1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMER. 



49 



most valuable agricultural land, oa which he grew 

 most luxuriant crops. 



Peat id used in manufactories, breweries and 

 limekilns as well as in private houses. Being bulky, 

 it is subject to pressure before carriage, and this ' 

 compressed peat ii converted into charcoal. 



Peat forms the basis in the manufacture of paper 

 ink, varnish, and animal black. In marshy coun- 

 tries it is used as the foundation of houses. It 

 swells under water, and centuries after, when the 

 house is pulled down, it is as good as ever, and is 

 then u^r^ed for fuel. Spender, 



In Trans of Bath and West of Ene;. Society. 



From the Scottish Farmer. 



On the Immutability of Species. 



We often read of extraordinary things even in 

 newspapers. There is one strange tale that has 

 frequently been repeated, and which has lately 

 been referred to in our columns. It is, that cer- 

 tain people persuade themselves that the seed 

 wheat which they have sown, has produced a crop 

 of oats, oa that barley sown has yielded a return 

 of wheat, or vice versa. Wheat is a species of a 

 group of grass like plants, termed Tnticnm ; oats 

 is a species termed Avena, and barley a species 

 termed Hordeum. The group to which each of 

 these belongs, is a genus in botanical arrangement, 

 and each group or genus usually consi:it of several, 

 (indeed, in the cases referred to, of many species.) 

 Again, we have the group of Daucus the carrot, of 

 Beta the beet, and Pastinaca the parsnip, which 

 although not so long in a cultivated state as the 

 wheat, barley, or oat, have been sufficiently long 

 under the observation of man to convince him 

 that whatever change in improvement they may 

 have undergone since being reclaimed from a state 

 of savage nature, neither of them have shown the 

 least disposition to change into the state of the 

 other. The thing is physically impossible. Nor 

 can an instance be stated where any of the wild 

 species of Triticum — say the common couch-grass, 

 Triticum repens of our fields, or the sea-wheat 

 grass of our sea co^ists Triticum junceum — have 

 made any advance towards being identified with 

 the Triticum aestivum or T. hybernum, our summer 

 or winter cultivated wheats ; or that the meadow, 

 sea-side, or wall barleys, the only species indigen- 

 ous to Britain, have changed to the useful state of 

 those species which have been cultivated from the 

 earliest ages. The same rule is applicrible to the 

 genus Avena, or oat family, which is even much 

 more Numerous. Oats will remain oats, barley 

 barley, wheat wheat to the end of the time, as dis- 

 tinct in themselves as different species, as they 

 have continued to be from the begining. That the 

 one should change into the other is just as possible 

 as that either should change into an onion or a 

 potatoe. It would be a waste of time to argue 

 against the belief that such could by possibility 

 take place, or even to confute what many believe, 

 but which is equally untrue, that wheat is derived 

 from rye. It is quite time that such absurd no- 

 tions should be dispelled. These are popular views 

 and just as certain popular errors. Those who 

 h^ve studied the natural history of living forms 

 carefully, whether in the animal or vegetable king- 

 doms, are quite satisfied as to the truth of the 

 axiom, " that one species never passes int» anoth«r 



species." All the support which can be brought 

 in favor of such changes having taken place, is 

 merely traditionary, and no more worthy of belief 

 than the traditions descending fiom heathen my- 

 thology, such as that Lombardy poplars are the 

 metamorphosed sisters of Phaeton ; or that the 

 garden white lily sprang from the youth Narcissus 

 as he pined away for his own image ; or that the 

 Hyacinth sprang from the blood of a youth killed 

 by Zephyrus with the blow of a quoit. 



The "Wine Plant" Once More. 



Although our opinions on this subject were quite 

 distinctly indicated in the Co. Gent, of Nov. 5, 

 1863, p. 304 inquiries from new subscribers neces- 

 sitate another reference to it. 



A reader in Kane county, Illinois, forwards us a 

 most extravagant circular issued by parties having 

 for sale what they style in large type 



WINE PLANTS 



FOR MAKING 



AMERICAN SHERRY! 



What they have is simply the ordinary Shttharb 

 or "P/e Flanf" of the kitchen garden. A passable 

 domestic beverage can be made from it, of which a 

 few bottles or gallons might perhaps be sold or 

 exchanged with one's neighbors, but it is not a 

 wine which can ever be sold in any quantity, and 

 such calculations as the following extract contains 

 are the sheerest humbug : 



'•This plant for making wine, is creating quite a 

 sensation in this vicinity, from the fact that such 

 large profits are derived from the small amount of 

 capital invested. The product of a single acre the 

 first year, is from 3,.500 to 6,000 gallons of wine. 

 This readily brings at one year old f 1.50 to $2.00 

 per gallon The increase of the root at the same 

 time is at least Si, 500 to |2,000. This may seem 

 visionary and extravagant, but nevertheless, it is 

 the actual product, as every person will testify who 

 has seen it grown and made the wine, also hun- 

 dreds who are not engaged in the business will 

 testify." 



In the first place, we do not believe that an acre 

 of Rhubarb roots the first year could be made to 

 yield anything like this amount of so-called wine ; 

 and if it did, we are entirely confident that, with 

 all the labor and care possible expended in secur- 

 ing a pleasant beverage, it would still be quite a 

 valu( less commodity unless in so far as the maker 

 and his famity can dritik it, or s<ll it to those who 

 have the roots to palm off and who might desire it 

 to aid in promoiing this object. 



As to the quality of the " Rhubarb wine," we 

 have tested various samples, but rone that ap- 

 pro:ich in quality a good currant wine. We do 

 not say that it is impossible to make it as good as 

 currant wine, but that the latter is certninly quite 

 as likely evr to become a merchantable article 

 on a scale of any extent. 



No reader of an agricultural paper should be 

 imposed upon by these specious circulars. For 

 farmers who do not read an agricultural paper, we 

 have no sympathy whatever, and no doubt a thriv- 

 ing trade in the plants will be done among them. — 

 Country Gent. 



— ^In the above we have the best possible evi- 

 dence that the fools are not all dead. Can It be 



