88 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
crop as soon as the mass of the ears are glazed, as a means of making 
most both of the corn and the fodder. 
We remarked, that both the wheat and corn crops looked best where 
the surface was most undulating and hill}’, and better towards the heads 
than near the outlets of the small lakes. The cause of this is apparent. 
The heavy rains of May and June completely saturated the soil; so 
that where it was stiff, or reposed upon a tenacious subsoil, and the 
surface flat or but slightly sloping, the ground became virtually a con¬ 
cealed marsh, producing deleterious effects upon the wheat, and pre¬ 
venting the early working of the corn ground. We are persuaded, from 
its beneficial effects, in our own grounds, that had a thorough system 
of under-draining been previously adopted upon many farms we saw, 
the expense of draining would have been nearly made up to the pro¬ 
prietors in the increased products of the past season. Although it may 
seem paradoxical, we are persuaded, and will hereafter endeavor to 
show, that under-draining, by rendering the soil more pervious to at¬ 
mospheric and solar influences, is alike calculated to counteract the ef¬ 
fects of drought and habitual wetness. 
The potato crop was suffering there, as here, from drought. The 
tubers were small, and the hopes of an abundant crop were diminishing. 
Peas, oats and grass were abundant and heavy. Buckwheat looked 
well, though apprehensions were entertained that it would suffer from 
early frost and the dry weather. Slight frosts had been already expe¬ 
rienced in some districts. In Seneca and Tompkins counties, large 
quantities of flax were being cut with the cradle or scythe, cultivated 
principally for the seed. 
A correspondent near Trenton, N. J. writes thus: 
“I yesterday had the product of ten acres of wheat thrashed, and ob¬ 
tained 60 bushels. In an adjoining field of about equal fertility, I last 
year had at the rate of 22 bushels to the acre. Sixteen acres of rye 
averages about two bushels the acre, and is much better than some of 
my neighbors. One of them sowed ten bushels of wheat on good 
ground, and obtained five bushels. Tne snow and the fly together de¬ 
stroyed our prospects of winter grain. Oats are good. Mine yielded 
40 bushels the acre. Maize, where the first planting stood well, is set¬ 
ting an unusual number of ears; but the season has been so cold and 
damp, that they seem likely to be small, and if early frosts should come 
the crop will generally be light.” 
From a review of the information from all the states bordering on the 
Atlantic, it is very evident, that the crops of bread-corn are uncommonly 
deficient; that prices must consequently be high, and that but for the 
probability of our receiving heavy importations of grain from Europe, 
the prospect of a scarcity would be alarming. With these prospects 
before us, it becomes a matter of duty, as well as of interest, to hus¬ 
band well our means, and to endeavor, by prudence and economy, to 
avert the evils which threaten, at least the indigent classes of our popu¬ 
lation, the coming winter. 
CHESS, OK CHEAT. 
We received the same day, from W. R. Cahoon, of Dover, Del. and 
from Ed. Wilbur, of Pittsford, N. Y. inquiries as to the origin and cha¬ 
racter of chess—whether it is a distinct species of plant, produced only 
from its kind, or a diseased, imperfect wheat. This has been a long 
controverted question; and although it has been well settled, in the 
minds of those who have become partizans in the controversy, it has 
so happened, that the opinions have been equally confident upon both 
sides! It would be presumption in us to assume the office of umpire, as 
we have made no special observation or experiments with a view to 
solve the question; but as we feel called upon to respond to the inquiry 
in some way, we will offer a few considerations which, at present, in¬ 
cline us to the opinion, that wheat is transformed into chess, or rather 
that chess is diseased wheat, without intending, however, to be drawn 
into further controversy in the matter. 
Naturalists class wheat under the genus triticum, and chess under 
that of bromus; and they contend, what we are not prepared to deny, 
that one genus or species of plants, never assume, from disease or mal¬ 
formation, the character of another genus or species of plants; and that 
hence wheat cannot generate chess. On the other hand, there are 
many practical farmers, and some of them philosophers too, who insist 
that wheat is mutable, and liable to change into chess;—that chess 
does grow, with wheat, where no chess has been sown, and where none 
existed in the soil; that where the soil is clean, and the seed pure, 
chess is not found in other farm crops, and that hence chess must be 
degenerate wheat, capable of germination and reproduction. One or 
two things is implied in the latter opinion;—either that naturalists have 
erred in classing chess with the family bromus, and in considering it a 
species, or that there are exceptions to general laws in vegetable phy- 
siolgy. We will not pretend to c'iscuss these points, but proceed to 
state, in a brief wanner, some facts, which we can account for in no 
other way, than by adopting the opinion we have expressed. 
