The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-11-18
SELECTION OF SEED IN PLANTING

Gle on 'Cane Planting" in which you max
the following remarks:
"It has been thoroughly demonstrated b,
repeated experiments in Great Britain that b
q proper selection of seed grain, the yield pc
acre of farm lands is very conside rably in
creased By continuous selection, Major Hal
lett, an English scientific agriculturist, sue
ceeded in four years in increasing the lengtl
Of the wheat ear from AZ inches to 81 inches
the number of grains from Al to 1913, and tn
number of ears on finest stool from 10 to S.
| In reading this article, I was struck with
much surprise that in this age of investiga
ton, experiment and discovery in all depart
ments of science, such important facts a,
Major Hallett has made public in regard tt
the cultivation of grain should have remained
SO long dormant and anrevealed. In the yea
1929, plain, but practical and well-to-de
farmer, in Nelson county, Kentucky, having
an investigating disposition, conceived the
idea Of Increasing the quantity Of his corn With.
out Increasing the cost Of probation and cult
| cation.
In selecting seed corn for planting the
next season, he took two ears from the same
stalk this seed he planted in small patch
near his large field, only rail fence inter-
vening:
The result was thst Tin 1880 every stalk in
the patch had three large ears of corn upon
it, each grain Tor nearly SOY fully matured and
well developed. From these three ears which
grew upon one stalk he selected seed for the
season. The result was that he obtained
four ears to each stalk that season. From
these he selected seed for his experiment of
1882, and when he planted in the spring of
that year heard him say that, by proper at
tention and care in selecting seed, he believed
he could produce or obtain an ear of corn for
och h1oS IF fn61or o$o11y IN
tire field. Certainly the result of his expert
ment justified his theory as far as he went.
But he did not live to realize the full value
Of his splendid conception, for he passed away
from time to eternity by an attack of cholera,
which swept over the country with its appal-
ling power of destruction in the summer of
1882. In the great distress which his family
suffered by his loss the experiment was either
forgotten or abandoned.
presume he did not keep record of the
details Of his experiment, such as the length
and diameter of the ear, number of grains on
each ear, or other material facts connected
Herewith, which would not ouly be interest
ing at the present time, but Of vast importance
veloped, and would no doubt be of great as
sistance to Major Hallett in his Investigations,
as well as to the agriculturist in general.
The farmers home was near my native
place. BARDsTowN.
New Orleans, Nov. is, 1874.
Railroad travelling in England is becoming
less and less dangerous each year. notwith-
standing the increased risk arising through in
creased and more crowded traffic and the
more complicated connections of lines In
the three years 1877, 1913 and 1S49, one out
Of every 4, 1872, OO9 passengers carried over the
lines was killed. In the four years, 1856, 81,
50 and SO, the proportion was one out of
8, 100000. In the single year 1873 it was one
out of II, 3S1, O00 The great majority of the
fatal accidents were caused by individual care
essness of the person killed, not by collisions
or accidents to trains. In 1873, only 40 per
sons were killed on railroads by accidents, the
cause Of which was beyond their own CONTROL
md four times as many, namely 100, were
zilled in other ways such as falling from plat
orms or slipping under the wheels while get
ing on or off the cars.
The block system of running trains has
apparently lessened the number of accidents
rom collisions. Under this syste the roads
re divided into sections and trains are not
Flowed to follow each other unless there is at
east one clear section of the road between
very two trains. The first train must have |
'assed into the following section before
mother is allowed to enter. On the Caledo-
lian railroad this system has been supple
nented by an order requiring the danger sig
lal to be exposed at all times, except that
7hen train is about to pass over the line
be signal may be removed, after inquiry along
be line has shown the road to be clear.
Hitherto the presumption of switch tenders
as been that the road is clear; now the pre-
umption is that the road is blocked" and
nder that presumption the danger signal is
xposed until positive intelligence discloses
ae fact that the line may be safely opened
Bacheloric e1clamation-"A las,!" Maid