140 Extracts fronn the Journals. [July, 



and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in 

 itself." On this law men expect to raise rye from its seed, and 

 wheat from its seed, and chess from its seed, and barley, and In- 

 dian corn, and millet, and oats, &c., from their seed. Without 

 such a law the culture of the earth would be abandoned. If the 

 different genera and species could be mingled in the manner of 

 the hybrid, and this mingling of the pollen of various and differ- 

 ent plants in the flowers of others were common, vegetation would 

 be one scene of confusion ; the science of botany would have no 

 existence, and agriculture would be preserved only by keeping 

 each cultivated plant entirely removed and separated from all 

 others. Even when a hybrid is procured, the constant tendency 

 of the hybrid is to revert to one of the two related species of its 

 origin. 



If wheat turns to chess in ordinary cases, the change must be in 

 the germ or embryo in the seed, so that the wdiole plant shall be 

 changed. The change cannot be in or near the time of flowering. 



The naturalist believes no such change ever takes place. To 

 convince him of the contrary, bring forward a plant of chess grow- 

 ing on the same root with a stalk of wheat, both having their 

 characteristic fruit. Let the connection of the roots be palpable 

 — no sowing or stitching together, like those two legs of a lamb 

 on his back, or the calf's head on a hog's body with six legs, 

 which have excited the wonder of the gaping and separated the 

 fool and his money. Preserve the real plants, roots and all, grow- 

 ing together on the same root; put them into the hands of some 

 naturalist or honest and shrewd printer who can see through a 

 millstone when a hole is made through it; and let the whole be 

 substantiated by credible witnesses. The subject, if it is to be 

 settled satisfactorily to those who suspect such a change to be pos- 

 sible, demands all this effort and security, and will place a crown 

 of fame on the head of the fortunate discoverer. — Prairie Farmer. 



EDUCATION. 



[The subject of popular education is of vital importance to the 

 farmers of America, and, as many of the states are now agitating 

 it with the hope of adopting an efficient and well-organized sys- 

 tem of common schools, we shall approp-riate a brief space in our 

 Journal to these improvements — to the new and sounder methods 

 of teaching which are or may be in use by the best teachers, with 

 occasional extracts bearing directly on the general subject. The 

 following forcible appeal, from an address by the Hon. Wm. L. 

 Dayton, inculcates a most important lesson for the young men of 

 our country — that of self-reliance. We ask every farmer's son to 



