400 



FARMERS' REGISTER— CHEAT OR CHESS, &c. 



had the March following: I gave up my Lucern 

 as lost; but I dent believe I lost a single plant. 

 It continued green the whole time, and I cut three 

 crops from it the first year. 



I have made but one experiment in sowing 

 Lucern broad cast : it did not succeed, and may 

 have proceeded from the imperfect preparation of 

 the land; but I rather think the drill system will 

 be found to be the best in the end. 



ROBERT ARCHER. 



CHEAT OR CHESS. 



To the Edilor of the Farmers' Register. 



Farmville, Prince Edward. 



Volumes have been written on tlie question, is 

 cheat the product of wheat? This has for years 

 been the great enigma which has kept alive the 

 curiosity and investigation of the agriculturist. 

 The following thoughts were suggested to my mind, 

 after i-eading two articles from your last Register, 

 by Gideon Ramsdell and David Thomas ; and you 

 will perceive that I have embraced Mr. Thomas' 

 views ; viz : that cheat is not the product of wheat. 

 1, I believe that it is contrary to the laws of the 

 vegetable kingdom, for one plant to produce ano- 

 ther of a different nature. A single seed of any 

 kind contains within itself, the whole succeeding 



fenerations (if I may use the expression) of seeds, 

 'or example ; in the acorn is a forest. In the 

 single mustard seed, are myriads of infant embry- 

 otic plants. In the tobacco seed, lies concealed 

 enough tobacco to freight thousands of ships. Now 

 if we admit a departure in one instance from this 

 rule in the vegetable kingdom, we at once derange 

 the whole order of nature. 2. But admitting that 

 cheat is the product of wheat. Then, it is a de- 

 generation. And all degenerations, from the same 

 causes continue to degenerate. Then what is 

 wheat this year, will be cheat the next, and some- 

 thing else the next, and so on. But, this is not so ; 

 for cheat will when sowed come up, and propagate 

 with perfection : thus, proving itself to possess 

 the full powers of germination, which proved that 

 it is not " the degenerate son of a worthy lather," 

 but a father staniiing on his own bottom. There 

 are several other views I would introduce here ; 

 but they might be thought unnecessary. 3. The 

 same causes, under similar circumstances will pro- 

 duce the same effects : But this maxim does not 

 hold good here. Wheat in a defective state, which 

 has been cut or eaten down, which has been left 

 uncovered &c. does not uniformly produce cheat. 

 4. If wheat produces cheat, we may reasonably 

 conclude, that oats would produce a cheat. And 

 if so, there would be the same difference in ap- 

 pearance, between the cheat prcJ#uced by the oats, 

 and that produced by the wheat, that there is be- 

 tween the two kinds of grain. But, we find that 

 the same kind of cheat, is found in both. 5. From 

 my earliest recollection I have noticed the mixture 

 of " volunteer" wheat, oats, rye and cheat, about 

 old treading yards, or stacks or granaries. 1 have 

 seen good wheat, and rye, and good cheat, growing 

 up to full maturity side by side. Now, they all 

 had stood the winter together. Had slept " pig- 

 ging together in the same truckle bed," as Burke 

 says, (I believe these are his words) — had slept 

 there together the whole winter ; and still, they 

 had respectively preserved the utmost chastity. 



Can we be made to believe, that the cheat seen in 

 these circumstances sprang up from the seeds of 

 wheat ? No sir, I cannot, for reasons before given. 

 These views may not be new to you, or they 

 may be new and incorrect. They have just been 

 suggested to my mind, and it occurred to me, I 

 would send them to you, to use as you might will. 

 I do sincerely wish you the fullest success, in your 

 endeavor to give new lile to agriculture in Virgi- 

 nia. And I think a few years will prove the great 

 value of your excellent publication. The public 

 are well assured, that the Farmers' Register is no 

 "cheat." But that cast upon the Avaters "after 

 many days" it will produce fruits of a good kind, 

 Virginia, can never regain her former stand in the 

 Union, without improvement in her agriculture; 

 and agricultural publications, as time and history 

 demonstrate, conduce more to this end, than any 

 other means. " Knowledge is wealth, and informa- 

 tion power." I have seen one single article in 

 your Register, containing truths, to obtain a know- 

 ledge of which, a man might loell afford to pay 

 the year's subscription. My feeble aid is at your 

 service. And I will do all I can, to cause an in- 

 crease of subscription in this part of Virginia. 

 With high respect, yours, T. McR. 



EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE CORRESPON- 



DENCE. 



October 17, 1833. 



* * * One of the good effects I have expe- 

 rienced from taking Agricultural Journals, is a 

 zeal, which though often evanescent, sometimes 

 results in permanent improvement. Arator made 

 me a non-^razer, and a good ploughman ; your 

 Book and Register will make me a marler (if I 

 have it,) and has already determined me to put 

 one of my farms on the four shift system. In ag- 

 riculture as in morals, we often know more than 

 we can reduce to practice; at least, this is my case. 

 Yet with what I consider only tolerable manage- 

 ment, I have quadrupled my crops of wheat on 

 one of my farms, in the course of fifteen years, and 

 value it now at ,^6,000 more, than it was worth 

 when I first owned it. 



I should like to see in your Register, a more full 

 and minute description of the augers, &c. used in 

 searching for marl : and think they would be 

 readily sold by any dealer in iron or smith, who 

 could give assurance that they were made by an 

 approved model. I have been prevented from pur- 

 chasing these things, because I know not where to 

 procure them, and have not myself sufficient know- 

 ledge of their construction, to direct their manu- 

 factory. 



CLOVER ON POOR LAND, 



Farmville, Nov. 7, 1833. 

 I have long been impressed with the futility of 

 attempting to grow red clover extensively, on our 

 poor, thirsty sandy soils ; unaided by calcareous 

 manures, I believe it had best not be attempted. 

 Of course, I was much pleased at the idea suggest- 

 ed, in an article on Gama Grass, in your fourth 

 number, that it might be better, to substitute some 

 of our coarse indigenous grasses, whose strong 

 roots strike deeper in the ground Clover may, 

 however, be made to live in thin land, by sowing 

 the seed in the month of August, on stubble grounds 



