148 



plauting reuted at about 2 francs per acre, and its value was estimated 

 by M. Miou at about 40 francs, or $8 per acre. Tiie improvements have 

 raised the investment to 180 or 200 francs per acre. The owner, jjer- 

 haps extravagantly, anticipates that in fifty years the value of the tract 

 'Will have risen to 4,000 or G,000 francs per acre, yielding a revenue of 

 nearly 100 francs independent of the annual products of these i)lanta- 

 tions derived from clearings necessary for the development of the 

 plants. 



These tree-plantings have covered with a beautiful vegetation the 

 rocks and hill-sides formerly so desolate. The city of Chaumot and the 

 Baron Fraville have in the same manner embellished the country. M. 

 Mion found strong opposition in his own tenant-farmer, on which account 

 he took the cultivation into his own hands, replacing sheep with milch 

 cows. He reduced the area under cultivation to about 1G5 acres, which, 

 he rendered much more productive by a judicious culture. By care in 

 preserving manure and by the growth of forage-plants he was able to 

 raise the wheat-crop to 26 or 27 bushels per acre. 



From the results of this enterprise the inspector of forests of the 

 arrondissement of Chaumont concludes that the bare, unproductive, and 

 valueless hill-sides of the Upper Marne may be replanted with resinous 

 trees, assuring a good return upon the investment. This opinion is in- 

 dorsed by several of the most intelligent agriculturists of the Upper 

 Marne. 



CHEMICAL MEMORANDA. 



By Wm. McMurtriEj Chemist. 



All analysts who have had any experience in making determiua- 

 tons of tannic acid in different materials can, doubtless, very "well ap- 

 X^reciate the diflBculties which have heretofore been met in securing 

 results for which complete accuracy can be claimed, on account of the 

 unsatisfactory character of the methods which have thus far been em- 

 ployed. Fully appreciating these dif&culties myself, I have endeavored 

 to devise a method which would, in a measure at least, remove the di£B- 

 culties in question, and at the same time be free from all complication 

 which might have a. tendency to vitiate the results. Probably the most 

 convenient method given in the works on chemical analysis for making 

 these determinations is that of Lo wen thai, described in Fresenius' 

 Quantitative Analysis, fourth English edition, page 673, depending 

 upon the oxidation, with a standardized solution of permanganate of 

 potassa, of tannic acid and sulphindylate of potassa, and decoloration 

 of the latter by means of this reaction. 



In this method the tannic is extracted from the material with water, 

 and in its use, therefore, there is great danger that the results may be 

 vitiated by the presence of gum, sugar, &c., which are soluble in water, 

 and which may also be oxidized at the expense of the i)ermanganate of 

 potassa, and it was with this difficulty that I was called upon more par- 

 ticularly to contend. In one of the varieties of wood I have examined, 

 gum, as well as some coloring matters soluble in water, are jiresent in 

 considerable quantities. These substances are, however, to a great 

 extent, insoluble in sulphuric ether, while the tannic acid is quite easily 

 soluble in this menstruum. I have, therefore, made use of it in my 



