600 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



red top ; — though these last are not eo njuch 

 esteemed. The others are completely naturaliz- 

 ed ; and when the soil is either originally fertile, 

 or adequately improved, the best of them, — viz. 

 the meadow grass, and i he fescue, — soon appear 

 spontaneously in our pastures, and supersede the 

 artificial ones. Now and then, we hear of attempts 

 to introduce neiv grasses to the notice o( our agri- 

 culturists, — accompanied by exagcjeraled state- 

 ments of their value ; — such as the taller oat- 

 grass {j^vena clatiar, L.) — sometimes called 

 "grass ot the Andes" : and a lew years since, 

 one of our coarse indigenous grasses, called 

 " sesame", or " gama grass" (^Trip^acum dacty- 

 loides, //.), was so extravagantly lauded in the 

 journals, that many lovers ol novelties were in- 

 duced to try the experiment of cultivating it, in 

 place of the old approved plants ; but, like some 

 other "experiments" that we wot of, in our day, 

 it resulted in a total failure.* It is, indeed, ex- 

 ceedingly doubtful, whether any other tirasses are 

 Eo vvell adapted to our climate, and our wants, 

 as those old and long-tried acquaintances of our 

 farmers, which I have already enumerated. 



I have thus endeavored to give some idea of 

 the uses to which the roots, stems and general 

 herbage of the grasses are or may be appropri- 

 ated, in the arts, and in domestic and rural economy. 

 But it is from the .seecZs of the srass tribe — with 

 one exception — that we derive the most eminent 

 and immediate advantages. To them we are 

 indebted Ibr what has been emphatically called 

 the staff of life. The cliief bulk of those seeds 

 being made up o\' farinaceous matter, which, as 

 has been stated, is always innocent and nutri- 

 tious — they are consequently well adapted to the 

 sustenance of man. They not only supply us 

 with bread, but with all the countless variety of 

 dishes which ingenuity has prepared, both from 

 the flour and the unirround grain ; and if but few 

 species are commonly employed lor that purpose. 

 It is because the larjie size of their seeds, com- 

 pared with those of other grasses, renders them 

 more eligible as objects of culture. There is but 

 a solitary instance alleced of the unwholesome- 

 nefes of the seeds, in the entire family of the 

 grasses, viz.: those of the darnel {Lolium temulen- 

 turn, //.,) — a common weed in many parts of 

 Europe — but scarcely known to the United States: 

 and even in this case, the deleterious etiecis are 

 probably much exaizgerated. It is only when the 

 seeds are damaged, or diseased, that they become 

 injurious to health ; — as when putrefaction has 

 commenced — or when that peculiar disease and 

 enlargement of the grain occurs, which is known 

 by the name of ergot.* This kind of diseased 



* We cannot but remark, says the botanical editor 

 of Rees's Cyclopoedia, what extraordinary celebrity is 

 attached, every now and then, to one grass or other, 

 and how their fame passes away 'like the morning 

 cloud,' while the best grazieis scarcely know, perhaps, 

 better than their fat cattle, any thing of the nature of 

 the common never-failing herbage, to which they are 

 both so much indebted. — ./Irt. Panicum. 



* The quality of grain, and of the flour manufactured 

 from it, may be materially injured by incipient vege- 

 tation : The process of germination produces a 

 chemical change in the seeds, and renders the farina 

 unfit for culinary purposes: Hence it is impossible 

 for the miller to make good flour from grain that has 

 sprouted. 



grain (the effect, it is believed, of a parasitic 

 (iingus,) has been found to exert a powerful in- 

 fluence on the animal system ; and hence, instead 

 of being a nutriment, may become either a poison 

 or a medicine, — according to the quantity taken, 

 or the manner in which it is employed. Indeed, 

 the remaik may be made general, — that the chief 

 distinction between a poison and an active medi- 

 cine, consists in the size of the dose, and the skill 

 of the doctor. A drug that has no power to do 

 mischief, or to disturb the system, can possess but 

 feeble medicinal virtues; and, if it deserve notice 

 at all, should be classed among the aliments, ra- 

 ther than in the materia medica. Accordinely, 

 we find the poisonous plants furnishing the 

 multifarious inizrcdients of the apothecary's shop, 

 — while Ihe simple grasses, in iheir sound and 

 unsophisticated condition, yield nothing but !he 

 wholesome materials lor lood and nourishment. 

 It is true, that human injzenuily has extracted a 

 potent medical ao-ent, in the lorm oi^ alcohol, from 

 the lermenied seeds and juices of the graminete, — 

 and if is equally true, that man has wickedly 

 converted that extreme medicine into his daily 

 beverage: but this is only a signal instance of 

 his depravity, in perverting the blessings bestow- 

 ed on him, — and arnrues nothing against the in- 

 trinsic value of Ihe material thus abused, it 

 merely illustrates ihe ancient truth — corrvpiio 

 optimi pessima, — that the |)rostitulion of the best 

 things produces the vilest results. 

 (To be continued.) 



THE PEACH — IMPORTANT EXPERIMENT. 



From tlie Albany Cultivator. 



3Iessrs. Gaylnrd and Tucker — In the eprinij of 

 1837, I wrote to Judge Biiel, asking him to join 

 me in experiments on the peach tree with salt- 

 petre, and proposed to give the result through 

 the medium of the Cultivator to the public. 1 

 gave as my reason for that request, that as far 

 as mv observations extended, I had always ob- 

 served that on soils containini? nitre and muriate 

 of soda, the peach tree lives luxuriantly to an 

 advanced nse, while upon soils inimedialely ad- 

 joining, immature decay takes place, and the tree 

 seldom attains the age of seven years. As in- 

 stances in vindication of this occur so frequently, 

 I have been astonished to see them passed over 

 without notice, and now advert to some of them 

 to establish the truth of this position. Peach 

 trees growina in the site where once stood a 

 dwellinsr, generally live to an old age, the soil of 

 which, by analysis, will give a proportion of 

 nitre. The same thing occurs in many districts 

 of the west and south-west; upon one farm the 

 occupant has no difficulty in having good peaches, 

 while his neighbor finds it a laborious task to 

 prolong the lile of Ihe tree to a few years, and on 

 well cultivated farms near the seaboard. I have 

 been informed, they have but lillle difliculty in 

 growing this tree. Having these and other in- 

 stances for my guidance, I commenced experi- 

 ments with salt and salt-petre, in the year 1836, 

 upon an orchard six years old ; clover was sown 

 upon it that spring, and it remained in grass till 

 last fall, when it was ploughed and sown in wheat 

 and clover this sprinrr. The trees in '36 were 



