THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



449 



the blast of high winds. Silica is very abundmt iu most 

 soils, since they contain a large proportion of earthy silicates. 

 But silica in such a combination is not soluble, aud cannot be 

 ajsimilated by the plants ; for that purpose it must become 

 (jelulinous. This is effected by the contact with carbonic acid 

 of the air and the humidity of the soil, but by so slow a pro- 

 cess, that it often hippens I he p'ant cunnot did a sufficient 

 quantity for the requirements of its growth. 



Earthy silicates, however, whe.i acted upon at a iiigh tem- 

 perature by alkaline or earthy carbonates, become soluble in 

 acids, and arc then available to the plant. Now, all the soils 

 which are found from experience to benefit by paring and burn- 

 ing contain silicates and carbonate of lime ; and thus an ele- 

 ment of ontrition supplying the plant with what may be com- 

 pared to the bones of animals, that is, the siliceous coating 

 of their stems and leaves, which enable thtra to stand erect 

 and rigid, is rendered imuiediately av.iilable. But a certain 

 temperatnre is necessary to produce gelatinous silica. M. 

 Gueymsrd says that in all his analyses he found thi3 substance 

 only in the layers of clods and tuif which were in immediate 

 co:.tact with the fire, that is, in the very nucleus of the mound ; 

 the outward layers, which were only charred, did not contain 

 any. This observation is borne out by the fact, that on tlic 

 spot where the fire stood the stems of the wheat or hemp plants, 

 which are generally cultivated after burning, are invariably 

 found to be stronger and tougher th»n anywhere ehe. 



Another chemist, M. Lebreton, goes a step further, and pre- 

 tends that combustion introduces into the soil a certain quan- 

 tity of aoimouiacal salts, the formation of which cannot he 

 attributed to the remnant of manures and organic matter left 

 in the soil. 



I will now examine bow the presence of thess pramouiacal 

 salts, which I have been able to ascertain do really exist in 

 burnt soil, and in the distilled water with which some of it had 

 been washed, can he chemically accounted for ; begging the 

 reader to consider this explanation as a mere surmise, as I am 

 not aware that actual experiments have been made to test its 

 accuracy . 



It is well known that some porous substances have the 

 remarkable property of producing the combination of certain 

 bodies by the simple means of the intimate contact produced by 

 the simultaneous passage of these bodies through the pores of 

 that substance. It is thus that alkaline cyanures are now prepared 

 without the help of animal matter, and by fixing the nitrogen 

 of the air. The process consists iu passing through a porous 

 substance impregnated with an alkaline solution a mij'lnre of 

 steam, air, and oxide of carbon ; this last gas being obtained by 

 the incomplete combustion of charcoal in a furnace suitably 

 heated. 



Now, in the burning of land, liic, circumstances are precisely 

 the same as in the above process, viz., an incomplete combus- 

 tiou, the gaseous products of which are mixed with air and 

 watery vapour ; and the passage of this mixture through a 

 porous mass contiiniog several energetic bases, such as lime, 

 potash, magnesia, and cyanures may then be produced, which, 

 by being subsequently decomposed, must give ammouiacal 

 results. 



But this is nit all ; besides the oxide of carbon, the gaseous 

 mixture contains a great quantity of carbonized hydrogen, 

 since part of the burning process cousists iu the distillation of 

 ivood, as well as an incomplete combustion of charcoal. Now, 

 carbonized hydrogen mixed with air, and passing through the 

 porius mass, becomes decomposed ; its hydrogen forms am- 

 monia by combining with the nitrogen of the air, and its car- 

 bon forms carbonic acid by combining with the oxygen : hence 

 the carbonate of ammonia always found in burnt earth, 



With whatever cavils chemists may attack this explana- 

 tion, it is nevertheless beyond controversy that in the 

 burnt mounds of the fields, iu Dauphine, I have recognized the 

 presence or ammoniacal salts, the existence of which can but 

 iu a very small degree be accounted for, from the existence of 

 organic matter in the soil previous to its being burnt : t'ueouly 

 source from which it can be produced is undoubtedly the 

 nitrogen of the atmosphere. 



