Artificial Fecundation of Cereal and other Crops. 
commission of the highest character, have been the subject of 
several official documents published in the 1 Moniteur,' and have 
been honoured with a special notice in the ' Ministerial Report ' 
on the present status of the Empire. 
Our agricultural press has, from time to time, given currency 
to much of this intelligence, yet it may be well to lay it before 
our readers in a combined form, much condensed, freely rendered 
into English rather than closely translated, the quantities being 
given in English weights and measures, that the report may be 
intelligible to the ordinary farmer, which otherwise is not the case. 
Since the experiments which affect corn-crops concern us more 
than those made on vines and fruit-trees, our attention will be 
restricted to the former class. 
The practical aspect of the question will best be gathered from 
the careful directions issued by Marshal \aillant, as head of 
the Commission, to ensure completeness for the fresh trials which 
are to be made in 1864 at the Imperial farms, at the leading 
agricultural colleges, and on the estates of some distinguished 
agriculturists. 
If the results obtained by one series of tests may be thoroughly 
relied on as representing the average effect produced on large 
fields of similar quality, treated alike, M. Hooibrenk will have 
converted one of the curiosities of garden practice into a most 
important feature in the management of the farm. It is, how- 
ever, unfortunate that a second test, emanating from the same 
high authorities, more accurately executed, but on a still smaller 
scale, gave results much at variance with the first. 
In 1863, the chief experiments have been* conducted on the 
well-known estate of Sillery, in Champagne, the property of M. 
Jacquesson, a gentleman of the highest character and position, 
who invited M. Hooibrenk to take up his residence in France. 
The experiments were there tried on a large scale for wheat, 
rye, oats, and barley, growing on 200 acres, in fields of 37£ acres 
and upwards. In these fields two-and-a-half acres were left in 
their ordinary state, and the rest operated upon. The plots hitherto 
tested have, however, contained only 4 rods and a square metre 
(3D inches) respectively, so that we may look for the result of 
the thrashing of the general crops with some interest. 
Let Mr. Hooibrenk first state his theory respecting artificial 
fecundation in his own way. He teaches us that : It is not so 
simple a matter as it appears at first sight, to decide whether a 
crop is in flower or not ; as your decision depends on the direction 
in which you walk, the stamens which turn to the east or the 
south being commonly developed before those on the west and 
north sides. 
It is a general rule in the vegetable kinsdom that the pistil or 
VOL. XXV. T 
