146 



Incited by tlio suggestion of a friend, lie then tried the experiment of 

 iilling in the top of the i^ot around the bush, to the depth of half an 

 inch, with finely pulverized stone-coal. In the course of a few days he 

 was astonished at seeing the roses assume a beautiful red hue, as bril- 

 liant and lively as he could desire. 



He tried the same oxperinjent upon a pot of petunias, and soon after 

 all the pale and indefinite colored ones became of a bright red or lilac, 

 and the white petunias were variegated with beautiful red stripes. 

 Some of the lilac i)etunias became a fine dark blue. Other flowers 

 experienced simihir alterations ; those of a yellow color alone remained 

 insensible to the iniiuence of the coal. 



EEG-tHLATING THE nATCHINQ OF .SILK-'\Y0P.3r EGGFi. — Duclaux, after 



fi careful observation of the external conditions which favor and influ- 

 ence the hatching of the eggs of sillc-worms,' has prepared the following 

 rulcSj by attention to ■v^liich it is said that the development of the eggs 

 can be regulated at will. First, to prevent an egg from beiijg hatched 

 at the usual time, it must be kept, from the period of being laid, at a 

 temperature between u?P and 68'^' F., and then exposed fourteen days to 

 cold, three months before the time at which the hntching is desired, 

 being subsequently treated in* the usual manner. To cause an egg to 

 hatch before the usual time, it must be exposed to cold twenty daj'S 

 after being laid, and kept in that condition for two months, and then 

 removed. Six weeks later it will be in the same condition as ordinary 

 eggs, and can be tr^ted in the same manner. In this way it is possible 

 to have silk- worms ready for hatching at any season of the year. 



MiLK-suGAE FOE, VEGETABLE JUICES. — According to Dr. Bouchar- 

 dat, a specimen of sugar obtained from the Achra savota of the West 

 Indies, on being treated with boiling alcohol at 90 per cent., was found 

 to leave a residuum, which, on further investigation, proved to consist 

 almost entirely cf milk-sugar, this substance forming 45 per cent, of the 

 original mass. 



EELATION of the NITROGEX op the ATMOSPHERE TO VEGETATION. 



— Deherain has been conducting certain experiments upon the influence 

 of the nitrogen of the atmosphere on vegetation, and arrives at these 

 conclusions : First, that in the course of the slow combustion of organic 

 matter, the nitrogen of the atmosphere enters into combination, probably 

 to form nitric acid, which, in contact with an excess of carbonized mat- 

 ter, is reduced and then gives up nitrogen to the organic matter; 

 second, that every plant which throws off refuse matter upon the soil 

 which sustains it, furnishes the occasion of a greater or less fixation of 

 nitrogen. This reaction, continued for many years, ultimately i^roduces 

 the accumulation, in soils left to themselves, cf a quantity of nitrogen 

 sufiScient to maintain a large crop of cereals ; third, it is not only by 

 the slight percentage of nitrogen which it contains that dung exercises 

 an action upon vegetation, but, in addition, by tiie carbon matter in 

 decomposition, which constitutes its entire mass. Buried under the 

 soil, and exposed by the process of cultivation to the influence of the 

 air, this organic matter becomes burned, giving rise to notable quantities 

 of carbonic acid, and its combustion determines the union of 

 elements of the air, with the nitrogen of the dung, and with the nitro- 

 gen which, previously floating in the atmosphere, is henceforth drawn 

 into the series of metamorphoses whicli lead from the soil to the i)lant 

 and from the plant to the animal. 



Preparation of beet leaves for fodder. — Mehay maintains the 



