The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1864-12-06

onnss - lcnnksS-Jls. /.
[Yssn - Ana ssssonpAl
4 Letter = Scion Rs6insss, Aa:
DIAN Srs:-Ial one Of your recent ~
pofts yoa rsmask Ut I Esntlsnan had
sent you . strong nsgunent - prove he
impossibility u wheat turning into chea
o. cheat.
This question has elicited able dfsoss-
sion pro. and con. from theorists for ysazs
pAtt. Bat IL discussion always rsmiads
ne Of thst oshsr grsas question which :
few ysan aincs oolvuEssd this ration from
ssatrs 10 sircaufersncs thsq1sstiss isas %
'Who stsuck Billy Pstterson?" Or tAas
other. moro recent, but vital question
"Will saltpetrs explode r.
Sir. Why did not deputation Of editors
get on board the cars asd 60 to Mr.. Pat
tsrson's residence and confront him 70 his
own dinisg room and put he necessary
questions and demand categorical ans
werf Or in the other case, Why did not
some editor purchase. . keg Of saitpetrs
and put it 10 his stove and test tbsnatser,
sirl Why will gentlemen discuss when
they may demonstrate?
But right here. st the threshold. me-
thinks We hear lheorist exclaim, "W hat
cir. are you going 10 try to make me BE-
lieve that one vegetable turns into another
kind ofvegesable p
No sir, wish TO mske no such impress
sion upon your mind, for do not for one
moment believe it myself. Such trans.
mutations are common in the animal king
dom-at certain periods of the year We
have daily demonstrations Of animals
changing their natures and becoming 9TH
or and distinctly different animals-the
butterfly, DO But in these lnitudes. At
least know Of no instance Of such meta
morphosis occurring, or transmQ Inability
n the vegetable kingdom except through
the Intervention Of what We cali death,
or the supervention of chemical action
And yet, maintain--snd you can dem
onstrate-that chess results from whea,
a. wheat resulted from chess. Chess ID
the parent of wheat, and it was by the
cultivation of chess that wheat was OBJ.
tanned.
Is there anything strange ID this Lool
around you sir, and reflect. L. there
vegetable cultivated by man for bis us'
in which there have not been as great, o
greater changes produced than have bee
effected BY the cultivation of chess r
you and your society | Deed not euumer
etc largely Take the peach, and in it
original condition 10 Asia it is not eatable
and even in this country doubtless 20,
have seen them go far degenerated .
) scarcely to be recognizable a. peaches
Compare the crab-,hs original-with on
best apples. Our Indian corn, in its mai
unl condition, has each grain envelope
in husk, and the grain is very differ
ent thing IRON our 'gourd seed" Nigh
run through the entire chain of cuinar
vegetables, but the rejecting mind doe
not demand it.
Is it not fact - firmly established q
any other fact, that throughout the au
nal and vegetable kingdoms, where ma
has interfer-d with the normal conditio
OF the works Of the Creator that the tea
dency Of the Of. pring is to track back al
on the parent stock? Culture urges TO
ward, but nature draws back.
Wien man 10 his primitive conditio
looked around him for vegetable nourisf
mens, he cav chess growing ready to h
hand. H lie first perhaps psrched it upo
fat stone before the FIRE and ate the Rrai
whole. His teeth becoming impaired
sought . substitute, and cracked q
ground his chess between two stones
When be put this powder into his mout
be found that in combustion with the 9.
Iva it formed dough. He was then le
to mix some of the -four With water, an
again dough resulted; and be baked it o
his Hat stone, as he had parchsd the Who'll
grains before and bread was the result.
This pleased him and be continued il
use.
As ches. grew only sparsely in som
districts 10 which he wandered. and Z
il then required much time to gather
ne wished TO fring its production into
smclier compass-so he scratched th
earth with stick and deposited some q
this chess. A continuance Of this prae
tice for fifty ora hundred years 50 i'm
proved and develoved the plant that il Z,
tanned TO what We called wheat, but un
questionably the men Of .ha, day cslls
It big cheat. Aud you mag rest assures
that it heir Agricultural societies wer
wsllattended there were son Q big speeche
made over it, and some Yankee 10
some of the Yankees lived at that dsy
vent to specializing in the new grain.
But theory aside, and to the facts. TIL
head or ear of the wheat---sather til,
husks = are first developed, the entir
head. Tl.ey are then successfully
nencing with the lowest grain-6lle,
with . milky substance, which 10 process
Of time, passes into the dough state, o
condition, az it is termed; and this dough
At maturity, is found 10 have iudurated
and is readily susceptible of reduction /,
powder or -four. The lowest grains II
the head receiving the milk FIRST, are gen
orally matured and we'll developed. AND
20 on mp until We approach the top Of ID,
ear; when from the breaking of the stray
by being blown down, or from drv ve.,be
or other causes, We psrcsive the rr.i.
begin to diminish in size and are no. vel
developed-the topmoss grain b~ino III
smallest Of all. -"