638 



FARMERS' REGISTER— WEATHER— CHEAT, &c. 



Diary of the Weather at Fort Monroe, Old Point 

 Comfort, for February, 1834. 



Month I Tliermomeler. 



1st 



2d 



3d 



4th 



5ih 



6th 



7th 



8th 



9th 



1 0th 



11th 



12th 



13th 



14th 



15th 



16th 



17th 



18th 



19th 



20th 



21st 



22d 



23d 



24th 



25th 



26 th 



27 th 

 28th 



V/iiul. 



37 



39 



50 



50 



48 



35 



37 



41 



43 



43 



■G 



40 



57 



61 



44 



39 



41 



53 



46 



5! 



54 



5:» 



57 



iS 



38 



46 



48 



N. 



N. W. 



W. 



s. w. 



.s. 



N. W. 



ii 



N. 

 N. E. 



N. W. 



N. 

 S. W 



s. 



N. W 

 N. E 



N. 

 N. E 



W 



s. w. 



S. E. 



N E. 



N. 

 S. 



s. w 



Weather 



Rain. 

 Clear. 



Cloudy. 

 Rain. 



Clear. 

 Cloudy. 



Clear. 



<,'loudy. 



Rain. 



Clear. 

 Rain. 



Clear. 



Cloudy. 



Cle;i 



Snow, 10 P. M 



CHEAT AND SPELT FROM WHEAT. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Regi>;ter. 



February 19th, 1834. 

 Sir, — Mr. James M. Gariietl, in a late address 

 to tlie Fredericksburg Agricultural Society, says, 

 " he would as soon expect a sparrow's egg in hatch- 

 ing, to produce a Rhinoceros, as a grain of wheat 

 to produce cheat," or 1 suppose s|)elts. This is 

 strong language, and proves (at least) the fixed- 

 ness of his opinions on this much controvcrte<l sub- 

 ject. Now I, Mr. Editor, will not use as strong 

 language, but my opinions are as decided, that 

 both wheat and oals do degenerate, and become 

 cheat and spells. Nor can I allow the opinion to 

 be absurd, (even in the absence of facts to sustain 

 it,) because it is a fact well known, that both ani- 

 mals and vegetables do (under certain circum- 

 stances,) change their character and appearance, 

 or in other words degenerate. It will not be 

 contended, that either the one or the other, ever 

 undergoes an entire revolution, or becomes some- 

 thing utterly unlike itself: Nor will it be conceded 

 that cheat, or spelt, is wholly unlike wheat or oats. 

 They may be of a different species, but are of the 

 same genus. I cannot consent either to yield my 

 opniions to your exi)eriment [in No. 2:] for I can- 

 not allow that you, or any one else, can know tlie 

 particular causes that produce the degeneracy ; 

 and therefore, thousands of experiments might 



fail to bring about an operation which (I think) 

 nature effects every year. But my principle ob- 

 ject, is to state two facts (for which I will vouch,) 

 to sustain my opinions. The first is this. Avery 

 fine sam])le of wheat, with no other defect in it 

 Init the presence of some spelt, was carefully pick- 

 REMARKS. cd over, and every grain of spelt (as was supposed) 

 taken out of it — but to be more certain, the sam- 

 ple was shaken and turned over, when many more 

 grains of spelt were observed. This induced the 

 gentleman to examine these grains minutely, when 

 to his astonishment, one side of the grain was de- 

 cidedly spelt, whilst the other appeared to be very 

 fine wheat. For this fact, (as I said,) I will vouch. 

 The 2nd fact is this — a house took fire in the 

 neighborhood of several stacks of wheat, so near 

 as to produce apprehension they might be burned. 

 To save them, they (or some of them,) were 

 pulled down and removed to an adjoining field. 

 On the spot wliere these sheaves were [ilaced, a 

 very thick growth of wheat, came up — but the 

 next year, when it headed, there was not one soli- 

 tary head of wheat, but the heaviest crop of cheat 

 ever seen. Now, Mr. Editor, if wheat never turns 

 to cheat, what became of all those grains which 

 were shattered out when the fire look place — can 

 you suppose that those stacks were stacksof cheat, 

 or that they contained a great deal of cheat, which 

 overshadowed (he wheat, and prevented it from 

 maturing.' This would be altotrether too ground- 

 less a notion to be relied on. The truth is, [ have 

 been astonished to hear, that any one douhted the 

 I'egencracy of wheat, to cheat or spelt — because I 

 have every year of my life, for the last twenty-three, 

 (as I think,) witnessed facts, as conclusive as I 

 have staled above — and indeed, until your paper 

 appeared, never heard there was a difference of 

 opinion on the subject. By the way, I would ask 

 you, or any of your correspondents — are you or 

 they certain cheat will vegetate at all.' for I am 

 not. But I do not assert that it will not. 



These remarks may possibly serve to keep up 

 the discussion, in regard to these subjects — when: 

 possibly, the trutii may lie developed to the satis- 

 faction of all. In the mean time, I will look on, 

 and see what good may be extracted from it. 



Yours, A FRiEivn. 



Dense fn^. 

 Rain, 6 P. 



M. 



[We know that the seed of cheat will vegetate, and produce 

 their kind. The following experiment was not made to ascertain 

 this fact, (of which we had never entertained a doubt, notwith- 

 standing the many expressions of opinion to the contrary — ) but 

 for the purpose of observing and comparing the appearance of 

 the several p'ants, throughout their growth. In the fall of 1832, 

 three adjacent rows were sown severally with the seed of wfieat, 

 cheat, and spelt. The different plants, though having a strong' 

 general resemblance, could be readily distinguished, when thus 

 viewed together, from the time they were one or two inches high. 

 The green sphcsof spelt came out of a short red boot, orsheath,. 

 which rose but a little above the surface — and the green leaves 

 were something in appearance, like those of young green sward. 

 The young plants of cheat, were of a rusty or reddish green ; and 

 during the next spring, their leaves were observed to be covered 

 with a fine down, which though scarcely perceptible by the eye, 

 was plain to the touch — and by which the plant could be easily dis- 

 tinguished from the smooth leaved wheat. It is readily conceded, 

 tliat the result'of the experiment (reported in No. 2,) which is 

 referred to by our friend and correspondent, does not furnish 

 conclusive or positive proof. The testimony, is merely ne£?ative, 

 or indirect. Five or six alleged causes of the supposed change, 

 were made to operate, without producing a single heatl of cheat 

 by their combined power. The facts also brought to sustain the 

 other side of the question, however strong they may be, only 



