1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



235 



But vegetables are endowed with greater pow- 

 ers of re-production tiian animals. The latter 

 have only one manner ol re-production, fi-oni 

 wiiich there can be no departure. Oviparous an- 

 imals cannot bring torth young vivi[)arously (ex- 

 cept in a tew instances among insects,) nor vice 

 versa. Whereas among plants we find man}- that 

 can re-produce themselves in three dili'erent ways, 

 namely, by seeds, by offsets, or by suckers; and 

 what is very remakable in such cases, is that 

 whichever of these take the lead in productive- 

 ness, the other two are neutralized or nearly so; 

 and this versatility of" character may be made so 

 subservient to the i)urpose3 ot the manager, that 

 he may have whichever of the three he may 

 choose. If offsets be wanted from a bulb or tuber, 

 or from a fibrous rooted ])lant, the llower stems 

 must be cut off; and if seeds be the object, then 

 every new offset or tuber should be displaced as 

 soon as it makes its appearance. 



We have been led to make these remarks from 

 having observed (die first time in our lile) in the 

 Chelsea Botanical Garden, the flowers oi" the Je- 

 rusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) nearly 

 expanded. This is a circumstance which but 

 rarely occurs m this country, owing, no doubt, to 

 these plants being cultivated in rich soil, which in- 

 duces the production of tubers rather than flow- 

 ers. 



But this last summer has been remarkable for 

 its great heat and long continued droujrht, and 

 consequently, the soil being exhausted of that de- 

 gree of moisture necessary to the production of tu- 

 bers, and extraordmary eflbrt has been made by 

 the plants to reproduce themselves by seeds, and 

 which is quite conformable to the general law of 

 vegetable developement, as instanced in other 

 similar cases. 



The ingenious T. A. Knight, Esq., S. H. So- 

 ciety, has founded a rule in practice on this very 

 circumstance, as applicable to the potato. The 

 greater number of the varieties of this useful 

 plant re-produce themselves by both seeds and tu- 

 bers at the same time. But it forcibly struck the 

 inquiring mind of that gentleman that no plant 

 can produce both in such quantity or perfection as 

 one of them only. And lie also knew that, by 

 defructifying the top, additional energy would be 

 given to the underground offspring." This wa.s 

 sound philosophy; and the results of manifold trials 

 have been to confirm his doctrine- 



On the same principle, other practical experi- 

 ments are based. Both Dutch and other florists 

 not only prevent their budding bulbs from flower- 

 ing, but mutilate by cutting off the upper half of 

 their bulbs, to cause an extra ejection of offsets. 

 And our own exotic |)lant growers find it difficult 

 to propagate some of the African bulbs without 

 having recourse to the same manoeuvre. 



There are several other plants which show this 

 property of re-production by other than the ordi- 

 nary modes. Wheat, which is either an annual 

 or biennial according to the time of the year at 

 which it is sown, will, if repeatedly eaten or cut 

 down, continue to produce side shoots, and ripen 

 seed in the third year. The strawberry, if divest- 

 ed of its first flowers, will produce others and yield 

 fruit in the autumn. A filbert tree, surrounded by 

 a great number of suckers, seldom bears many 

 nuts. Horse radish, whose growth is chiefly to- 

 wards enlarging the root, seldom flowers or bears 



seeds; and many other similar instances maybe 

 adduced. 



The knowledge of this power or faculty of plants 

 IS necessary to the practitioner, whether in garden- 

 ing or farming. The first by directing the vigor to 

 the useful members of the plant, may have them 

 in greater perfection; and the second, by mowing 

 his thin crops of grass early in the season, will 

 much sooner' obtain a thicker sward. 



Extracts from the Journal of the Franklin Institute. 



PATENTS FOR AG UICULTUR AI^ IMPI-EJIliNTS, 

 &C., ISSUliD ITS NOVEMBER, 1S35. 



IViih remarks, by the Editor of the Journal of the 

 Franklin Institute. 



For a Machine for cutting Straw, &c.; Henry C 

 Jones, Salem, Warren county, Ohio, Nov. 7. 

 There is nothing in this cutting machine to dis- 

 tinguish it from a score or two of others, and of 

 this the patentee seems to be aware, as he says 

 that "this machine is operated somewhat similar 

 to other straw cutting machines;" at'ter wliich he 

 proceeds to claim certain things which are of little 

 or no importance, and some of them, withal, not new. 



For a Conical Arch Charcoal Burner; Ezra B. 



Gilbert, Ephratah, Montgomery county, New 



York, November 7. 



The claim made is to the before described coni- 

 cal arch charcoal burner, for manufacturing char- 

 coal. Excepting in shape, we do not see in what 

 particular this kiln differs fi-om that patented by 

 JMr. Doolittle, in 1829, and described by him in the 

 seventeenth volume of" Silliman's Journal, p. 396. 

 We have long had by us a model of a charcoal 

 kiln, exactly in the shape of that now patented. 

 The person who sent it proposed obtaining a pa- 

 tent, but declined doing so when informed that 

 there was not anything new in the principle of it, 

 or in his mode of application. 



For an improvement in the Horse Rake; James 



Pudney, Stanford, Delaware county, N, York, 



November 7. 



Two bars, each about seven feet long, are to 

 have rake teeth fixed into them, at suitable dis- 

 tances apart, and about two liiet long. These two 

 bars are to be framed together by timbers at their 

 ends, so that the two bars may be about two and 

 a halfj or three feet apart. The teeth are to point 

 in opposite directions, thus, a "^ 

 where a a shows the points b 



of the teeth, oand 6, thetim- ^^__^ 



bers by which the two rake heads are framed to- 

 gether. VVhen the rake is drawn forward, one 

 set of points is on the ground, the others serving 

 as handles, by which to guide it. When the rake 

 is full, the upper ones are pushed forward by the 

 person who guides it, and the rake rolls over, de- 

 positing the straw, grain, &c. The horse is geared 

 to a frame, allowing of this rolling over, which 

 frame is attached to the rake by headed pins, that 

 pass through a slot in the timbers, 6, which are 

 double. 



The clami is to the manner of using two heads, 

 or rakes, and the self-adjusting slide, or groove, as 

 the ends of the head bars. 



For a Machine for Culling Straw; Ashman 



Hall, Kent, Putnam county. New York, Nov. 7, 



There is to be an angular knife, something like 



