

v.— Mu. 31. 



NEW EiNGLAlNI) FARMKI^ 



245 



■fr 



Spouts — Tlie suggesliou by Captain Na- With the tlieruiometcr a half ilnzeii dogroes be- 

 iiitainei! in the following extract from the low zero, it is hardly ai)ropos to talk of thaws and 

 ;Bn Journal of Science, is probably as cor- freshets, still uo may as well remind those inVeres- 

 th regnrd to the causes of these phenomena, toil in property on rivers and other streams, that, 

 which has been ventured. The opinions of unless some extraordinary precautions are used, 

 !let and Franklin uro of course entitled to it is more than probable, that they will bd surter- 

 ^eight, but arc not supported by all the laws ers by the spring freshets, which, from present ap- 

 tricity. The water spouts are, compara- pearanees, threaten to be more powerful and e.x- 

 seldom accompanied by lightning, and their tensive than for many years past. 



% n motion with the wind, by which vessels to 

 d of them are often endangered, would seem 

 urthe theory of Capt. Napier. [N.V. Times] 

 one period they were supposed to be vol- 

 Bertfiollet and Franklni thought them el- 

 the clouds and water mutually attracting 

 ther, and they thought their idea was con- 

 by the accompanying lightning. Oliver 

 led them occasioned by the suction of a 

 Perhaps the nenresl approach to truth is 

 pposition of the Hon. Capt. Ni'pier. lie 



[Newbury Port Herald.] 



.'Imerican Wool. — There were lately received in 

 Boston, in a long train of sleds, about 20,000 lbs. 

 of wool, consigned to Messrs Livermore & Dunn. 

 This wool is from sheep kept in the town of Orr- 

 \ille, Vt. — where it is estimated, ] 00.000 lbs. of 

 wool were sheared last year — and wliere, we are 

 told, there are individuals who keep from COO to 

 3000 sheep. 



dered obvious by these experiments ; and the am- 

 eliorating cttcct is the same, whether by the inale 

 or female, as was ascertained by impregnating the 

 largest and most luxuriant plants with the pollen 

 of the most diminutive and dwarfish, on the con- 

 trary. By such means any number of varieties 

 may be obti-.ined according to the will of tjie ex- 

 perimenter, among which soino will no doubt be 

 suited to all soils and situations. Knight's experi- 

 ments of this kind were extended also to wheat ; 

 but not with equal success. For though some 

 very good varieties were obtained, yet they wore 

 found not to be permanent. But the success of 

 his experiments on the apple tree were equal to 

 his hopes. This was, indeed, his principal object, 

 and no means of obtaining a sucoesaful issue were 

 left untried. Tlio plants which were obtained in 



this case were found to possess the good qualitie: 



of both of t!)C varieties employed, uniting the 



Fat Sheep. — A grass fed sheep was lately killed { greatest healtli and luxuiiance 'vitli tlic lincst and 



Ises that many opposite currents of wind, all [hy Mr Daniel NichoUs, of Salisbury, Conn, which I l>f st flavoured fruit. 



ng to a certain centre, and commencing in had 41 lbs. of tried tallow— and after which the 



|ct with unequal forces causes a rotary mo- j quarter weighed 68 lbs. 



f currents of thenise!ves,round a central space. 



not f.Trttiking of an equal, or its former 

 lure, naturally becomes rarified by the exist- 

 leat. to such an extent, that it acquires a state 

 jrent degree approximating to that of a vacu- 



is continued rotary motion of the air forms a 

 of whirlwind, and the pressure of th& e.xter- 

 tmosphere at the base, forcing the water to a 

 bnable height, up the rarified space w ithin, it 

 n carried upwards by tlie mechanical action 



e wind, in light, and unconnected streaks 



space at the bottom now becoming void, is 

 llarly replenished by the pressure from with- 

 till the whole spout is perfectly completed. 



CROSSING THE BREEDS OF VEGETA- 

 BLES. 

 Observing that farmers, who rear cattle im- 

 prove the progeny by means of croisiHg the breed. 

 Knight argued from analogy, that the same im- 

 provement might be introduced into vegetables. — 

 His principal object was to procure new and im- 

 proved varieties of the apple and pear to supply 

 the place of such as had become diseased and un- 

 productive. But as the necessary slowness of all 

 exjieriments of the kind did not keep pace witli 

 the ardor of his desire to obfain information on the 

 subject, he was induced to institute some tentative 

 eAperinients upon the common pea, a phint well 

 he. water having now arrived at the region o/ suited to his purpose both from its quickness of 

 llouds, it is naturally attracted, diff.seJ, and , grouth an 1 from the many varieties in (brni, sii'e 

 ected with, and among them; increasing in : and colour which it afforded. In 1787 a degeue- 

 ity and e.vteiit, till the lower atmosphere be- 'rate sort of pea was growing in his garden, which 

 :ng now lighter than the clouds above, these 1 h<id not recovered its former vigour even when re- 

 mon masses, gradually settling downwards, i foved to a better soil. Being thus a good subject 

 end, burst, and are dissipated in rain." | of experiment, the male organs of a do:'.en of its 



i immature blossoms were destroyed, and the female 



Potirto Stnrch. I organs left entire. When the blossoms had attain- 



et the potatoes be taken and grated down to a { ed their mature state, the pollen of a very larn-e 

 0, and the pulp placed upon a fine sieve, and 1 and luxuriant grey pea was introduced into the 



er made to pass through it; the water wdl be 

 d to have carried off with it an infinite nunib- 

 f particles, which it will afterwards deposit in 

 'orni of white powder, separable by dccanta- 

 1 ; which powder is starch, possessing all the 

 ential properties of wheaten starch. 



