106 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



would be much more amused by a bed of scarlets consisting of Lord 

 Leigh in the centre, Foxhunter round it, Mrs. Woodroffe next, and 

 Defiance outside all, than he would by a bed of one scarlet variety 

 only ; and there would be no violation of art in such an arrangement, 

 provided a scarlet bed were required. In odd places a bed of mixed 

 verbenas is a pleasing feature ; but it is not desirable in connection 

 with a geometric scheme. 



/^. *^ 



o 



ON PEESEEYINa THE EEETILITY OF THE SOIL. 



BY AN AGEICULTUEAL CHEMIST. 



N" the year 1S39 the great chemist. Baron Liebig, first 

 suggested the use of artificial manures for increasing 

 the crops on poor lands. AVhen lands were dressed 

 with bones, before this suggestion was thrown out, the 

 agriculturist laboured under a great disadvantage, be- 

 cause the decomposition of the bones took place so slowly, that after 

 the crops were removed a considerable quantity of bone was left 

 which had evidently exerted no action at all upon the crops, thus 

 compelling the expenditure of a great deal more manure than was 

 necessary to produce the desired efiect. As plants are unable to 

 appropriate any nourishment which is not presented to them in a 

 state of solution, Liebig suggested that if the bones were made 

 soluble by the aid of sulphuric acid, which would dissolve a portion 

 of the lime and set the phosphoric acid free, the action on the plants 

 would be much quicker, and the expense to the farmer less. The 

 method of dissolving bones by the aid of sulphuric acid was at the 

 time no secret to chemists, but had been known for many years, and 

 as the plan was very simple and comparatively inexpensive, it was 

 recommended by Liebig ; and it is probable that no suggestion in 

 chemical science has proved of such benefit to agriculture as this 

 one, although so simple. 



But the illustrious man of science had not the most remote idea 

 at the time what an army of speculators, traffickers, and commercial 

 adventurers would fatten and grow rich by it. His only desire was 

 to benefit agriculture; but a number of unprincipled men have 

 seized upon the idea for the purpose of perpetrating fraud, and by a 

 well-organized system rendering lighter the pockets of the unwary. 

 It is evident from the steady increase which has taken place in the 

 consumption of artificial manures in this country during the last 

 quarter of a century, that agriculturists consider that the outlay 

 incurred in purchasing such fertilizers is money well bestowed. 

 Professor Anderson has recently made an inquiry as to the probable 

 extent of the dressings now used, and has given an approximate 

 estimate of the money value of the ordinary manures used in this 

 country. From this estimate it appears that in the 60,000,000 tons 

 of farmyard manure annually spread, there are about 45,000,000 

 tons of water. In this respect farmyard manure sufiers greatly by 



