THE CULTIVATOR. 
183 
and rolled; the seed came up well, and when about three 
inches high, had two bushels of plaster spread over it; 
it now gives every appearance for a fine crop. He has 
since sown a second acre in the same way, which is just 
above ground, and intends in a few weeks to provide a 
succession. 
In preceding years the writer has been much troubled 
with his neighbor’s pigeons and poultry. He this year 
soaked his corn 12 hours in the liquor from his cow sta¬ 
ble, then drained it and well mixed it with plaster; this 
proved an effectual remedy, as even the few scatteied 
grains left on the surface of the ground after harrowing, 
remain untouched. 
The writer proposes in his next, to give the simple 
process by which he increased his stock of manure the 
past winter, and by which he hopes to secure a still fur¬ 
ther supply during the present year. Woodside. 
Maryland , May 12, 1845. 
A FEW WORDS ON RAISING POULTRY- 
Mr. Editor —Every farmer who is acquainted with 
poultry-raising, know show extremely hard it is to raise 
young turkeys, and young poultry of any kind. In the 
early seasons of the year, fowls, ducks, and turkeys, are 
in the want of salt, more or less. Early in the spring of 
1840, I got a few duck's eggs, of Judge Spencer, (the 
large white kind,) and raised five, (four ducks and one 
drake,) which I kept through the winter in a warm hen¬ 
house, and fed them with corn and Indian meal. They 
commenced laying very early; I had twelve turkeys at the 
same time; and as the hens commenced setting, I set 
them with duck’s eggs, allowing from 10 to 15 eggs for 
each hen, and as fast as they came forth, I shut the hens 
in coops, and put the coops on the edge of a pond in the 
yard, where I kept my fowls; I allowed the young ducks 
to stay with the hen until they were three weeks old, 
and then took the hen from them, and allowed the ducks 
to remain; and in a few days, the hens commenced lay¬ 
ing. In feeding, I commenced with Indian meal and 
white sea-sand, which contains salt sufficient for poultry; 
taking about one quart of meal to one gill of sand, and 
continued feeding that three times a week until they are 
completely feathered. I found that my ducks were 
larger and in better order than any of my neighbors. I 
did not lose a single one by sickness, and raised 90 from 
the 4 ducks ; and by having hens sufficient, there can 
be 150 raised from 4 ducks. I would advise all farmers 
and poultry raisers to pursue the same method, and not 
allow their old ducks to hatch at all; and feed in the 
same way turkies and chickens, and they will find that 
they will do better than on any other food. 
Burgess Wands. 
TRANSMUTATION OF GRAIN. 
Mr. Editor —In page 132, April No. Cultivator, I ob¬ 
serve a communication signed J. Townsend, on <£ Trans¬ 
mutation of Grain.” This writer scoffs at the opinion, 
and attempts to ridicule the idea, of wheat turning to 
chess; but without, as I can perceive, giving any argu¬ 
ment, or reason to sustain the contrary opinion. 
Now I profess to have no particular belief either way. 
But I propose to state a few facts, and Mr. Townsend 
may work out the case either by ai’gument, or through 
his “ fulling mill,” at his own convenience. 
When you published the Genesee Farmer, say a dozen 
years ago, there was a long, and a very able controversy 
carried on for several months in that papex-, by several 
of the most distinguished wheat growers in westei-n 
New-York, pro and con , on the subject of transmutation. 