[Loudon. 

 I/'A writer in the Springfield Journal, recora- 

 nding an increased manufacture of potato 

 rch, states that 40,000 lbs. per annum of starch 

 i; consumed by the Springfield, Luillow, Ware, 

 jnson and Brimfield Factories. 



one half of tlicm, but not into the other. The pods 

 of both grew equally; but the seeds of the half 

 whioli were uniinpregnated withered away with- 

 out having augmented beyond the size to which 

 they had attained before the blossoms expanded. 

 The seeds of the other half w-erc augmented and 

 matured as in the ordinary process of impregna- 

 tion, and exhibited no perceptible difference from 

 those of other plants of the same variety ; perhaps 

 because the external covering of the seed w;:s fur- 

 nished entirely by the female. But when they 



were made to vegetate in the succeed 



spring 



the effect of the experiment was obvious. The 

 plants rose with great luxuriance, indicating in 

 their stem, loaves and fruit the influence of this 

 artificial inpregnation ; the seeds produced were 



Spontaneous combtistion of Lampblack. — The 

 indon Monthly Magazine states the case of a 

 ip, recently arrived, which had on board a num- 



r of casks of lampblack, and the remainder of j of a dark grey. By impregnating the flowers of 

 r cargo, of tar and linseed oil. On her passage, this variety with the pollen of others, the colour 

 3 vessel narrowly escape'l destruction from the w-as again changed, and new varieties obtained, 

 mbustion of one of the casks. No apparent! superior in every respect to the original on which 

 Jse could be assigned for its taking fire, as no 'the experiment was first made, and attaining in 

 k from the deck or either of the jars of oil could . some cases to a height of more than twelve feet, 

 found, and no fire or light had been permitted Phil. Trans. 1789. 



the hold at any time after leaving port. | The praclicability of improving the species is ren- 



I Improved varieties of every fruit and esculent 

 plant may be obtained by means of artificial impreg 

 nation, or crossini;, as they wore obtained in the 

 cases above stated. Hence Knight thinks, thai 

 this promiscuous impregnation of species has been 

 intended by nature to take place, and that it does 

 in fact often take place, for the purpose of correct- 

 ing such accidental varieties as arise from seed 

 and of confining them within narrower limits. All 

 which is thought to be countenanced from the con- 

 sideration of the variety of methods which nature 

 employs to disperse the pollen, either by the elas- 

 tic spring of the anthers, the aid of the winds, or 

 tlie instrumentality of insects. But although he 

 admits of the existence of vegetable hybrids, that 

 is, of varieties obtained from the intermixture of 

 dift'ercnt species of the same genus, yet he does 

 not admit the existence of vegetable males, that 

 is, of varieties obtained from the intermixture of 

 tlie species of dift'ercnt genera; in attempting to 

 obtain which he could never succeed, in spite of 

 all his efforts. Hence he suspects that where such 

 varieties have been supposed to take place, the 

 former must have been mistaken for the latter. It 

 may be said, indeed, that if the case exists in the 

 animal kingdom, why not in the vegetable king- 

 dom ? to which it is, perhaps, difficult to give a 

 satisfactory reply. But from the narrow limits 

 within which this intercourse is at all times cir- 

 cumscribed, it scarcely seenn to have been the 

 intention of nature that it should succeed even 

 among animals. Salisbury is of a different opinion 

 and considers, (Hort. Trans, i. 364,) that nev/ spe- 

 cies may be created both by bees and the agency 

 of man ; and the recent experiments of Herbert. 

 Sweet and others, seem to confirm this opinion. — 

 Sweet's experience leads him to conclude that the 

 plants of all orders strictly natural may be recip- 

 rocally impregnated with success, and he has al- 

 ready, in the nursery gardens of Messrs ColviUc 

 produced many new geraniae and rhodoracea;. 



,3 singular or anomalous effect of crossing, or ex- 

 traneous impregnation, is the change sometimes 

 undergone by the seed or fruit which is produced 

 by the blossom impregnated. These effects arc- 

 not uniform results but they are of frequent occur- 

 rence, and have attracted notice from a very early 

 period. John Turner observes (Hnrt. Trans, v 63) 

 that Theophrastu.s and Pliny (Theophra.it. Hist. 

 Plant. I. a. c. 4 ; Plinii Hist. JVat. I. ivii. c. 2.5 ) 

 seem to allude to it, and that the notion was enter- 

 tained by Bradley, who in his J^ew Improvements 



