284 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



attention to a very curious feature in Mr. Watt's invention. The 

 water from the vats, in place of being offensive and noxious, as is 

 the case with ordinary steep water, contains a certain amount of nu- 

 tritive matter. This arises from its being an infusion of flax stems, 

 in place of holding in suspension, or solution, the product of the de- 

 compositon of the gum, and other substances contained in the stems. 

 The inventor is now employing this water, along with the chaif of the 

 seed-bolls, for feeding pigs. It is of much interest, therefore, to note, 

 in how far this may be found practically to answer, as between the 

 seed, the chaff, and the water, by far the greatest portion of what the 

 flax plant abstracts from the soil would thus be returned in the shape 

 of manure. However this may turn out, the avoidance of all nuisance 

 in smell, and of tde poisonous liquid which causes some damage among 

 fish when let off into rivers, is a matter of some consequence. 



ON COMMON SALT AS A TOISON TO PLANTS. 



The following memoranda has been communieated to the Royal Bo- 

 tanical Society, England, by W. B. Randall. 



In the month of September last, three or four small plants in pots 

 were shown to the writer, nearly or quite dead ; and he was, at the 

 same time, informed that their destruction was a complete mystery to 

 the party to whom they belonged, and that Dr. Lindiey had expressed 

 his opinion, from the examination of a portion of one sent to him, that 

 they were poisoned. Having searched in vain for any strong poison 

 in the soil, and in the plants themselves, he inquired more minutely 

 into the circumstances of the case, and found that these were only 

 specimens of many hundreds of plants both in the open air and in 

 greenhouses (but all in pots) which exhibited, in a greater or less de- 

 gree, the same characteristics. The roots were completely rotten, so 

 as to be easily crumbled between the fingers; the stems, even in 

 young plants, assumed the appearance of old wood ; the leaves be- 

 came brown, first at the point, then round the edge, and afterwards all 

 over ; while the whole plant drooped and died. At least 2,000 cut- 

 tings in various stages of progress, and 1,000 strong, healthy plants 

 had been reduced to this condition ; including different varieties of 

 the fir, cedar, geranium, fuchsia, rose, jasmine, and heath. The sight 

 of this wholesale destruction, coupled with the fact that the whole 

 were daily watered from one particular source, suggested the conclu- 

 sion that the cause of the evil must reside in the water thus used ; and 

 this was accordingly examined. It yielded the following constituents, 

 making in each imperial pint of 20 fluid ounces, nearly 9|- grains of 

 solid matter, entirely saline, without any organic admixture : 



Carbonate of lime, 0-600 



Sulphate of lime, 0-462 



Chloride of calcium, 0-200 



Chloride of magnesium, 1-252 



Chloride of sodium, 6-906 



9-420 



