164 



Wheat in Cheat — Blight in Pear Trees. 



Vol. II 



to lower and rise, a distance equal to the ec- 

 centricity of the groove. The sails are at- 

 tached to arms, and are so constructed as to 

 present the edges to the wind when facing or 

 moving towards its course, and their sides 

 when moving with it, and may move either 

 on vertical or horizontal hino:es or fulcrums. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Can Wheat be transformecl iu ClieatI 



Mr. Featherstonhaugh contends that it can, 

 and, in proof thereof, says, that M. Conway, 

 of Rapid Ann, JVIadison county, Virginia, gave 

 him a plant which, as far as the heads went, 

 was a perfect specimen of cheat or chess ; but 

 having been carefully drawn from the held, 

 with all its roots attached to it, without any 

 visible fracture, and in the most natural man- 

 ner, he saw the skin of the kernel of the seed 

 from which the plant had proceeded, and that 

 it was of wheat, and nothing else.* But 

 Botanists say that this supposed transmuta- 

 tion of wheat into cheat is a natural impossi- 

 bility and vulgar error. 



Doctor Darlington,! under the head of Bro- 

 nius, — rye bromus, vulgo, — cheat, chess, says, 

 "This well known troublesome grass is a 

 naturalized foreigner; and obstinately ac- 

 companies our crops of wheat and rye. Fre- 

 r[uenlly when the wheat has been injured by 

 the winter, or other cause, the bromus is very 

 abundant; and many farmers are so little ac- 

 quainted with the laws of nature — and there- 

 fore prone to absurd mistakes — that they ima- 

 gine the wiieat has been transformed into 

 bromus or cheat." 



It ie a pity some of your intelligent readers 

 who are practical farmers, dont endeavor to 

 probe this mr tter to the bottom, and let us 

 know the result. P. A. B. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Bliglit in Pear Trees. 



Dear Sir, — Amongst all the communica- 

 tions which I have noticed in your valuable 

 paper on the subject of this disease, there is 

 but one, which, in my opinion, approaches to 

 an explanation of the true cause, by refering 

 it to the gradual decay, and inevitable death, 

 to which every vegetable, as well as animal, 

 is doomed, and that grafts which are now ad- 

 mitted to be mere enlongated parts of the 

 parent stock, inheriting all its qualities and 

 infirmities, are sooner or later involved in 

 the same fate. 



In accordance with the opinion which is 

 entertained by the most enlightened vege- 

 table Physiologists, every existing variety of 

 fruit tree must one day become extinct. In 



• See the Monthly Am. Jour, of Geology, &c. of June | 

 1832, p. 50 1. 

 f Flora Csstiica, p. 69. i 



this view of the subject, experience, the 

 great test of truth, will bear us out. 



An attentive observer will discover evi- 

 dent works of declining vigor and incipient 

 decay in all the older cultivated varieties of 

 the pear, indicated by the yellowness of the 

 bark, the sickly paleness and softness of the 

 leaf, the brittle and spongy structure of the 

 young shoots, contrasted with the more 

 healthy appearance and condition of the 

 same parts in the seedling, or those trees 

 which have recently originated from seeds — 

 (as for instance the JSeckle pear.) 



The appearances then which are called 

 Blight, I consider to be the natural conse- 

 quence of the sudden srrest of the sap, and 

 would be produced by any cause suddenly 

 extinguishing life — as it is always observed 

 to tullovv the development of the leaves, and 

 often after the fruit is nearly matured. The 

 proximate cause of death may be very ra- 

 tionally ascribed to the expenditure of vital 

 energy and exhaustion which follows these 

 functions. 



I do not contend that even seedlings may 

 not suffer from blight; vegetables as well 

 as animals being subject to premature death ; 

 but I do not insist that this result in the lat- 

 ter case is of comparatively rare occurrence. 



The most delicious and beautiful pear I 

 ever saw (the particular variety to which it 

 belonged, I never could discover,) was intro- 

 duced into Northumberland County, about 

 forty years ago, and extensively cultivated ; 

 but which had become so sickly as to bear 

 but once or at most twice, when exhaustion 

 and death invariably followed. 



This pear was so great a favorite with me 

 that I preserved it^live by annual engrafting 

 after it had become extinct elsewhere, and 

 the last tree of this variety probably existing 

 at the time, died in my garden a few years ago. 



I have several other kinds in the same 

 garden which give promise of a long life. 

 They are engrafted upon seedling stock, 

 having observed that a frequent case of death 

 arises from the stock having been taken from 

 the roots of old trees which were themselves 

 the progeny of suckers for many genera- 

 tions back. 



If we have not a remedy for that, (which 

 I consider to be incurable,) we have an un- 

 failing resource provided by a bountiful Pro- 

 vidence, in the seeds, by which new, equally 

 good, and hardy, varieties may be regenerated. 



The length of time required to bring a 

 seedling to maturity has deterred most 

 cultivators in this country from making the 

 experiment. To those who may be inclined 

 to try it, I would suggest that the period may 

 be very much abridged by ringing, so as to 

 force out the fruit bearing buds at an early 

 age, to ascertain the quality of the fruit. 



