330 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



the cle<^)er the less successful was germination ; at 

 eight inches, the seed did not germinate at all." 

 The blue rays of light are said to greatly accelerate 

 germination, while red rays retard it, and the yel- 

 low check it entirely. 



The next chapter is on the " Origin and Constitu- 

 ents of Soils." There is little in this either new or 

 valuoble. 



The eighth chapter is on the " Nutrition of the 

 Wheat Plant." Here we should look for valuable 

 information, but we look in vain. Several pages 

 are occupied in proving that tlie wheat plant can 

 not grow without inorganic food, which is undoubt- 

 edly true. The author, too, seems to think that 

 the chief value of ammonia is in supplying hydro- 

 gen, — which is, to say the least, very doubtful ; for 

 other substances which contain hydrogen, but no 

 nitrogen, have little or no eftect on wheat. 



The next chapter contains the results of some 

 "Experiments of tlie Duke of Salm Horstmarr on 

 the Growth of Plants in Inorganic Artificial Soils." 

 We confess our inability to perceive the jiractical 

 value of these experiments ; or to understand such 

 expressions as "magnesia can not neutralize lime." 



These nine chapters occupy over two hundred 

 pages of the work. We have waded through them 

 with small profit. They are singularly destitute 

 of practical suggestions or of correct scientific 

 deductions. 



The heading of the next chapter promises some- 

 thing better. It is "Experiments of Gilbert and 

 Lawea." These gentlemen have been experiment- 

 ing on the growth of wheat for the last twenty 

 years, and, as our readers know, have obtained 

 some valnable practical results. But our author 

 say» not a word of these experiments / He copies 

 the results of some experiments on the composition 

 of wheat grain, and introduces them with remarks 

 which would lead his readers to suppose that these 

 are the experiments which are often cited as prov- 

 ing the falsity of Likbiq's "mineral manure theory." 

 They have nothing whatever to do with the con- 

 troversy to which he alludes! 



The next chapter is on the "Growth of the 

 Wheat Plant," and contains some interesting in- 

 fonnation in regard to germination, the formation 

 of roots, (fee, illustrated with wood-cuts, some of 

 wiiifth we observe are also given in previous pages 

 of tJio same work, and some of them also in the 

 following chapter, which gives a "botanical de- 

 scription of the wheat plant." 



Tha ttiirteenth chapter ia on the " Wheat Regions 

 of tJio World." It ia shown that intensely cold 

 wkitora do uot preveat the eucoeseful cnltivation 



of wheat. "In central and western Europe, wheat 

 is cultivated chiefly in the zone between latitude 

 36" and 50°; further north, rye is generally pre- 

 ferred." There is in this chapter some interesting 

 information in regard to the wheat crop of Europe, 

 taken from the Encyelopmdia Brittanica, as quoted 

 by the Cyclopedia of Commerce, published by Hak- 

 PER & Bko's, New York. The table showing the 

 quantity of wheat raised in the different States of 

 the Union, is also taken f?bm the latter work — at 

 least it will be found in it. We are told, in this 

 chai)ter, that " portions of New York that formerly 

 produced thirty bushels per acre, now seldom aver- 

 age over eight." This is a stale error, as confident- 

 ly put forth as though it had never been refuted. 

 The statement rests on no satisfactory evidence. 

 Our author offers no proof. But what he lacks in 

 this respect, he makes up in assertion. All through 

 the book the statement is iterated and reiterated in 

 ever-varying forms and figures. Speaking of the 

 wheat of Ohio, he says : " In less than fifty years, 

 the average product was reduced from thirty to less 

 than fifteen bushels per acre, while the yield in Great 

 Britain has increased from sixteen to thirty-six bush- 

 els per acre during the same period." Now if there is 

 the first particle of proof that the average product 

 of wheat in Ohio was ever thirty bushels per acre, 

 we have yet to see it. The statement in regard to 

 the yield in Great Britain is equally unfounded. In 

 the last edition (1853) of the Uncyclopwdia Brit- 

 tanica, Vol. 2, page 310, it is said that, "from in- 

 formation carefully gathered, Mr. Cairo gives it as 

 his opinion that the average produce of wheat \)QV 

 acre, in twenty-six of the thirty-two counties of 

 England, visited by him, is 2G| bushels, or 14 per 

 cent, higher than it was estimated at, in the same 

 counties, by Arthur Young, eighty years before." 

 In 1857, the estimated yield of wheat in Ireland was 

 235^ bushels, and in Scotland 27^ bushels per acre. 



The author attributes the diminution of the wheat 

 crop to the removal of potash from the soil, Tliis 

 idea is destitute of all foundation in fact. The ma- 

 nures which have been most beneficial in increasing 

 the yield of wheat, are those which contain little 

 or no potash, .such, for instance, as Peruvian guano;;; 

 while the direct application of potash is rarely 

 beneficial. 



In his preface, the author says: "I have beea i 

 careful to verify every statement which is contained 

 in this book." He seems to have thought that hie< 

 statements would need such a guarantee. Ono 

 of this class is the following: "One acre plowed 

 twelve inches deep will produce mora wheat thaa 

 four acres plowed six inches deep," In other worda, 



