U6 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



to their own local traditions to record. The sort have 

 long been distinguished at the meetings of our national 

 societies. Mr. Hitchraan, who followed Mr. Middle- 

 ton, " had been a breeder of this class of sheep up- 

 wards of twenty j'eai's, and exhibited them at the 

 Smithfield Show the second year when prizes were given 

 to that class of sheep. lie had taken five first prizes 

 in succession, and had obtained nine medals and several 

 second prizes for them ; but after a few years he met 

 greater competition. This breed of sheep had certainly 

 made a stand in Oxfordshire ; and not only here, but 

 was spreading over the country, and had now become 

 an extensive breed, and he v/as not sure whether it 

 would not soon exceed all other classes in point of 

 numbers. He thought they were now in a position to 

 claim for their peculiar breed of sheep a more definite 

 name, and he could not see why they should not have 

 Oxfordshire Downs as well as Shropshire and Hamp- 

 shire Downs, especially as the breed was of upwards of 

 20 years' standing, and no other class of sheep suited 

 this locality so well ; and if they went into other coun- 

 ties he did not see why their sheep should not retain 

 the name of Oxfordshire Downs." 



And to this it came. Every man who got up had 



something to offer in support of the argument. The 

 law as laid down by Lord Spencer has been complied 

 with. The sort has a twenty-years' pedigree to trace 

 back to, and is now become " an extensive breed." It 

 was so pro])osed, seconded, and carried accordingly, 

 that we should henceforth have one more recognized 

 breed of sheep — the " Oxfordshire Down," which was 

 christened forthwith in bumpers of champagne. 



There is something very satisfactory in a movement 

 like this. It shows we are progressing as we should 

 do — not wildly but by the safest course. We are 

 adapting ourselves to our own circumstances, and 

 gradually learning what best suits our own times and 

 lands. As Mr. Middleton says, " we have improved the 

 sheep as well as the pastures." Ju§t as the pure 

 Downs have increased on the flats of Cambridgeshire, 

 or the Devons spread out on the fat lands of Somerset, 

 have the Oxfordshire sheep been " made" to the im- 

 proved condition of the soil. It will be seen that Mr. 

 Druce is to report these proceedings to the Council of 

 the Royal Agricultural Society. Perhaps the day may 

 come when we shall see a class of Oxfordshire Downs. 

 At any rate, they will now have a " habitation and a 

 name" amongst their fellows. 



ASSIMILATION Of NITROGEN BY PLANTS, 



British Association, Dublin, Sept. 1st, 1857.— Section B. : " Preliminary Notice of Researches 

 ON the Assimilation of Nitrogen by Plants, by Messrs. Lawes, Gilbert, and Pugh." 



The great importance of settling the question whether 

 or not plants can assimilate the free nitrogen of which 

 the atmosphere to such a great extent consists, was first 

 illustrated. In a purely scientific point of view the 

 question was of high interest, and, if answered in the 

 aflarmative, this would add a striking fact to the history 

 both of nitrogen itself and of the vegetative functions. 

 A true theory of many agricultural facts and practices 

 also required a definitive solution of this debated point. 

 The earlier writers supposed that the free nitrogen of 

 the air could be taken up by plants. Be Saussure and 

 others came to an opposite conclusion ; and this latter 

 view had been pretty generally adopted by scientific 

 observers : M. Boussingault in particular had adduced 

 experimental evidence to show that plants did not assi- 

 milate the free nitrogen of the air. Hut, during the last 

 few years, an extensive and elaborate series of investiga- 

 tions had been made by Mons. G. Ville, of Paris, the 

 results of which led him to conclude that plants some- 

 times assimilated a considerable amount of free nitrogen. 

 M. Boussingault had followed up the enquiry in various 

 ways, and still maintained the opposite opinion. It 

 was, hence, highly desirable that others should under- 

 take the subject ; and it was the plan of the authors to 

 this end, and the indications so far obtained, that they 

 now brought for discussion before the section. They 

 described the several methods adopted by M. Boussin- 

 gault and M. Ville respectively, and then illustrated by 

 drawings their own methods and progress. In all cases 

 their plants grew, in the first instance, in soil and at- 

 mosphere destitute of all combined nitrogen, except that 

 contained in the seed sown. To some, however, as their 

 growth seemed to indicate the need, for the sake of com- 



parison, small and known quantities of ammonia were 

 supplied. Drawings of the progress of the plants showed 

 a very considerable increase of growth where this ammo- 

 niacal supply was given. In some of these cases the 

 plants promised to yield seed, and their height and 

 general development were pretty natural. In other in- 

 stances, where only the combined nitrogen of the seed 

 sown and the free nitrogen of the air were available, the 

 plants remained exceedingly small, and withered before 

 coming to perfection. The quantitative result could not 

 however be known until the growing plants, the soil, 

 and the pots in which they grew were analyzed, when 

 the debtor and creditor account, so to speak, of the 

 nitrogen could be made up. Collateral researches were 

 briefly described, the object of which was to throw light 

 on the relation of the gases evolved during the growth of 

 plants to constituents actually assimilated ; and also 

 others, to show whether free nitrogen was a product of 

 the decomposition of organic matters under certain cir- 

 cumstances. A discussion followed, in which the Presi- 

 dent and Professor Daubeny took part. The latter gen- 

 tleman expressed his satisfaction that the question of the 

 assimilation of free nitrogen by plants was now taken up, 

 and was being investigated on such a considerable scale, 

 at Mr. Lawes's laboratory ; for he had read with some 

 surprise the apparent sanction given by a Commission of 

 the Academy of Sciences of France to the opinions of 

 M. Ville, which so many scientific considerations would 

 lead us to hesitate in adopting. After further remarks 

 from Dr. Gilbert, Dr. Pugh entered into some fuller 

 explanations illustrating the methods adopted, and the 

 difficulties and sources of error to be overcome or 

 avoided. 



