158 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



without any phosphate ia the soil, the live hemp-plants 

 fixed only 0.3565 gr. of nitrogen, having within their 

 reach so much as 16.12 gr. The carbon assimilated in 

 seven weeks' vegetation did not exceed .3.506 ; and, ;;e;- 

 diem, on an average, there were only 28.44 cubic eighths 

 of an inch of carbonic-acid gas decomposed by the 

 leaves. 



As was t'.ie case with the helianthuses grown under 

 the same influences, the proportion of nitrogen acquired 

 by the plants was abnormal — 3.06 per cent, of dried 

 matter — that is to say, nearly the same quantity as had 

 been found in the seed. There is no doubt that the 

 carbonate of ammonia acted as a nitrogenous manure, 

 and also as an alkaline carbonate ; and, consequently, 

 there were ammoniacal salts, with organic acids, formed 

 during vegetation . 



The experiments made upon hemp-plants have, then, 

 led to results entirely similar to those obtained from 

 the cultivation of helianthuses grown in precisely similar 

 conditions. I have resumed these results in the follow- 

 ing table, in which, in order to make the comparison 

 easier, I have calculated the fifth observation as if it had 

 been made upon seven hemp-plants : 



Vegetation of Seven Hemp-plants, 

 substances added to the soil. 



In the first part of these investigations, it was de- 

 monstrated that phosphate of lime acts favourably upon 

 plants only when associated with matter containing so- 

 luble nitrogen, which I thus call, to distinguish it from the 

 free nitrogen of the atmosphere, which plants do not assi- 

 milate directly. In thissecond part, it hasbeen established 

 that a substance rich in soluble nitrogen acts, however, 

 as a manure only with the co-operation of phosphates ; 

 and that if, indeed, a plant under its influence takes 

 more development than when it grows under the sole in- 

 fluence of phosphate, it never reaches to a normal and 

 full growth. Besides, this notion of the necessity of the 

 two fertilizing agents in a manure is now admitted ; it has 

 very felicitously contributed to remove fraud from a 

 kind of trade which interests the rural population in the 

 highest degree. I may be permitted to state, that this 

 notion was introduced into science nearly twenty years 

 ago by M. Payen and myself.* 1 should not then have 



* Payen and Boussingault : " Annals of Chemistry and 

 Natural Philosophy." Third series. Tom. iii. & vi. We 

 find in these papers — " Although recognizing the importance, 

 the absolute necessity, of nitrogenous principles in minures, 



thought it necessary to undertake new researches to cor- 

 roborate an opinion so generally accepted, if I had not 

 particularly had in view to appreciate, to measure, so 

 to speak, the useful effect which is exercised upon vege- 

 tation by certainly the two most efficient elements of 

 manures — the nitrogen combined in nitrous or ammo- 

 niac U compounds, and the phosphoric acid, with which 

 phosphates are constituted. 



Boussingault. 



Member of the Academy of Sciences, and of 

 the Central Agricultural Society. 



LINCOLNSHIRE SHEEP AND SOMERSET- 

 SHIRE GRAZIERS. 



Sir,— Several Somersetshire and west-country farmers ot 

 eminence were at Lincoln Great April Sheep Fair to see 

 a breed of sheep stated to be second to none for profit, and 

 which statement they believed to be correct, after seeing 

 the great show of sheep at the said fair, it having struck 

 them with admiration and amazement to see such a vast 

 weight of wool and mutton per head at early maturity. A 

 vast number of the said sheep were bred upon Lincoln-heath 

 and the Lincolnshire Wolds, which a few years back let at 

 23. 6d. per acre, as great rabbit warrens. Taking the vast 

 number into consideration, from 60,000 to 70,000 sheep. 

 The principal part of them hoggs, and making a great deal 

 of mutton and wool peracre, it of course must leave a great 

 profit to the breeders of them. The Somersetshire gentle- 

 men returned to their count}' perfectly satisfied that the 

 Lincolnshire sheep were second to none for profit. And 

 profit is what even,' farmer ought to aim at, there being 

 no merit without profit. Samuel Arnsby. 



Millfield, Peterboroiif/k 



THE ADVENTURES OF A SEED.— Nature has arranged 

 that plants growing even in the buroiug desert shall be pro- 

 vided with enough of water for the generation of their seeds ; 

 and one of the most remarkable iastauces of this fact is fur- 

 nished by the Anastatica Hierochuntica, or rose of Jericbo, 

 which grows in the arid wastes of Egypt, Palestiue, and Bar- 

 bary ; upon the roofs of houses and among rubbish in Syria ; 

 and in the sandy deserts of Arabia. This little plant, scarcely 

 six inches high, after the flowering season loses its leaves, and 

 dries up into the form of a ball. In this condition it is up- 

 rooted by the winds, and is carried, blown, or tossed across 

 the desert into the sea. When the little plant feels the con- 

 tact of the water, it unfolds itself, expands its branches, and 

 expels its seeds from their seed vessels. The seeds, after 

 having become thoroughly saturated with sea water, are carried 

 by the tide and laid upon the seashore. From the seashore 

 the seeds are blown back again into the desert, where, sprout- 

 ing roots and leaves, they grow into fruitful plants, which will 

 in their turn, Jiije their ancestors, be whirled into the sea. 

 These regular periodical processes of the life circle of this wee 

 rose struck the simple imaginations of the men of old with 

 superstitious awe, and they invested it with miracidous virtues, 

 — Dickens's Household Words. 



we are far from thinking that these principles are the only use- 

 ful ones to the improvement of the soil. It is certain that 

 several calcareous and earthy salts are indispensable to the de- 

 velopment of vegetables." 



