AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
195 
first time, yielded plants three or four times 
as high ; their ears were cylindrical and much 
more elongated than those of the parent 
plant, and the valves of their glumes had 
only two awns, of which one was shorter 
than the other, and occasionally one was al¬ 
most entirely absent, so that each glume 
had but one awn, as is the case with corn. 
Further, as in Triticum, the awns of the 
glumes of some of the plants were very long, 
while those of the others were short. The 
plants moreover had the appearance of 
Triticum , and assumed its characters more 
and more. The spikelets, more numerous 
than those of the parent plant, were of¬ 
ten sterile, and the few which were not 
had only one or two fertile flowers, so 
that the" fertile spikelets only yielded one 
or two grains. These grains, being sown, 
produced the next year more perfect 
plants. Their spikelets were more numer¬ 
ous than before, and almost all of them con¬ 
tained two fertile flowers, and thus yielded 
two grains. The awns of the glume were 
always two in number, but the abortion of 
one was in every case carried further than 
previously, and was often complete. The 
grains were less compact, less concave, less 
hairy at their extremity. The ears, when 
ripe, separated less easily from the axis, and 
the grains were much more floury than in 
former years. A third year produced plants 
similar to those of the year before, but more 
perfect. They had scarcely any sterile spike¬ 
lets, each of which yielded two and some¬ 
times three grains, more developed, less con¬ 
cave, and less hairy. 
The next, being the fourth year, produced 
no notable change. A year later the stems 
attained the height of a yard ; the grains 
were sufficiently developed to separate the 
valves of the floret and to be wholly exposed 
when ripe. The mature ears separated less 
easily from the stems. 
The year following all the spikelets were 
fertile, although the ears separated with ease. 
The next year the ears did not break off 
easily; all the spikelets were fertile, and 
occasionally inclosed three well developed 
grains. It is clear that a true Triticum was 
then obtained, for a cultivation in the open 
fields for four successive years did not cause 
any change in its form, and it yielded pro¬ 
duce similar to that of the other wheat of the 
country. 
[The foregoing observations show that JE. 
ovata, L., is capable of being extremely modi¬ 
fied under certain circumstances. While its 
floral envelopes lose their width and some of 
their awns, and thus become like those of 
Triticum , their stems, leaves, and ears be¬ 
come more and more developed, and at length 
acquire all the characters of wheat. The 
necessary inference is that some, if not all, 
cultivated Tntica are peculiar forms of JEgi- 
lops, and ought to be regarded as races of 
this species. 
If this be admitted, it is easy to reconcile 
the accounts given of the origin of wheat. It 
has been said both in ancient and in modern 
times that wheat was wild in Babylonia 
Persia, and Sicily. In all these countries 
JEgilops is common, and it is not surprising 
that some of its species may have accident¬ 
ally acquired a wheat-like form, and have 
been afterward improved and propagated by 
cultivation. Thus to M. Esprit Fabre is due 
the merit of having ascertained the true ori¬ 
gin of cultivated wheat. Its origin had, it is 
true, been suspected and vaguely pointed out 
by several persons ; but the honor of a dis¬ 
covery is really due not to the authors of a 
surmise, but to him who has established the 
fact by observation, experiment, or reason 
ing, leaving no room for further doubt. 
Note by Professor Dunal. 
A Good appetite comes by hard labor. 
AN HOUR IN A GREAT BARN. 
A little above the Concord station on the 
Fitchburg Railway, the traveler may see on 
the north side, at the distance of one-third 
of a mile, a most spacious barn, built by the 
present proprietor of the “ Treasurer Bar- 
ett farm,” S. P. Wheeler. 
The building is one hundred and twenty- 
five feet in length by fifty-four in width. The 
mansion-house was occupied by Harvard 
College during a portion of the revolution. 
What a space this barn would have furnished 
the students for recitation halls ! 
The barn has a projecting roof, with gut¬ 
ters, which not only make the entrance 
more comfortable, but protect the painted 
sides of the building from being scoured by 
the heavy rains. None can deny, too, but 
that the projecting roof combines a great 
deal of beauty with its utility. 
The barn stands nearly east and west. 
The cow stable is on the south side, extend¬ 
ing the whole length of the barn ; there are 
several entrances—all the doors being upon 
wheels, and opening with a touch. The sta¬ 
ble is also perfectly lighted by numerous 
windows, protected outside an in by substan¬ 
tial guards. There was a pump by the door 
where I entered, which supplied water to the 
stock indoors, when desirable. One of Fay 
& Dakins’ large wooden pumps was about 
being set in operation in the yard adjoining. 
Taking things as I saw them, the next thing 
was the scuttles; these were a foot wide, back 
of the trench, and hinged on to the platform ; 
no manure falls upon the scuttles. They 
can be thrown over with ease with .a hoe, 
and the stable frequently cleaned with very 
little labor. The scuttles shut down upon 
the bottom of the trench, leaving a large and 
sufficient passage for the escape of the 
urine. 
The trench, the space between the scuttles 
and the platform under the cow, is eighteen 
inches wide and two and a half deep. Ex¬ 
periments prove this depth to be hardly 
enough. 
