PRACTICAL F A Pv M E R'. 



107 



I have taken cosisiderable pains to ascertain the 

 history, character and importance of the rihbon 

 grass, and come to tlie conclusion, that it was ori- 

 ginally an aquatic grass, and tliat the striped color 

 was produced by being transplanted into a dry, 

 gravelly soil. 1 have seen it in a number of'jila- 

 ces where it had been cultivated for ornament, 

 spreading beyond its boundary and outrooting oth- 

 er grass : in these instances, if in the shade or en 

 moist ground, it loses its striped color. In one 

 instance, the roots passed under the garden wall 

 into the back yard, and entirely eradicated the oth- 

 er grass, and occupied a number of rods of ground, 

 when it grew rank and lost its strijjed color. I 

 have not been able to ascertain the best mode of 

 propagation ; it produces little if any seed that 

 will vegetate. Ihe striped grass of the garden, 1 

 am confident, does not i)roduce any ; for we have 

 cultivated it for near twenty years, and have never 

 known a single spear that was produced from seed. 

 The Phalaris that grows in wet land, blossoms 

 abundantly, but produces very little seed, and that 

 is liable to become fungus, resembling the spurred 

 rye. The propagation by transplanting the roots 

 into wet laud among the bogs, although attended 

 with but litth labor, must take considerable time 

 to entirely eradicate the bog grass, as 1 have 

 proved by experiment. I transplanted, a number 

 of years since, into a bog meadow, some of the 

 grass, and although it took root and grew rapidly, 

 spreading among the other grass, and even send- 

 ing up shoots in the centre of bogs, still the bog 

 grass remains. I planted, as an experiment, about 

 one half of an acre bog meadow with the Phalaris 

 a year last spring, it having been previously [)lough- 

 ed for two or three years ; it was jdanted four feet 

 apart each way ; it all lived, and is spreading well, 

 and probably in a few years will occupy the whole 

 ground. 1 have ploughed up one acre more, and 

 intend to plant it in the same way. I also sowed 

 some of the seed last spring, procured from grass 

 that grew on wet laiid, but am not certain that 

 any of it has come up. Shall sow more next 

 spring, and hope in a few years to be able tc as- 

 certain iis importance, and the best mode of culti- 

 vation. Yours, with respect, 



Andrew Harris. 



Hon. Elizur Goodrich, Jr. 



SELECTiopf OF SEED WHEAT. — The selectiou of 

 good seed of any kiiid, to plant or sow, is an ob- 

 ject of no small importance to the cultivator, and 

 we accordingly find farmers, who are careful, pur- 

 suing some plan or other which shall ensure them 

 the best seed for their sowing. In the case of 

 wheat, some select the largest and best ears or 

 heads, which they can find, others throw up their 

 wheat in a windy day, and select that which is 

 blown the least distance, as being the heaviest and 



most plump. We think, however, that the best 

 plan, and the one which will be most sure to give 

 the heaviest grain, is to put it into some thick 

 liquor and take those kernels which usually sink 

 to the bottom. Liquors may be made sufiiciently 

 thick to bear up an egg, by various substances in 

 them, by potash, as in common lye — by soap or 

 by salt. Darwin recommends a solution of salt 

 sufficiently strong to bear up an egg, and the 

 wheat plunged into this. This might be done at 

 the time of sowing, or even before, if the wheat 

 wet in it be carefully dried — but at sowing tin^fe 

 when it is common to soak or wash wheat in lye 

 it would be a small matter to make the liquor as 

 strong as possible, and thus select the heaviest 

 and best of your seed while preparing it for the 

 ground. It would be but a little labor to test the 

 plan on a small quantity and ascertain the facts 

 concerning it. — Maine Farvitr. 



To CORRECT MDSTINESS I,N GRAIN. Com which 



is housed without being thoroughly dried, or which 

 is stored in a damp place, acquires a musty smell 

 and taste, which render it unfit for the customary 

 uses; but as this alteration afl^ects only the outer 

 covering, and not the substance of the kernel, it 

 may be easily removed by throwing upon the 

 grain double its weight of boiling water, carefully 

 stirring the mass till the water becomes cold. The 

 spoiled kernels, which swim upon the top, rtiust 

 then be removed, the water poured off, and the 

 grain spread to dry. M. Peschier preferred ein- 

 ])loying for this purpose boiling water rendered 

 slightly alkaline, and afterwards washing the grain 

 in pure water. When corn has been heated, or 

 manifestly injured, the vegeto-animal portion is al- 

 most always changed : the farina will not ferment 

 well, and the bread made from it is unwholesome : 

 such grain will answer for starch. — Chaptal. 



From tlie Albany Cultiv.itor. 

 PRESERVING ROOTS. 



We find in Chaptal's "Chemistry app'ied to 

 Agriculture," an excellent chapter on the preser- 

 vation of animal and vege.able substances. We 

 extract the following from the preliminary re- 

 marks. 



"The nature of all bodies which have ceased 

 to live or vegetate, are changed, as soon as the 

 ])hysical or chemical laws, b^' which they are gov- 

 erned, cease to act; the elements of which they 

 were composed, then form now combinations, and 

 consequently new substances. 



Wliilst an animal lives, or a i lant vegetates, the 

 laws of chemical affinitj' are continually modified 

 in its organs by the laws of vitality ; but when 

 the animal or plant ceases to live, it becomes en- 

 tirely subject to the laws of chemical affinity, by 

 which alone its decomposition is effected. 



