439 



taiu 0.02 grava of nitrate of ammonia ; and, since this salt contains 35 per cent, of ni- 

 trogen, it follows that the 10 millimeters of rain-fall of the 8th of July ; carried down 70 

 grams, of nitrogen per hectare, besides the organic matter. 



The new system of conveying beet-root juice.— In the Bulletin de la Sodete (t Encouragement 

 pour VIndustrie NaiionaJe, M. A. Payen treats of a contrivance whereby the beet-root 

 juice is pressed from the roots, and carried, by cast-iron pipes, to the beet-root sugar- 

 works. The roots are pulped, and the juice exjiressed, so to say, on the very spot where 

 the roots are grown ; and the juice is conveyed, by pipes laid under ground (as are 

 gas and water pipes) and along the roads, to the beet-root sugar-works, while a por- 

 tion of these pipes are used in summer time to carry and force up fresh water to the 

 fanns. 



Madder : iin aj)plication to dyeing and printing. — In the Annales du Genie Civil is given 

 the first portion of a lengthy memoir, by D. Kaeppeliu, giving, in the first place, an 

 account of the history of the dispersion of madder from its native soil into Europe, 

 where it was reintroduced from the Levant by the Dutch in the sixteenth century. 

 By order of Charles V it was cttltivated in the Alsace, and, since 1789, in the then 

 Comtat d'Avignou, (now departement de Vauclnse.) The author describes, at great 

 length, the mode of cultivation of ilarena madder grown in the Derbeut, (a portion of 

 Russia, formerly a Persian province.) The soil of that district is a rich alluvial clay, 

 contaii«ig a large quantity of calcareous matters and humus. The madder seed is 

 sown in November, and the roots are collected in the fourth following spring, (April.) 

 The roots are first placed in well-aired sheds, and next submitted to a peculiar process 

 of steaming, by being placed in what may be termed tanks dug in the soil, two meters 

 deep and one wide. These tanks are first heated by means of the combustion of wood 

 to such an extent that the sides become red hot. When this is eftected the madder 

 roots, previously watered, are thrown upon smoldering embers, and when the hole is 

 filled, covered with coarse woolen cloths, and left in the hot tanks for six hours. The 

 roots are then removed, and next dried in the sun. A great portion of this paper is, by 

 the acknoAvledgment of its author, who has been in Russia, abstracted from the works 

 of MM. Persoz, Girardin, Schutzenberger, and others. 



Composition of sugar cane. — O. Popp has analyzed fresh sugar cane, after pulling the 

 leaves oif, with the following results, as stated in the Zeitschrift fur Chemie von Beit- 

 stein: Martinique and Guadeloupe cane (America) contains, in 100 jiarts: water, 72.22; 

 cane sugar, all crystallizable, 17.80; glucose, 0.28; cellulose, 9.30; salts, 0.40. African 

 canes: Middle Egypt (Cairo) contains, in. 100 parts: water, 72.15; cane sugar, 16.0; 

 glucose, 2.3; cellulose, 9.2; salts, 0.35. Upper Egypt: water, 72.13: cane sugar, 18.1; 

 ghicose, 0.25; cellitlose, 9.1 ; salts, 0.42. The author adds, the quantity of sugar above 

 quoted is an averaged quantity, since its percentage may reach as high as 20, while the 

 glucose may be entirely absent, and is so in some kinds of cane, (different species of the 

 plant,) and with good cultivation in all kinds. Sugar cane dried at 100°, previously 

 deprived of its leaves, yielded from 3.8 to 4.3 per cent, of ash. The dried leaves yield 

 by themselves from 8.0 to 8.5 per cent, of ash. The composition of the ash of the 

 American cane, without leaves, is, in 100 parts: potassa, 7.66; soda, 6.45; lime, 12.53;- 

 magnesia, 6.61 ; oxideof iron, 0.56; silica, 43.75; phosphoric acid, .5.45 ; sulphuric acid, 

 16.53; chlorine, 0.21— together, 99.75. Ash of the leaves, in 100 parts: potassa, 10.65: 

 soda, 3.26; lime, 8.19; magnesia, 2.45; oxide of iron, 0.85; silica, 65.78; phosphoric 

 acid, 1.25; sulphmic acid, 2.18; chlorine, 1.65; .carbonic acid, 3.55— together, 99.81. 



ITEMS FKOM YAEIOUS SOUECES. 



The lumber interest of the Pacific States. — It is stated that 

 there are 40 saw-mills o)i the Pacific slope, requiring an average of 100 

 men each. Forty ships, 30 brigs, and GO schooners are engaged in trans- 

 portmg this himber, and employ about 1,000 men ; while 2,000 men are 

 employed in San Francisco in handling the lumber. The annual pro- 

 duction is about 150,000,000 feet, worth some 88,000,000. 



The Eamie.— a stock company has been organized in Xew Orleans 

 for the extensive culture of the ramie plant and the preparation of the 

 fiber of the same for market. 



Beet culture in California. — Mr. A. B. Gilbert, one of the num- 

 ber cultivating beets for the Sacramento Beet Sugar Company, has 10 

 acres of sugar beets on the American Eiver bottom, yielding 25 tons to 

 the acre. The company pay him $5 per ton. The cost of cultivation is 



