No. 4. 



Delaware County Hogs. — T?ie Missourium. — Wheat, 



133 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Delaware County Hogs. 

 Mr. Editor — The following are the 

 weights and ages of six pigs, raised and fed 

 (except one) by Enos Yarnall, of Newtown, 

 Delaware County, and sold by him in the 

 Philadelphia market. They were of the 

 common stock of the county ; 4 of one litter 

 and 2 of another ; the four were pigged about 

 the middle of 2d month last, the two, two 

 weeks later, 



No. 1 252 lbs under 8 months, 



" 2 275 " do. do. 



" 3 300 " 8 months, 



" 4 297 " do. 



" 5 341 " 8 months and 1 week, 



" 6 310" 8 montlis only. 



after being dressed for market. 

 Newtown, 10th mo., 1841. 



R. M. T. 



From the Friend. 



In justice to ourselves, to our readers, and 

 to those immediately interested, it will be 

 right to say a few words in reference to the 

 Big Bones which have recently been exhi- 

 bited at the Masonic Hall, in this city. We 

 read with a mixture of surprise and incredu- 

 lity, the accounts published in the papers some 

 months since, of the discovery in Benton coun- 

 ty, Missouri, of an enormous skeleton, repre- 

 sented as pertaining to a nondescript and ex- 

 tinct animal, to which was given the name 

 Missourium, from the country in which the 

 bones were found. After waiting a consider- 

 able time, and nothing appearing to discredit 

 the statements — but on the contrary, other 

 and corroborative statements were published 

 — wo at length ventured to transfer one or 

 more of them to our columns. Since then, 

 however, a paragraph has gone the rounds, 

 referring to the "Western Journal of Medi- 

 cine and Science" for authority, the tendency 

 of which was to cast ridicule on the whole 

 affair — to represent it all as a sheer decep- 

 tion. The paragraph was copied, we are 

 sorry to say, into our number of the 18th ult. 

 On the evening of the 16th instant, the edi- 

 tor, in company with some of his friends, re- 

 solved to attend the exhibition and see for 

 themselves. We were one and all astonished 

 at the stupendous spectacle. Leaving to the 

 scientific the settlement of the question, as to 

 what order in the scale of animal existence 

 the skeleton belongs, we were, upon inspec- 

 tion, and after such cursory admeasurement 

 as circumstances would permit, all of us con- 

 vinced, that, in every material point, the 

 wonderful object before us Vv'as in agreement 

 with the representations published — that, in 

 short, it was no hoax. 



We regret to add, that the intelligent and 

 enterprising proprietor, in disgust at his re- 

 ception here and elsewhere, in a day or two 

 after, abruptly closed the exhibition, and has 



since sailed for Entjland with his entire col- 

 lection, in the confident expectation that their 

 value and importance will there be more 

 justly appreciated. 



Transformation of Wheat. 



A GRAIN of wheat when put into the ground 

 at the depth of three inches, undergoes the 

 following transformations: — As soon as the 

 farinaceous matter which envelopes the frame 

 of the young plant contained within it is soft- 

 ened into a milky state, a germ is pushed out, 

 and at the bottom of that germ small roots 

 soon follow. The roots are gathering strength, 

 whilst the germ, by the aid of the milky fluid, 

 is shooting upwards; and when the milk is 

 exhausted, the roots are in activity, and are 

 collecting nourishment for the plant from the 

 soil itself. This is analogous to the weaning 

 of the young of animals, which are not aban- 

 doned by the mother till they can provide for 

 themselves. But the care of nature does not 

 end here ; when the germ has fairly got above 

 the surface, and become a plant, a set of up- 

 per roots are thrown out, close to the surface 

 of the ground, which search all the superfi- 

 cial parts of the soil with the same activity 

 as the under roots search the lower parts; 

 and that part of the germ which separates 

 the two sets of roots is now become a chan- 

 nel, through which the lower roots supply the 

 plant with the nourishment they have col- 

 lected. 



What an admirable contrivance to secure 

 the prosperity of the plants ! Two distinct 

 sets of roots serve, in the first place, to fix 

 the plant firmly in the ground, and to collect 

 nourishment from every quarter. The upper 

 roots are appositely situated to receive all the 

 nourishment that comes naturally from the 

 atmosphere, or artificially as manure, to the 

 surface; and serve the further purpose of 

 being all the base of new stems, which are 

 tillered up, and so greatly increase the pro- 

 ductiveness of the plant. The excellence of 

 the drill system in grain may be probably 

 perceived in this explanation ; for in broad- 

 cast sowing the seeds lie very near to the 

 surface, and in this situation it is not only 

 more exposed to accidents arising from birds, 

 insects, and the weather, but the two sets of 

 roots are necessarily crowded together so as 

 almost to become indistinct; the plant is less 

 firm, and has fewer purveyors collecting food 

 for it. — Featherstonhaugft. 



At the late Exhibition of the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society, one of the mem- 

 bers, R. Maning, Esq., placed upon the table 

 129 varieties of the pear, having proved and 

 fruited in his own garden nearly 300 varie- 

 ties of this choice fruit, 63 of which are sup- 

 posed td be of American origin. 