Norwood, March 3. 



SUPERIOR LINCOLNSHIRE RAMS TO BE 

 FOUND IN LEICESTERSHIRE. 



Sir, — For many years the ram breeders in Leicestershire 

 have gone into the county of Lincoln to hire or purchase rams ; 

 and at Peterborough fair you may not only fiud mai.y ram 

 breeders from the county of Leicester, but from many other 

 nfar and far distant counties, with a view to make a new 

 breed more profitable, by produciug more weight of wool and 

 mutton per acre; as actual merit is profit. Men of weak un- 

 derstanding are caugiit by mania, ornament, and fashion, not 

 considering what an animKl makes, eo much as what it costs 

 making. It, of course, is bad, to breed animih without profit: 

 an ornamental animal is one thing, and a profitable one is 

 another. We have no businees to breed any inferior cattle, 

 sheep, and horses, but the best of its kind, as the best consume 

 no more food than the worst. Iu trying to breed animals with 

 too great a proportion of fat flesh iu proportion to the lean, 

 not oaly are the stamina and size, but the milk is deteriorated ; 

 which caused the once Bakewell alias long-horned cattle to 

 degenerate in size, lean flesh, boue, and milk, being now nearly 

 shadows to what they were iu Mr. Bakewell's day. Animals 

 may be bred until they nearly lose all their milk, which spoils 

 them for the country dairy-men imd the great milk-men iu the 

 metropolis ; and many of the Bakewell or Leicester sheep 

 have been bred until they have reduced their size, coustitutioa, 

 milk, and lean flesh. Mr. Bryan Ward, at Drayton, on the 

 Welland, Leicestershire, many years back, crossed his pure- 

 bred Leicesters with the best Lincolns he could find, which 

 increased the wool, size, constitution, and lean flesh. Mr. Ward 

 lets yearly upwards of 100 ram sheep, which have improved 

 numerous flocks in maisy counties. Mr. Sandy, of Holme 

 Fierrepoiut, has proved, by the great number of prizes he 

 has taken at the Royal Shows, that he has the best pure-bred 

 Leicesters in the kingdom. Saml. Aunsby. 



Mill Field, Peterborough, April 10, 1858. 



MY WINTER GARDEN.— The March breeze is chilly, 

 but I can be always warm if I like, in my winter garden. I 

 turn my horse's head to the red wall of fir stems, and leap over 

 the furze-grown bank into my c»thedra', wherein, if there be 

 no saints, there are likewise no priestcraft and no idols; but 

 endless vistas of smooth, red, green-veined shRfts holding up 

 the warm, dark roof, lessening away into endless gloom, paved 

 with rich brown fir-needle — a carpet at which nature has been 

 at work for forty years. Red shilts, greeu roof, and here and 

 there a pane of blue sky — neither Owtn Jones nor Willemeut 

 can improve upon that ecclesiastical ornamentation ; while for 

 incense I have the fresh healthy turpentine fragrance, far sweeter 

 to my nostrils than the stifling narcotic odour which tills a 

 Roman-catholic-cathedral. Tlicre is not a breath of air within, 

 but the breeze s^ghs over tlie roof above in a soft whisper. I 

 shut my eye?, aud listen. Surely that is the murmur of the 

 summer sea upon the summer sands in Devon, far away. I 

 hear the innumerable wavelets spend themselves gently upon 

 the shore, and die away to rise again. And with the innu- 

 merable wave-sighs come innumerable memories, and faces 

 which I shall never see again upon this earth. I will not tell 

 even you of thst, old friend. It has two notes, two keys 

 rather, that /Eolian harp of fir-needles above my head ; 

 according as the wind is, east or west, the needles dry or wet. 

 This easterly key of to-day is shriller, more cheerful, warmer 

 iu sound, though the day itself be colder; but grander still, as 

 well as softer, is the grand soughing key in which the south- 

 west wind roars on, raiu-laden, over the forest, and calls me 

 forth— being a minute philosopher — to catch trout in the 

 I nearest chalk-stream.— C/iar/es Kingsley in Frazer's Mag, 



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