COLLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS. 
415 
ARTICLE XV. 
COLLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS. 
Cutting Unripe Wheat.— The cutting of wheat eight clays be¬ 
fore it is ripe, secures it from accidental loss by shaking, the grain 
is of a finer quality, but the quantity per acre, by weight, is less; 
still the quantity of flour is greater, for the deficiency is in the bran. 
Wheat so cut appears to be equally liable to attacks from the weevil 
as that which is cut ripe. T. K. Short. 
Martin Hall. 
The Apple.— If the branch of an apple-tree be taken off whilst 
it is in blossom, and immediately planted in swampy ground, it will 
take root and bear fruit that season. This mode has been tried with 
success; therefore, it is probable that the branch of a pear, j^eacli, 
plum, mulberry, or any other fruit tree, if taken off in spring or 
summer, whilst the tree is in full sap, will also take root, and become 
a new tree. Thus, choice sorts, such as the old nonpareils, golden 
pippins, &c. may be for ever sustained. Henry Brooke. 
The Beech Tree, (Fagus sylvatica.)—In Tenesse, which com¬ 
prises a province of very considerable extent in America, the Indi¬ 
ans, on the approach of a thunder-storm, during their hunting ex¬ 
peditions, immediately discontinue the chase, and seek shelter under 
the branches of the beech-tree, till the storm is over, with the most 
perfect confidence, arising from the knowledge, that that particular 
tree is exempt from being assailed by the electric fluid. This fact, 
which has been supported by my own observation, especially in this 
country, I make no doubt will sooner or later be confirmed by some 
of your transatlantic correspondents. I have not the pleasure of the 
acquaintance of Mr. James Frost, whose notice respecting the cir¬ 
cumstance of two beech-trees having been struck by lightning in 
Cornwall, appears at page 315, and therefore cannot tell whether 
he possesses any very accurate knowledge of trees. There are seve¬ 
ral trees, which to the casual observer, bear some resemblance to 
the beech, and it may not be improbable, that those which Mr. 
Frost alleges, as having suffered from lightning, have borne some 
similitude to the beech-tree. The theory which could sanction the 
idea, that the elements act differently, on objects or substances, in 
different countries, must be absurd in the extreme ; consequently, if 
the beech-tree is exempt from the injurious effects of lightning in 
America, it must be equally so in this country. Omega. 
