132 
THE CULTIVATOR 
and imperfect implements. For illustration of this fact 
the writer would state that in the county where he re¬ 
sides there are probably some twelve or fifteen, or even 
more, different kinds of plows in use, not more than five 
or six of which are any where near up to the improve¬ 
ments of the age. Of this latter class the difference in 
principles of construction is so slight that there may, in 
fact, be said to be no more than three kinds in use which 
are really in accordance with the improved principles of 
construction. Could farmers see and know the advanta¬ 
ges of using a good plow, in place of the poor ones so 
generally in use, they would at once discard four-fifths 
of the old patterns, and endeavor to use none but a good 
article. 
The plowing matches at our State Fairs have been well 
attended, and much good work done, but there seems to 
be still room for improvement. I think I speak the sen¬ 
timents of many plowmen in Oneida when I invite those 
who desire to see specimens of skill, or who may choose 
to try their hand with our boys at the plow, to attend the 
plowing match at Utica, in September next. 
E. Comstock. 
Rome, March, 1845. 
TRANSMUTATION OF GRAIN. 
Mr. Editor —We have fallen on portentous tines. 
Patriotism and potatoes are threatened with extermina¬ 
tion. What will take their places is hard to tell; and 
friend Breck, in the leading article of the N. E. Far¬ 
mer of November 20th, seems to entertain serious ap¬ 
prehensions of the probability of our wheat turning, not 
into cheat, but into “oates.” This, though it would be 
a dreadful calamity with us western farmers, would not 
be quite so bad as utter extermination, especially since 
the “Rev. Lord Arthur Hervey,” at the request of his 
“Lordship, the Marquis of Bristol,” has headed Madame 
Nature, and obtained “ a little reheat ” from a “ handful of 
oats.” This wonderful, fortunate and timely discovery, 
it is to be hoped, may possibly prevent the entire extinc¬ 
tion of the whole race of the precious grain. 
It is difficult to treat this subject of the “transmutation 
of grain,” with anything like gravity; but to be as seri¬ 
ous as possible, if Mr. Breck will look at his Bible, he 
will find the very first chapter demolishes the doctrine, 
and blows it all to atoms. 
But he says, “ It is a subject upon which sensible men 
differ in opinion.” True, it is. But does he consider 
that there are a great many kinds of sensible men, 
and a great many kinds of sense in the world? Some 
men are very sensible on some subjects, and mere dolts 
on others. Virgil, whose “ wordes” Master Gerarde 
quotes to substantiate the doctrine of the “ transmu¬ 
tation of one species into another in plants,” was a 
very sensible poet. But if sensible men now-a-days were 
to adopt some of his whims respecting agriculture, the 
influences of the moon, management of bees, &c.; if 
they should escape an “ indictment for heresy” they 
would certainly have to encounter the “ world’s dread 
laugh” as “dreamers.” The plain deduction from Vir¬ 
gil’s testimony is, that there were agricultural slovens in 
Italy then, as there are in other parts of the world now. 
Were I a poet, and wished to immortalize the slovenly 
practices of many of our would-be farmers in imperish 
able verse, I would say, 
On land where they some choice good wheat do sow, 
Not much but tares and worthless cheat do grow. 
And 1 would account for the fact, in humble prose, 
without calling to my aid the ridiculous doctrine of the 
“ transmutation of grain.” 
But Professor Lindley “ virtually admits the doc¬ 
trine may be true by recommending that experiments be 
tried to settle the question whether, by any means, reheat , 
oats, barley and rye can be made to change into each other.” 
Well, this is sufficiently ludicrous, and let us no longer 
wonder that book farming is laughed at, when such agri¬ 
cultural journals as ihe “ London Gardener’s Chronicle,” 
and such men as Professor Lindley, the “learned bota¬ 
nist,” seriously recommend that a “good many persons 
would try the experiment, in different parts of the coun- 
trv.” 