The cows are all fastened in stanchions 
which were numbered. The stanchions 
were each supplied with a chained pin, are 
uniform, planed and painted a dark lead 
color. The long stall for cows holds forty 
head ; nearly this number looked sleek and 
happy in their comfortable quarters. The 
stable is fourteen feet in width, which in¬ 
cludes a space three feet in front of the 
stanchions, forming also a desirable widen¬ 
ing to the barn-floor when not in use for 
feeding. There is no “crib” or “rack,” to 
be seen. The cattle eat from off the floor-; 
The timber holding the foot of the stanch¬ 
ions prevents any hay from being drawn 
under their feet and wasted. As I saw no 
partitions between the cows, I asked the 
polite superintendent if the cows did not 
hook one another; he assured me that they 
did not. The cows had been fed with husks 
and a man took a rake, and with the back of 
it, slid the butts left into a pile as quick as 
he could walk the length of the floor. I saw 
a cutting machine and a mixing trough 
but I made no inquiries about the feeding. 
The barn-floor extends from end to end 
where there are large doors upon the largest 
size rollers. The floor in planked length 
wise, and is very smooth and substantial 
The posts, of which there are twenty-five in 
the floor, are eighteen feet in height. The 
scaffold, usually called the “ rye-beams,” is 
of uniform height with no drops , which 
some consider a gain in unloading hay. 
room in the north side of the barn, opening 
into the floor, is devoted to meal, grain, and 
farm implements. 
The carriage-house and horse-stables are 
all comprised in an L which opens upon the 
| door-yard. Here is aTOom to drive in sev 
eral carriages, and untackle entirely pro¬ 
tected from the weather. The common 
labor of “ getting fixed off,” must be almost 
wholly unknown with such conveniences. 
I next went into the cellar ; it is the whole 
size of the barn, and has an entrance (slid- 
ing-door) on the east side. The bottom is 
planked to prevent the escape of the liquid 
manure, as the cellar was dug in sand. The 
manure of course occupies the south side— 
an immense pile. It is occasionally leveled 
and earth and absorbents thrown on to keep 
it in a good state. On the north side of the, 
cellar were immense piles of roots, of which 
about a thousand bushels were raised the 
present season. This fact may have some 
connection with the soft skins of the animals 
above. The cellar is eleven feet in height, 
is walled in a very substantial manner, and 
perfectly lighted.* 
The outside of the barn is covered in the 
style known as the “ Swiss fastening ;” that 
is, boards are put on extending from the 
brackets down, and then the joints covered 
with narrow, leveled strips, about two and 
a half inches wide. There is a large cupola 
on the ridge, and a number of smaller ones 
along the roof at intervals half-way down. 
The whole exterior is handsomely painted. 
This, Mr. Editor, is a sketch of my ob¬ 
servations during an hour I spent in this fine 
barn. I fear I have conveyed to your read¬ 
ers a very inadequate, idea of the whole. 
A good barn is a matter of so much conse¬ 
quence to the farmer, that I am interested in 
every attempt to improve the standard. 
There are several others in town ; I hope 
to be able to report to you, perhaps more 
fully. Respectfully yours, 
New-Englarul Farmer.] W. D. BROWN. 
PRESERVATION OF TURNIPS 
The Germantown Telegraph says : Mr. 
Blight, of Devon, Pa., whose success in pre¬ 
serving the ruta baga turnip, is well known, 
adopts the following mode : He selects a 
dry part of his field, excavates the ground to 
the depth of about six inches, three feet 
wide as long as may be needed. In this the 
turnips are placed as high as the width of the 
shallow trench will admit, the pile being 
about two feet in the middle. Over the mass 
a good layer of cornstalks, straw or haulm, 
is placed, when the earth is carefully and 
completely heaped up to a sharp pitch, and 
well spanked. 
At the distance of every fifteen or twenty 
feet a vent hole is left, the size of a common 
stove-pipe, in which a roll of straw is firmly 
twisted. This has the effect of exhausting 
the pit of the heated, impure atmosphere by 
which they naturally become filled, produ¬ 
cing decomposition. By this simple, easy 
mode of pitting Mr. B. has usually preserved 
his English turnips throughout the winter in 
good condition and sold them at remarkable 
prices. 
French Farmers. —The usual rate of 
land is about 80 francs per hectare, 33 
francs per acre ; and the land-tax amounting 
to about 13 francs per hectare, is also gen¬ 
erally paid by the tenant. The farmers, 
though well off, are frugal both as regards 
dress and living ; their wives are “ the very 
impersonations of industry.” The French 
farmer’s wife takes a living interest in the 
homestead, and is as ready to show a stran¬ 
ger over the whole as the farmer himself, 
being alike at home among the cattle in the 
straw-yard as among the poultry. From 
the number of men boarded in the house, 
and the female servants being few in number, 
the farmer’s wife has her hands full. “ Still 
she never appears to overlook the toilet, be¬ 
ing in dress and in manner essentially the 
well bred lady.” [N. B. Agriculturist. 
