30 



Trans.m7tt<iti(yn of Plmits. 



Vol. IIL 



necessary for the frame. In tlie spring my 

 employer was sent for, and wlien we came to 

 hew the sills, one was so defective we were 

 compelled to get another from the woods 

 to supply its place. Whilst we were build- 

 ing the barn he would frequently lament the 

 loss of the sill he cut in the winter, saying, 

 • in a few years I shall have to put in a new 

 sill, for this one will rot,' pointing to the one 

 cut in the spring.^ But, said this old friend, 

 I lived to see the same barn moved, and be- 

 fore it could be effected, they were compelled 

 to put three new sills under it; they were all 

 rotten except the one cut in the spring." This 

 satisfied me that the spring was the proper 

 time to fall timber to insure its lasting well. 

 Being at Egg Harbour, fitting out a vessel, 

 and in company with several persons, the 

 conversation turned as to the proper time to 

 cut timber for ship building — an old man re- 

 l9,ted the following: — I well remember a gen- 

 tleman coming from Philadelphia to Egg 

 Harbour, and sending for a ship-carpenter to 

 build him a schooner. When they entered 

 into a contract, the gentleman bound him up 

 to cut down all the timber when the pap run, 

 and then take his own time to build her, pro- 

 vided he would get her round to Philadelphia 

 before the winter set in. We all thought he 

 knew but little about cutting timber, and 

 would soon have a rotten vessel. Eighteen 

 years after, said he, I saw the same vessel 

 opened. Her timbers were then sound, and in 

 good condition. Yours, &c. An Old Man. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Transmutation of Plants. 



Sir, — In a former communication, I gave 

 you a history of the produce of some skinless 

 oats I had sown. Enclosed you will find a 

 sample of the product of this year. I never 

 had a disposition to enter into a controversy 

 with any one, on any subject whatever, and 

 much less in my declining years, and in par- 

 ticular with gentlemen who enjoyed in early 

 life advantages of which I was denied. The 

 little knowledge I possess of agriculture was 

 obtained from a long course of experience 

 and observation. Tf belief in the obsolete 

 doctrine of transmutation is to be attributed 

 to superstition and infidel notions, I must con- 

 fess that it has not been shaken, much less 

 removed, by the observations of your corres- 

 pondent On the contrary, my opinion has 

 been lately strengthened by a discovery which 

 would have confirmed even Mr. Fcatberstone- 

 haugh himself, if he had any doubt remaining 

 on that subject. Passing through one of my 

 fields, some time before harvest, I discovered 

 a head of lehrat surrounded by nine heads 

 of cheat. I took it up with care to show to 

 Bomeof my neighbors. We examined it and 

 discovered no difference in the stems, but the 



blades of the cheat had a little more rough- 

 ness on the upper side than the wheat. We 

 then examined the root, which was compress- 

 ed in the circumference of a dollar, and found 

 the lateral roots of the cheat grown out of 

 the radical or centre root that bore the wheat. 

 One of the gentlemen was heretofore strenn- 

 ously opposed to transmutation, but is now 

 satisfied. I am as firmly persuaded as yonr 

 correspondent, W. D., that seed sowed in pro- 

 per seasons, and receiving no injury of any 

 kind, will universally bring its own kind. 

 But may not certain causes produce certain 

 effects'? He disbelieves the doctrine, because 

 it is not consonant to his ideas of philosophy 

 and nature. But may there not be hidden 

 and mysterious causes in nature, as yet inac- 

 cessible to man in the present enlightened 

 age ! I can only say that my garden has been 

 dug with a spade these forty years to my own 

 knowledge, and never did cheat make its ap- 

 pearance except on the spot where the oats 

 had been sown, and is there still. The plant 

 that leaves tlie yellow seed which i alluded 

 to in my former communication, so strongly 

 resembles fiax that you cannot well discover 

 any difference until it comes to its full growth. 

 The seed is full of oil, but the stem is desti- 

 tute of lint. I could get a number of farmers 

 to testify to the same facts. Your correspon- 

 dent, W. D., must have been mistaken when 

 he says it had no more afBnity to flax than 

 horse-radish. In respect to timothy produc- 

 ing cheat the first year is so common an oc- 

 currence that it causes no surprise to the far- 

 mer who is in the habit of sowing it, for he 

 is aware if he cuts it in a green state that the 

 roots will not die, but bring timothy the suc- 

 ceeding year. But if it is suffered to get 

 fully ripe the root will die like other grains. 

 In regard to spontaneous productions, W. D. 

 admits that oak succeed pine forests when 

 cutoff. I could point him to a district near 

 a furnace on a mountain that is overgrown 

 with chcsnut, where formerly pint was cut 

 oK The (juestion might be asked, when and 

 how were the seed conveyed there ; and why 

 were they not rooted up by the swine that 

 generally rove about furnaces. The seed 

 must have lain near the surface, and swine 

 are fond of chesnuts. To be more scrions, 

 Mr. Editor, docs not the earth contain that 

 vegetative principle which was first implant- 

 ed by Him who has created it, and said, let 

 it bring forth grass, and herbs, &c., but not 

 man and animals; and requires no more than 

 causes to produce effects. G. W. 



Martinshiirp, Va , July If.th, l'*^^. 



What cannot be done by one stroke, may 

 be effected by manv ; and application and 

 perseverance liave oflen succeeded when all 

 ! other means have failed. 



