THE GENESEE FARMER. 



209 



VOTES ON EXPERIMENTS 



IN THE li01'A.^''^\^ (lARPEN OF THE ROYAL AGRICUL- 

 Tli.A., (.'or.I.EGE, ENG. 



In this paper I purpose to give notes on ten spe- 

 cies of plants, six of \\hi[;li may be termed economic 

 plants, and four medicinal plants, as follows: — Eco- 

 nomic Plants: Pastinaca saliva, Parsnip; Dancus 

 car ota. Carrot; Cichoriura Intybus, Chicory, Succory; 

 Heliauthus annuns, Sunflower; Linum usitatissimum. 

 Linseed; and Polygonum fagopyrum, Buckwheat. 

 Medicinal Plants: Carum carui, Carraway; Coriau- 

 drum sativum. Coriander; Ilioscyamus niger. Hen- 

 bane; and Papaver somuiferum. Poppy. My plots 

 of Parsnips and Carrots are derived from wild exam- 

 ples which were brought into the garden for experi- 

 ment in 1848, and, as the results are somewhat curi- 

 ous and interesting, I shall here describe my proceed- 

 ings somewhat in detail. 



In the spring of 1848, I planted in my experimen- 

 tal plots some seeds of these plants, which were gath- 

 ered from wild specimens growing in an uncultivated 

 portion of the garden; the result, in as far as the 

 Parsnip is concerned, being pretty much as follows : 

 The seed was drilled in rows about eighteen inches 

 apart; and as it came up tolerably well, there were a 

 number of plants for observation, which, as they ad- 

 vanced and perfected their leaves, presented some 

 most marked differences in many individuals. It is 

 known that the wild parsnip leaves are of a dark 

 green colo^^ and thickly clothed v^ith hairs of a great- 

 er or less length, while the cultivated plant possesses 

 foliage of a light yellowish-green hue, and totally de- 

 void of hairs, being, as the botanists describe it, glab- 

 rous. Now it is curious to remark that a first year's 

 cultivative process, consisting in gathering the seeds' 

 in autumn and planting them in the spring, had the 

 effect of changing the wild foliage to the aspect of 

 the cultivated j^laut of about 15 per cent, of the 

 specimens that came up here; then as the object was 

 to mark the advance of wild plants under cultivation, 

 the examples with the haiiy leaves were destroyed, 

 and the smooth ones left to grow. 



In the autumn of the same year the roots were ta- 

 ken up and carefully examined, when it was found 

 that they had greatly increased in size when compar- 

 ed with wild examples, this increase being not merely 

 confined to the enlargement of the tissues of the top 

 root, but to that of the lateral shoots; however, there 

 were some specimens with a cleaner and smoother 

 outline than others — these were reserved for the 

 gi-owth of seed. The seed of the following year was 

 80wn in the spring of 1850, in a newly-prepared bed, 

 the result of which was a crop of tolerably good and 

 succulent roots, some examples of which were, how- 

 evei', far more what a ParsnijJ should be than others. 

 The same process was again adopted in the growth 

 of seed, and a third sowing took place of seed in 1852 ; 

 but here the results, instead of showing a further ad- 

 vance, proved a retrogression to the state of the sec- 

 ond sowing. The reason for this is obvious. Here 

 ■was I sowing the same seed, year after year, under the 

 same circumstances of soil, situation, and climate, and 

 hence the process of cultivation so well begun, and 

 ,so successfully going on, with repetition tended to de- 

 geaeration. These experiments seemed valuable, as 



pointing out the circumstances attending the conver- 

 sion of wild plants into cultivated vegetables; and, at 

 the same time, show us that when a change is once 

 attained, there is ever a tendency to revert to the 

 wild state, which can only be averted by constantly 

 keeping up the cultivative process — cultivation, in- 

 deed, consisting, not in suiting the natural require- 

 ments of plants, but in submitting them to circum- 

 stances as opposite as possible. But more, the ob- 

 served facts as respects the Parsnip seemed to point 

 out to me a way to the solution of the mystery con- 

 nected with the forked method of growth of cultiva- 

 ted roots, known by the name of finger aud-toes; and 

 I have come to the conclusion that this so-called dis- 

 ease is the result of degeneration of seed, arising from 

 many circumstances, the most prominent of which 

 are the repeated sowing in the same locality of one 

 ground seed, the using seed from degenerate speci- 

 mens, and the using of seed on a poor soil which has 

 been grown on a rich land. In the experiments just 

 quoted, my second crop of roots were fleshy, but, hav- 

 ing fleshy forks, they were, indeed, roots in the condi- 

 tion of fingers-aud-toes; here, then, fingers-and-toes 

 may be considered, firstly, as a consequence of the 

 half way advanced from wildness to cultivation, and, 

 secondly, in reversion from cultivation to wildness.* 



As respects the Carrots, it may be stated that 

 their cultivation was carried out in the same manner 

 as that of the Parsnips, and though the result was 

 satisfactoiy, as exhibifing a great change, yet the 

 change was not so marked as that observed in the 

 Parsnips, though the same result followed a continu- 

 ation of the process. 



The Chicory grows well on poor soils, especially if 

 of a calcareous nature; it is indeed a wild native on 

 pur oolites; it lasts a considerable time, sending its 

 roots deeper and deeper into the soil, and growing 

 year by year larger and more succulent herbage. 

 The herbage is eat*n with tolerable appetite by cat- 

 tle; and if the plant be cilti\'ated for feed, it should 

 be cut off before seeding, as allowing the seeds to 

 perfect themselves weakens the plants and shortens 

 their duration. The roots grow to a large size, and 

 contain a bitter extractive matter similar to that of 

 the dandelion, and may medicinally be used for the 

 same purposes; it has been much used for adidterat- 

 ing and mixing with coffee; and notwithstanding it is 

 even used knowingly with coffee in families, it is a vi- 

 cious practice, as it contains none of the refreshing 

 properties of the berry; and, indeed, substitutes a 

 medicine for a salubrious aliment. 



My plot of Chicory occupied a position between a 

 plot of Sunflowers on the left, and of Linseed on the 

 right, and was curious to observe that this vicinage; 

 though it affected the former so as to cause them to 

 grow but a few inches high, the growth of the large 

 roots spreading in hke manner far under the Linseed 

 plot had not "the slightst influence on its growth. 

 From this we see that the roots of a plant may take 

 up matters from the soil which would be required by 

 one species which succeeded and not by another. 

 In the case before us, the Chicory and Sunflower, be- 

 ing both plants of the great natural order Compositae, 



•Thia subject will be found more fully worked out in a paper in 

 the forthcoming number of the Koyal Agiicultural SocietT'C 

 Journal. 



