ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
17 
Iritain. Its limit of altitude is about 1,500 feet above the level of the sea. It is found 
ative in Lapland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Holland, Germany, France, 
Ingland and Italy, but is not a native of this country, having been introduced here 
jrom Europe. According to the analysis of Mr. Way, it contains much water in its 
omposition. One hundred pounds of this grass gives only nineteen and three-quarter 
ounds of hay, while timothy gives forty-two and three-quarter pounds for the same 
freight of green grass ; and the dry hay of meadow foxtail contains less than one-half 
Sf the nutriment that was contained in the dry hay of timothy. If timothy hay is 
mrth ten dollars a ton, and the chemical results afford anything like a reliable guide 
:io their relative values, the hay of foxtqil grass would be worth four dollars and four- 
een cents. Mr. Way’s analysis gives the following figures for the meadow loxtail 
rass, to wit: Water, 80.2 per cent.; albuminous or flesh-forming principles, 2.44 per 
ent.; fatty matter, 0.52 per cent.; heat producing principles, sugar, gum, staich, 8 50 
er cent.; woody fiber, 6.70 per cent.; mineral matter, 1.55 per cent. The seed of this 
rass is high in price and very difficult to procure, They weigh only five pounds to the 
ushel, and an ounce contains 76,000 seeds. When it is desired to secure the seeds of 
his grass, the first growth of the culms should be allowed to stand for the purpose, as 
hey bear much better seeds than the latter growth. 
This grass is often very highly recommended for meadow T s in our agricultural 
apers by correspondents. When inquired into it will be found, generally, that these 
ecommendations come from those who either live in sections of the country which 
re very weil adapted for its production, or from those who are not acquainted with 
uperior varieties. Its recommendations are that it is found in abundance in some of 
ur very best meadows here, and in England it is very permanent—one of the first to 
tart in the spring, and the first to mature. At killing, viz : flooding with water, and 
Iternately freezing and thawing, for several times. Late in the spring the whole 
ontents of the pan were removed and set out in the open ground. W hen the plants 
f wheat threw out their heads, there appeared chess heads also. This mass of wheat 
nd chess plants was brought in and placed before the committee. Stalks of chess 
rere shown, the roots of which were found to proceed directly from the planted heads 
f wheat, which yet remained entire, and in some instances they were found to issue 
rom the half-decayed grains of wheat themselves. This was looked upon as conclu- 
ive. The roots were taken by the committee, and first soaked in water, after which 
hey were gently washed by moving them backward and forward through it. They 
vere then carefully examined by a microscope. The roots of the chess were now 
lerceived to issue, not from near the end of the grain of wheat as is usual in sprout- 
ng, but from the side, and, in fact, from almost any part. Further examination 
howed that they merely passed through crevices in the decayed wheat grains, and 
hat they were separated from the grains without tearing, being merely in contact, 
rithout adhesion or connection. Some of the more minute chess fibers were observed 
>y an achromatic microscope to extend over the inner surface of the bran, where they 
iad gone in search of nourishment (which is known to abound just within the bran) 
n the same way that grape roots have been observed to spread over the surface of a 
ich decaying bone. Rut they easily separated, and had no connection with the bone, 
t was satisfactorily proved that the chess plant could not have come from these 
Tains, by the fact that the same single stalk of chess was thus connected with five or 
ix different grains, which could no more have originated it than five or six cows could 
tave one calf. The examination, therefore, did not prove anything in favor of trans- 
autation, and as there were many possible ways in which the chess might have been 
■cattered on the soil, the whole experiment was admitted* by all parties to be incon- 
•fusive. . 
If we are rightly informed, there has been for years a standing offer of a consid- 
srable sum of money for indisputable evidence that wheat ever changes to chess. It 
las been claimed once or twice, but the proof, on investigation, has always proved 
amentably inconclusive. The only reason why the idea of a supposed transformation 
las become so firmly rooted, is that seasons favorable to chess are unfavorable to 
vheat. The whole question shows how unreliable and deceptive mere superficial 
)bservation is, and how often a belief becomes fixed in the popular mind with no other 
oundation than the supposed evidence of the senses. 
SURFACE CULTURE OF GRASS LANDS. 
What is surface culture ? An explanation of this system of culture, and particu- 
arly its application to grass lands, is often asked, and I presume the same inquiry has 
requently been made by readers of the Frairie Farmer. I will endeavor to explain it, 
giving also something of my experience in the treatment of grass and grass lands under 
ts application. 
Surface culture is analagous to the term “ terra-culture,” a system that was 
itrongly advocated some years ago by numbers of practical farmers and agriculturists. 
The theories then advanced, while the writer attended a course of lectures on the 
subject, are still fresh in his memory. It was held that the system was practicable in 