The result was a drawn battle; neither party convinced 
to the contrary of the opinion which he first advanced-* 
Scientific men were among those engaged on both sides, 
and all the science they possessed was brought to bear on 
the subject. After all, it was not settled that science, as 
it is called, was exactly right in its first principles, al¬ 
though no one has a more profound respect for that 
authority, apparently, than both parties engaged in the 
controversy. In it I took no part, being neither a wheat- 
grower nor a px-ofessor of any science. But to the facts 
in question: 
It was proved, and it can be proved again, that a field 
of new ground just cleared from the forest and sown 
well, uniformly and plentifully in its first crop, with wheat, 
in which one kernel of chess could not be detected in a 
hundred of wheat, produced chess almost altogether’, in 
the swails and low places, and under the fences, where 
the snow and water lay an uncommon length of time: 
so too, in places where geese had run over and fed on 
the early growth in the spring. The same with sheep, 
in some instances. Where the chess did not grow, the 
wheat was fine and clean, hardly a stalk of chess to be 
discovered. It was also proved, that different fields had 
been sowed with the same seed, where no chess had been 
seen for years before, and parts of some were chessy, 
and the others not at all. Anil these same facts, and 
others quite as strong, can be proved, in numerous in¬ 
stances and in different sections of the United States, 
any day, in a Court of Justice, by as intelligent, ex¬ 
perienced, and “sensible” farmers and wheat-growers 
as can be found, although they never served apprentice¬ 
ship at the “cloth-dressing business;’’ and I pledge my¬ 
self ready to prove these facts, when this writer will 
agree to pay one half the expense of taking the testi¬ 
mony, which wo'nt at all events be much.f 
The late Judge Buel—certainly no mean authority—in 
reply to a question 1 once asked him, what, after all the 
arguments on the subject, was the conclusion of his mind 
upon it ? replied, “that after a long observation of the 
facts and theories which had been produced, he was 
foi’ced to believe in the doctrine of transmutation.^ f 
This is all I have to say. I shall hold no argument 
with any one in this matter: but I certainly think that 
ridicule, and thatnot of the highest order, is not the way 
to put down this doctrine of transmutation. 
L. F. A. 
NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 
* This may have been the case as regards the writers in the con¬ 
troversy alluded to; but not so wilh those who read it. We know 
many farmers who believed fully in the change of wheat into chess, 
who were converted to the truth by this discussion. They reasoned 
in this way: If, as is said, chess only grows from its own seed, 
the same as other weeds, we can eradicate it entirely from our 
farms. They tried the experiment—destroyed all the chess on their 
farms, and did not permit even a kernel of it to be sowed with their 
wheat. The consequence was, what might have been easily fore¬ 
told—this pest was no longer found on their premises. For several 
reported instances of this kind, our correspondent is referred to the 
old Genesee Farmer, and to the first series of the Cultivator. 
t Suppose the facts here stated, were sworn to in every Court of 
Justice in the country, would it afford any evidence that the wheat 
had turned to chess ? That no wheat grew on the low wet places, 
or where it had been eaten off by geese or sheep, would prove, we 
should think, and that most conclusively, that the wheat in these 
jplaces had been killed by the “ snow and water,” and “ geese and 
sheep but it would no more prove that the wheat turned to chess, 
than that it turned to the other weeds and grasses which sprung up 
in those wet places where the wheat was killed. 
$ That Judge Buel came to this conclusion, upon hearsay evi¬ 
dence, is undoubtedly true. He once remarked to us, that the state¬ 
ments of Gideon Ramsdel, in our then paper, the Genesee Farmer, 
had gone farther than all other testimony, to convince him that the 
change of wheat to chess might take place. Now it so happens, 
that Mr. Ramsdel, long since, convinced himself that he was mis¬ 
taken in a part of his statements ; and we have little doubt that his 
experience has since convinced him that he was equally mistaken 
in supposing that wheat would, under any circumstances, turn to 
chess. 
Compound for smearing sheep, and cure for Foot 
Rot.—Solomon Hoxie, Leonardsville, N. Y., sends the 
following recipes, which he says he has used for several 
years with advantage. “ Immediately after shearing, I 
make the' following compound, viz. 25 lbs. grease, one 
[tint tar, boiled and well stirred together until nearly 
cold; then stir in two pounds sulphur, then rub the sheep 
with it, commencing at the head and follow along tha 
back to the roots of the tail; this I have found to protect 
the sheep from the cold storms and also to kill ticks, &c 
“ The following I have found an almost sure remedy 
for the foot rot, viz: 1 part Barbadoes tar, two parts spi 
fits of turpentine, thickened with sulphur to the consis 
tency of common paint; pair and clean the sheep’s feet 
well, and rub in the compound, and one or two applica¬ 
tions are almost a sure cure.” 