Now, I am nothing but a plain farmer, who never saw 
the inside of a college, or of a professor’s laboratory, in 
my life, but if I were a learned professor, and had never 
been outside of a college or laboratory, and felt disposed 
to “ astonish the natives” by announcing the discovery of 
some wonderful vagaries, and strange freaks of nature, in 
the “tr nsmutation of grain,” I would procure an ear of 
rye, and another of wheat, for example, and putting on 
a very wise and knowing look, I would triumphantly 
exhibit them to obstinate doubters, as exemplifications 
of the truth and reality of the doctrine of transmutation, 
and of what the “worthy Master Gerarde” saw with his 
oivne eyes, in the yeare 1632, excepting that, as thevrorld 
grows older the variation from nature is a little more re¬ 
markable and striking, for in the case of the rye, instead 
of “ three or four perfect oates in the middle thereof,” I 
find, what is still more extraordinary and astonishing, 
three or four perfect vegetable oyster seeds! And in the 
offspring of a perfect kernel of wheat I find, O mirabile 
dictu! a number of miniature apples of Sodom, filled with 
soot and ashes! 
I said there are a great many kinds of sensible men in 
the world. Whether Master Gerarde, Lord Bristol, Rev. 
Lord Hervey, Professor Lindley, or friend Breck, are 
illustrations or not, I can refer to some, both dead and 
living, who are. The Rev. Mr. T., of A., Ct. was a 
good preacher, an erudite scholar, a sensible man, dis¬ 
tinguished for urbanity and gentlemanly deportment. He 
married an excellent and wealthy lady. With her for¬ 
tune he purchased a farm, built a handsome house on the 
Hartford and Norwich turnpike. He built also a good 
barn, directly over a ravine, which served as a sewer to 
let off the filth of his barn-yard, through a culvert across 
the road, and into Hop river, a few yards below. This 
was a specimen of one kind of sensible. men. 
When I lived in Connecticut, in addition to farming I 
carried on (he cloth-dressing business. Mixed colors 
were becoming fashionable. Mr. K., since promoted to 
the bench, as associate judge, in the county of T--1, 
in many respects a shrewd sensible man, brought a piece 
of cloth to my shop to be dressed, and wished it to be 
dyed a mixed color! 
These, and hundreds of other examples which might 
be adduced, though they might be thought somewhat 
irrelevant to my subject, yet substantiate my position 
that sensible men sometimes blunder into the most ridi¬ 
culous absurdities, as, I think, they always do when 
they blunder from nature's well defined paths, into the 
wild, theoretical, ideal road of transmutation. 
And now let us think ourselves fortunate, since the ex¬ 
periments already made at the request of my Lord Bris¬ 
tol, anil those likely to be made at the suggestion of Pro¬ 
fessor Lindley, the “ learned botanist,” are so well cal¬ 
culated to dissipate our fears and encourage our hopes, 
that, although nature may be fickle and inconstant, and 
change our wheat into oates, yet by the ingenuity of the 
shrewd Germans a plan has been hit upon by which her 
wild freaks may be counteracted, and the oats changed 
back into wheat again!! J. Townsend. 
Zanesville, Ohio, December, 1844. 
Scratches in Horses —Custom, the want of sufficient 
farm buildings, and it might be added, bad stable ma¬ 
nagement, have caused us to accumulate our manure in 
the stables, cleaning them only when carrying out to the 
fields in the spring. In order to increase the value of 
the manure, I directed plaster of Paris to be sprinkled 
frequently upon it. “Does plaster hurt the horses’ 
heels?” I inquired of the stable boy, on visiting the 
farm. “No, sir, it makes ’em better.” “How so?” 
“ They does’nt stomp now, sir.” « What made them stomp 
before?” “I used to have to grease their heels two or 
three times every winter, for the heels was always raw; 
but I found they did’nt stomp so much, so I looked at 
their heels and found they war’nt raw now, like they 
used to be, sir.” I hope soon to have a covering for the 
proper preservation of manure, but meanwhile must con¬ 
tinue to use plaster. S. 
It is stated that out of 9,000 blind persons in the Uni¬ 
ted States, only 400 are enjoying the benefit of instruction 