1 . In wheat fields, chess most abounds where the wheat is in the 
most unhealthy condition—most in those spots where the wheat, for 
want of due pulverization of the soil, or from wetness, is most thin and 
Sickly, and least where the soil is mellow and dry, and the crop most 
thick and healthy. If chess originated only from chess, it would be 
equally distributed ; and would not particularly, and sometimes almost 
exclusively abound, where the ground has been but partiatlly tilled, as 
upon the margin of the field, about stumps, and in low damp places. 
When chess is found in other crops, as it often is, being sown with the 
seed, it shows itself alike in every part of the field. 
2. Upon a farm belonging to us, and occupied by a tenant, eight or 
ten acres of fallow were sown with select pure seed. The product was 
about 80 bushels of chess, and less than half the quantity of wheat. 
The soil was adapted to wheat, and believed to be perfectly clean. 
3. In the Farmer’s Register for January, of the current year, Thomas 
C. Nelson, states, that a wheat field belonging to him, self-sown, in con¬ 
sequence of the crop having been destroyed by a hail-storm, just before 
harvest, and not subsequently ploughed, which looked well in February, 
turned out to be “ all chess,” and gave him more of this commodity, 
upon three acres, than he had had upon his farm in the preceding 38 
years. 
4. The same number of the Register contains a letter from N. Bur- 
well, to the editor, accompanied by a root bearing apparently wheat and 
chess. 
5. In the same work for November last, we find a letter from G. W. 
Featherstonhaugh, stating that he had in his possession, a plant con¬ 
taining four stalks and heads of chess, with the skin of a kernel of 
wheat, so attached to the root, as to satisfy him and others, and among 
others the late President Madison, who examined it, that in this parti¬ 
cular instance a kernel of wheat had produced a plant bearing heads 
of cheat. 
It is needless to multiply facts of this kind, hundreds of which might 
be quoted; and yet we are aware that they are not all permitted to 
outweigh the authority of a well settled principle of natural law. 
With these remarks we must leave the mooted point where we found 
it,—-involved in difficulty on both sides. 
STONE FENCES. 
Where stones abound upon a farm, and require to be taken off the 
fields to facilitate tillage, it is no doubt economical to work them into 
stone fences, and the sooner the better, as by it an incumbrance is re¬ 
moved, and a substantial fence erected. The economy of making 
stone fences in other cases, will depend on the scarcity, or price, of 
other materials for dead fences, on the facility of making live ones, and 
on the comparative cost of quarrying or drawing the stone. These cir¬ 
cumstances will vary on almost every farm, and must become matters 
of individual calculation. But all experience teaches, that where stone 
walls are to be made, there is economy, in the long run, in making them 
well, that is, is in making them so that they shall prove an efficient 
barrier to farm stock, and outlast the maker of them. If they are not 
efficient and durable, they become a source of incalculable trouble and 
expense. The damage to crops, and the expense of frequent repairs, 
to say nothing of their unsightly appearance, will soon overbalance the 
cost of building them well in the outset. “ What you do, do well,” is 
a maxim that will apply with particular force to this branch of farm 
improvement. 
The material necessary for a good wall, is flat stones; the requisites 
to insure durability are, a substantial foundation, which will give equal¬ 
ly to pressure or to frost—a sufficient base to sustain the superstruc¬ 
ture—a coping, and a good workman: and to render them efficient, 
they should be 4J or 5 feet high, either entirely of stone, or crowned 
with a sufficient wooden structure. If the mass of stone are not flat, 
or rather if they are all round, they will not stay long in their place, 
without a broad base, and great slope upon the exterior surface. 
Round stones should be only used in what are denominated half walls, 
and which are to be crowned with wood. If the foundation gives un¬ 
equally, the structure of the wall will soon be deranged, and parts of it 
will fall. A prudent way is to base it upon the hardpan, or subsoil, by 
clearing off the surface earth. Stone walls, unless laid in lime, which, 
by the bye, is an excellent practice, particularly about farm-buildings, 
where the expense can be afforded, should incline inwards from the 
base to the coping. The slope should be an inch in a foot; and if the 
wall is five feet high, and twelve inches broad at top, it should be two 
feet broad at bottom. The coping, which consists of broad stones, ex¬ 
tending across the top, tends by its weight and its bond, to keep the 
materials in place. Heavy stones, of suitable size, should be reserved 
for this use. But even with good materials, a good foundation, and a 
broad base, a stone wall will not be permanent, unless the stones be 
properly placed, so as to constitute a bond, and prevent their falling 
piecemeal. The construction of a wall of stone or brick, demands an 
observance of the/ same professional rules of structure, whether it be 
intended for a fence or a dwelling. The breaking of joints, both length¬ 
wise and across, which we denominate the bond, constitutes the main 
strength of the structure. 
There are three modes of constructing stone fences in common use: 
1. Where the material is abundant, and where the whole structure 
