturally poor are doomed to their 

 present condition without lime. Would you, sir, 

 presume that you have fathomed the depths of 

 nature, or spanned the circle of human ingenuity? 

 Remember the story of the three clergymen and 

 the setting sun in St. Piere's "Studies of 'Nature." 

 How do you know, sir, but your discoveries (and 

 great I must call them) are but the platform: the 

 mighty edifice is yet to be erected. Damp not 

 then, 1 beg you, human effort; nor doom not to 

 endless poverty the descendants of poor-land-far- 

 mers in our native state.* 



* We could not state our views more clearly than was 

 done at the place referred to above (Vol. II. p. 614,) 

 — and indeed, though condemning their having been 

 so exprersed, our correspondent seems to concur en- 

 tirely in their general correctness. When declaring 

 that the putrescent manures alone, furnished by a 

 farm of soil naturally poor, could not enrich it — and 

 that calcareous matter being added would serve to pro- 

 duce that effect, certainly and profitably — it was not 

 thought necessary to state also (what we now readily 

 admit) that there may be other substances or means, 

 though as yet unknown, which may serve the same or 

 even a better purpose than calcareous earth. We then 

 knew of one means only, and therefore spoke of no 

 other. We were aware that the views expressed were 

 likely to be unpalatable to many — and certainly the 

 expression was not calculated to aid the popularity, or 

 add to the profits of this journal. Our correspondent 



