««0 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



€lrit0r's ®aljU„ 



Hew Advertisements "Qiis MontJi. 



Genesee Valley Nurseries.— A. Frost & Co., Eoehestcs-, N. T. 



How to Behave.— Fowler & Wells, New York. 



Hickok's Keystone Cider Mill.— W. 0. Uickok, Kan-isburg, Pa. 



New Catalogues for 1S.5T.— Wm. E. Prince & Co., Flushing, N. Y. 



To Plauters & Dealers in Trees.— Isaac PuUen, Ilightstown, N. J. 



Fruit and Ornameatal Trees. — Ellwangcr & Bariy, Koetiester, 

 N. Y. 



Small Fruits.— EUwanjter & Barry, Rochester, N. Y. 



TlyaciKths, Tulips, Doubie OaMtaa, &c.— J. M. Thorburu ■& Co., 

 New York. 



Ei">che8ter and Lake AvcK^e Commercial Nurseries.— J. Donel- 

 ten & Co., Rochester, N. Y. 



Old Rochester Nurseries. — Samuel Moulson Rochester, N. Y. 



To Seedsmen, Plante'iS, &c.— J. M. Thorburn, New Yw'k. 



Lawton Blackberry PlaTits.— C. P. Bisseil, Rochester, N. Y. 



To Nurserymen.— Ellwauger & Barry, iiochester, N. Y. 



New and Rare Oraaia-eatal Trees. — KUwanger & Barry, Roches- 

 tor, N. Y. 



Fruit and Ornamental Trees, &e. — William King, Rochester, 

 N. Y. 



Grape Vines.— Josiah Salter, Eochenter, N. Y. 



Buffalo Nurseries, amd Oaklands Gardens and Green-houses. — 

 Manley & Mason, Buffalo, N. Y. 



Peach Ti'ees, Grape Vines, itc. — Jas, Lennon, Rochester, N. Y. 



Strawberry Plants for Sale.— C. W. Seelye, Rochester, N. Y. 



Bulbous Roots, Roses, Strawberries scad Trees,— Wm. E, Prince 

 & Co., Flushing, N. Y. 



Strawberries. — .John Wilson, Albamy, N. T. 



QuiiiOG and Apple Stocks for Sale.— Penfield, BuTwell & Co., 

 Lock port, N. Y. 



The Amerieaa Farmer's iSacyclopedla. — C. M. Saxton & Co. 

 JTew York. 



Does "WiiEiT Txten to Chess? — To settle a contro- 

 versy on this subject, Benjamin Hodsb, of Buffalo, N.Y., 

 ©ffered a premium, some months since, of one hundred 

 doilart, to any one who would demons-trate that wheat 

 ■wwttld turn to chess — to be awarded "Uinder the supervision 

 of She New-York State Agricultural Society, and under 

 swjoii rules as a Committee appointed by the Society should 

 prescribe. This premiumwas lately claimed by Samuel 

 Datidson, of Greece, in this county, who had in his pos- 

 session, ag fee believed, the evidence of transmutation. — 

 A Committee, appointed by the Society, consisting of Prof. 

 Dewey and L. B. Lanswouthy, of this city, and J. J. 

 Thomas, of Union Springs, with Col. Johnson, Secretary 

 ©f the Sociaty, met at Rochester recently to examine the 

 evidence. Mr. Thomas is one of the editors of the 

 Conntry Gaitlfrmen, and we copy the following account 

 of the examination from that excellent paper. 



The experiment to prove transmutation was the follow- 

 Hig : — A quantity of earth was passed through a fine 

 seive, to separate all chess seeds. It was placed in a pan, 

 and several heads of wheat planted in it. When the 

 wiieat came up, it was subjected to all the hard treatment 

 that usually produces winter killing, viz : flooding with 

 water, and alternately frpezing on^l thawinjj for ceviral 

 timf^s. L:ite ii! tlui spring, ilie whole (.■(intriitfi of the pan 

 wwa removed and set out in open ground. When the 

 p4ai»ts of wheat threw out their heads, thsre appeared 

 ch'j.s.i liends also. Tl'.is mass of whe.'it and chess plant* 

 wa'i brought in and ]>!.iced before the <'oinmittee. Stalks 

 of chess were shovvn, the roots of whii:h were found to 

 oroireed dire<'t!v front the ])lanted heads of wheat, which 

 -t remained entire, and in some instance* they Avere found 

 o proceed directly from tlie planted head* of wheat, 

 ficli yet remained entire, and in some instances they 

 Afere fnmid to issue from tlie half decayed grains of wheat 

 themselves. This was looked upon as conclusive. 



