POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



429 



those of Europe. The arboreous vegetation, 

 the last members of which are commonly 

 birches, pines, and junipers, usually ends at 

 about twelve or thirteen thousand feet above 

 the sea-level, the shrubby growths ascend- 

 ing a thousand feet higher. The Alpine 

 region is thus attained, where, under the 

 influence of the frequent showers that fall 

 upon the mountain -slopes exposed to the 

 south, the open pastures are adorned, during 

 their short summer, with flowers of every 

 hue and in the greatest profusion and lux- 

 uriance, including well - known European 

 forms, such as gentian, primula, anemone, 

 ranunculus, and many others. With in- 

 creased elevation, and as the ranges are less 

 directly exposed to the rain-bearing winds 

 from the south, the climate becomes colder 

 and drier, the vegetation more scanty, the 

 forms fewer ; and on reaching the border of 

 Thibet, at an elevation of fourteen or fifteen 

 thousand feet, where the atmospheric condi- 

 tions are wholly changed, the aspect of the 

 country is that of a desert treeless and 

 bare, as a rule and, excepting in the rare 

 neighborhood of water, not one twentieth of 

 the surface is clothed with vegetation, and 

 such bushes as there are seldom rise to a 

 greater height than one or two feet. 



Experimental Fields at Rotnamstcad. 



The grass-land experimental field at Rotham- 

 stead consists of about seven acres, and is 

 divided into twenty plots. It has probably 

 been laid down in grass for some centuries. 

 It is certain that no fresh seed has been 

 artificially sown within the last fifty years ; 

 and there is no record of any having been 

 sown since the grass was first laid down. 

 The experiments were begun in 1856, when 

 the herbage was uniform in character. Each 

 plot has been treated differently. One has 

 had no manure, others have had farm-yard 

 dung, superphosphate of lime, ammonia salts, 

 sulphate of potash, or other chemicals. Sir 

 John Lawes said to a writer in the " Pall 

 Mall Gazette," who visited the farm, that 

 "the result was evident in many ways. On 

 one plot the fertilizers supplied had fed only 

 a single kind of grass, which had covered the 

 whole area, killing out all the rest. On an- 

 other the grass was hard and wiry, scarcely 

 fit for food ; and on yet another the land was 

 little better than a bog. We can not go into 



technical details as to the results, but these 

 experiments have shown that the food which 

 plants receive, either artificially from the 

 soil, or by the atmosphere, determines their 

 nature as much as in the case of animals. 

 The same thing is seen in the wheat and 

 barley fields. One of the most important of 

 the former is a section upon which the grain 

 has been grown continuously for forty-five 

 years, in one case without manure. The 

 average of the first recorded eighteen years 

 gave 14| bushels per acre, and last year the 

 same quantity was produced, showing that in 

 the soil there is a large reserve amount of 

 fertility." In another part of the field, Sir 

 John Lawes told the writer : " Five years ago 

 we left the upper end of this wheat-field un- 

 cropped, allowing the corn to fall when ripe. 

 In three years there was scarcely a single ear 

 of corn left ; those which I could find were 

 short in the stalk, and with perhaps a single 

 grain. Now there is not one. This shows 

 that food-products are almost entirely arti- 

 ficial, and that in a few years the land would 

 be a perfect wilderness, if uncultivated. But 

 I myself was surprised at the rapidity with 

 which the wheat disappeared." This was ex- 

 plained thus : " The weeds were stronger, and 

 killed out the artificial grain. Weeds are 

 hardy, and it is really 'the survival of the 

 fittest ' or the hardiest. The same thing I can 

 show you in the turnip-field, where the un- 

 manured plot is almost barren, the plants 

 having scarcely in any case formed a bulb. 

 It is the starch we want as food. Cultivation 

 and fertilization give that starch." 



Palm-Oil. Palm-oil is the product of the 

 fruit of the oil-palm tree of Guinea. The 

 fruit grows in clusters on top of the tree, 

 which is about thirty feet high, and resem- 

 bles a chestnut. The oil is extracted by 

 boiliDg the pulpy and fibrous mass around 

 the central nut, and is used in making soap 

 and candles. The fruits are harvested : n 

 April. The oil of Arachis, which is equally 

 important in commerce, is from the nut of 

 the Arachis (peanut), thousands of tons of 

 which are sent to Europe every year to be 

 made up into "olive-oil." It is the fruit of 

 an annual creeping plant (Arachis hypogea), 

 and ripens in July and August. Oils of in- 

 ferior quality are made into soap. Another 

 underground nut ( Voandzeia subterranea) 



