" 



1852.] THE PHILADELPHI A FLORIST. 171 



f^ Dorking and Cochin China were produced and as young fat fowls ^ 

 \< draw from $1 to $1,50 each, there is some interest exhibited in 

 their management. Geese were shewn 14 weeks old that weighed 40 

 lbs. I hope this will excite American housewives. 



The Royal Society offers a prize of 50 sovereigns about $250 for 

 the best account of the geographical distribution of guano, with sug- 

 gestions for the discovery of any new supply accompanied by speci- 

 mens. The essay to be forwarded by the 1st March, 1854 — probably 

 some of your go-a-head men may enter the lists. I am not aware of 

 any other nation likely to be so well informed on the subject. There 

 is little new in the scientific world except the discovery by Dr. Wil- 

 son, of Edinburgh of the presence of Fluorine in sensible quantities 

 in siliceous plants, particularly those of the order Equisetacese and 

 Graminacece — the subject is stili under investigation. 



You have no doubt been informed of the sensation created by the 

 Rev. Mr. Smyth, of Towcester in growing wheat. He has taken a 

 crop of wheat off a four acre field for the last seven years successive- 

 ly without the application of manure, and the produce of grain in- 

 stead of diminishing has actually increased from 17 to 40 bushels of 

 6 1 lbs. He sows one pek (8 quarts) of seed per acre, dibbled in tri- 

 ple rows one foot asunder, the intervals between each triple row be- 

 ing three fe^t. He sows in September, trenches his three feet space 

 in November when the wheat is green and labor abundant and cheap. 

 A few inches of the sub-soil is brought up to be ameliorated by ex- 

 posure to the winter's frost, &,c. He hoes also the foot space in 

 the spring, until the luxuriance of the crop excludes farther opera- 

 tions. The three feet space which had been trenched is sown the 

 following year in triple rows with wheat. Thus half the land is only 

 under the crop each year, receiving at the same time all the advantage 

 of summer fallowing, perfect comminution, aeration and cleaning of 

 the soil which conduces to its fertility. The changes published by 

 M. Fabre in the JEgilops ovnta to true wheat has also attracted con- 

 siderable attention. Finding a tendency in this grass to sport, he 

 sowed the seed successively until from its hungry, miserable state it 

 became transformed into a plump grain, its quantity of flour increased, 

 its size augmented, and a sample of wheat produced equal to that 

 of the neighboring farms. This was no laboratory experiment — it was 

 carried out on a large scale in the open field. It has no doubt given 

 rise to many speculations and affords a proof of the tendency in 

 plants to transformation by culture. 



CURIOSITIES OF VEGETATION, 



(Concluded from page 60.) 

 Amongst the 92,000 species of plants known to botanists, accord- 

 ing to Lindley in his vegetable kingdom, there are many remarkable 

 natural productions, a description of which, with their uses and pecu- 

 liarities would no doubt prove interesting to many readers who have 

 not sufficient botanical taste to induce them to search for details in 

 extensive works on the subject. In the lowest forms of organised vege- 

 tables we find striking peculiarities of structure and composition. 

 Amongst sea weeds, and fungi or mushrooms there are many indivi- 

 n duals useful in domestic economy. Several are used as articles of 

 r^ food — and the value and importance of sea wrack in the manufacture r \ 

 \^ of Barilla, is known to all who have visited the shores of those coun- *v 



to>b^ . -xF^M 