The roots were taken by the Committee and first soaked 

 in water, and afterwards gentiy washed, by moving them 

 backwards and forwards slowly through it. They were 

 then carefully examined by microscopes. The roots of 

 the chess were now perceived to issue, not from near th« 

 end of the grain of wheat, as is usual in sprouting, but 

 from the sid^, and in fact from almost any part. Furth.er 

 examination showed that they merely passed through 

 crevices in the decayed wheat grains, and they were sepa- 

 rated from the grains without tearing, being merely in 

 contact, without any adhesion or connection. Some of 

 the more minute chess fibres were observed by an achro- 

 matic microscope, to extend over the inner surface of the 

 bran, where they had gone in search of nourishment, 

 (which is known to abound just within the bran,) in the 

 same way that grape roots have been observed to sprea/d 

 over the surface of a rich decaying bone. But they easily 

 separated, and had no connection with the grain. It was 

 satisfactorily proved that the chess plant could not have 

 come from these grains, by the fact that tlie same single 

 stalk of chess was thus connected with five or six differ- 

 ent grains, — which could no more have originated it, tbaa 

 tive or six cows could have one calf. This examination, 

 therefore, did not prove anything in favor of transmuta- 

 tion ; and as there were many possible ways in which the 

 chess might have become scattered on the soil, the whole 

 experiment was admitted by all parties to be inconclusive. 



The claimant is, however, perfectly " satisfied" that tb« 

 wheat turned to chess ; and he is also so well satisfied 

 with the candor and accuracy of the Committee, that he 

 is confident he will yet convince them of the fact of trans- 

 mutation, as experiments, conducted by them with great 

 care, are to be performed under his direction, another 

 year. 



»«.• 



Gbeat Peice fob a South Down Ram. — At the 

 last Annual letting of Jonas Webb's South Down Rxuns, 

 at Babraham, England, one of the rams was hired by i&. 

 LiNSLEY, of Connecticut, for one hundred and ninety »ev«<ii 

 guineas ($992.88), the highest price, we believe, ever paid. 

 The Mark Lane Express learns that since the publie sate, 

 Mr. LiNSLEY has jyurchased this sheep for four hundred 

 guineag ($2.01G). To show that this is not an artiSciai 

 price, the Express mentions the following fact. " la 

 1855, Mr. Wkdu let a sheep to the Duke of Richmond, for 

 170 guineas, the season ; in 185G, to Lord Chiche.ster, 

 for 130 guineas ; and this year, still in strong use, he goes 

 to that good judge, Mr. Rigden, for 70 guineas. This is 

 something like four hundred guineas in the three yeais, 

 and there may be something more to credit to him even 

 then." Well does a tontemporary observe — " Americans 

 ought now to breed as good South Downs as any in the 

 world, as they have secured as good stock as there is to 

 begin with." 



At the same sale, sixty five rams were let for the s'easftK 

 at an average price of about $140 each. This is not (jaite 

 as high, we believe, as in 1856, but higher than tlie aveiage 

 of tlie past five years. 



Fruit Gbowhbs' Society of Westbeh Nbw Tobk. 

 The Autumnal Exhibition of this Soeiety will be hcM iw 

 thi.s city, Septembor 18,19. "A sr-rfing effort wifl be 

 made to render tliis one of the most interesting meeting 

 of tliis kind ever Iield in this country." All who arc in- 

 terested, lx)tJi in Wttstern New York and elsewhe»e, are 

 cordially iuritod to att-end. 



Sur^PHua FOE Rosb Bugs. — A correspondent at New 

 ITaren informs us that he has tried burnin? sulphur MnAer 

 rose trees to kill the bugs, with decided Bucoess — but un- 

 fortunately it killed the leaves also. 



