FARMERS' REGISTER— NATURAL PRODUCTION— PHYSIOLOGY. 317 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Buckingham Courthouse, Va. Sept. 22, 1833. 



Dear Sir — I enclose for insertion in the Far- 

 mers' Register, an account of a " singular species 

 of corn," raised near Frankfort, Ky. 



If [you or] any of your subscriiiers have known 

 similar " freaks of nature," will they be good 

 enough to communicate the facts, and oblige, at 



least COUKSTALK. 



EXTRAORDINARY NATURAI^ PRODUCTION. 



Frankfort, Ky., Sept. 3. 



We have now in our ofBce, (where our citizens 

 and fiirmers are requested to call and see it,) a most 

 singular species of corn. The history of this rare 

 freak of nature is substantially as follows : About 

 three years ago, a ISIr. Carrico, living in Gallatin 

 county, Kentucky, planted some of the common 

 Indian corn, in the neighborhood of a swampy 

 piece of land, whicli was grown over with a thick 

 strong grass, resemVjling sedge grass. In the fall 

 of the year, when he was gathering his corn, 

 he was surprised to find that ears of corn were 

 growing and ripening upon the grass, and that on 

 the blades of the grass separate grains were grov/- 

 ing. Struck by the singularity of the circum- 

 stance, he carefully preserved the grains and plan- 

 ted them in the next spring. The result was ex- 

 traordinary, producing a growth partaking of the 

 qualities both of the grass and corn, and superior 

 to both as forming a third article very advantage- 

 ous to stock farmers. The stalks in our otHce pre- 

 sent most remarkable appearances. 



The tassel does not bear any resemblance to the 

 corn tassel, but is more like the heads of coarse 

 grass — the blades are long and very slender, i-esem- 

 bling more the blades of oats than of corn. Upon 

 the extremities of these blades separate grains of 

 corn, enclosed in a husk, presenting the ap[)earance 

 of hazel nut burs, are found, and to the bodies of 

 the stalks more perfect ears are attached. The 

 stalks themselves are long and slender, and not un- 

 like the wild rye of the country, only stronger and 

 more substantial. We believe that this grain is at 

 least one thing new under the sun, and unlike most 

 novelties, it promises to be useful. 



VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY IN RELATION TO 



ROTATION OF CROPS. Jiy M. Macaire. 



In a memoir inserted in the transactions of the 

 Societe de Physique et d'Histoire Natui'elle of Ge- 

 neva, M. Macaire has stated some physiological 

 facts, worthy of being generally known. 



A judicious rotation of crops is known to be a 

 matter of great importance. One kind of vegetable 

 (A) will grow and flourish well in a soil from 

 which another kind of vegetable (B) has just been 

 gathered ; while an attempt to raise another crop 

 of the first vegetable, (A) or a crop of the third 

 vegetable, (C) immediately after the first (A) in 

 the same soil, will be attended with little or no 

 success. The discovery of this fact, which is al- 

 most as ancient as agriculture itself, is supposed to 

 have led to the practice of fiiUowing. A piece of 

 fallowground will, almost to a certainly, be cover- 

 ed with a crop of weeds. These being plants of 

 different nature, do not uufit the soil, but prepare 

 it for a succession of the same crop as that which 



preceded them. But science ami experience has 

 taught the enliglitcned farmer to substitute useful 

 plants in the room of weeds, and thus to keep his 

 ground in proiital)le activity. 



Various reasonings have been emploved to ac- 

 count for the necessity of this rotation. '1st, That 

 different plants absorbdifferent juices from the same 

 soil, and that a piece of ground exhausted by cul- 

 ture may still be rich for another kind of vegeta- 

 bles. — But it is known to physiologists, that plants 

 absorb all the soluble substances that the soil con- 

 tains, whether injurious to their growth or not. — 

 •2d. That the roots of different plants being of differ- 

 ent lengths, extend into different layers of the soil, 

 and thus derive from it appropriate nuorishment. 

 But the roots of all plants, at the period of ger- 

 mination, must be in the same stratum, and, of 

 course, be equally dependent upon it ; and besides, 

 the culture of the farmer turns up and mixes the 

 various layers of the soil together, so as to render 

 them, in all probability homogeneous. It is known 

 also, that plants of the same soil, such as clover 

 (trefoil) and lucerne, do not prosper in succession, 

 although their roots are of very different lengths. 

 The true explanation of the necessity of rotation 

 appears to be founded on the fact stated by Brug- 

 mans, and more fully exposed by De Candolle, 

 that a portion of the juices which are absorbed by 

 the roots of plants, are, after the salutiferious por- 

 tions have been extracted by the vessels of the 

 plant, again thrown out by exudation from the 

 roots, and deposited in the soil. It is probable the 

 existence of this exuded matter, which may be 

 regarded in some measure, as the excrement of the 

 preceding crop of vegetables, that poves injurious 

 to a succeeding vegetation. It has been compared 

 to an attempt made to feed animals upon their own 

 excrements. The particles which have been de- 

 leterious to one tribe of plants, cannot but prove 

 injurious to j)lants of the same kind, and probably 

 to those of some other species, while they may fur- 

 nish nutriment to another order of vegetal)les. 



The author endeavored to subject these theore- 

 tic views to the test of experiment. After various 

 attempts to rai.se plants in pure siliceous sand, 

 pounded glass, washed sponge and white linen, he 

 decided upon pure rain water. After cleansing 

 and washing the roots thoroughly, he placetl them 

 in vials with a certain quantity of pure water. — 

 After they had put forth leaves, expanded their 

 flov/ers, and flourished for some time, ,he ascer- 

 tained, by the eva|)oration of the water, and the 

 use of chemical re-agents, that the water contained 

 matter which had exuded from the roots. He sa- 

 tisfied himself that this is the fact with respect to 

 nearly all the phanerogamous plants. 



Several plants of the Chondrilla muralUs, per- 

 fectly clean, were placed with roots in pure water. 

 At the end of a week, the wafer was yellowish, 

 and emitted an odor like opium, and had a bitter 

 taste. Subacetate and acetate of lead* produced a 

 brownish flocculent precipitate, and a solution of 

 gelatine disturbed its transparency. As a proof 

 that this matter was the result of excretion from 

 the roots, it was found that neither pieces of the 

 stem, when macerated in the water during the 

 same time, occasioned neither taste, smell, or pre- 

 cipitate. 



To determine at what period, whether during 

 night or day, this discharge from the roots takes 

 place, a plant of common bean (Phaseohia vuZga- 



