62 
losing 173,424 ; Wales 203,348, losing 10,406; Scotland 151,213, gaining 
916. 
The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands have under crops and in 
bare fallow and grass 122,721 acres, of which 30,982 were in grain- 
crops, of which 10,292 were in wheat, 7,158 in barley, or bere, 12,797 in 
oats, 120 in rye, 263 in beans, 358 in pease. The total acreage in green 
crops was 22,836, of which 8,949 were in potatoes, 9,775 in turnips and 
swedes, and 2,692 in vetches, lucern, &c. Of bare fallow there were 
reported 739 ACTeS ; 39,959 acres were in clover, &c., under rotation, 
about one-fourth being cut for hay ; 28,205 acres in permanent pasture, 
&e. These islands in 1875 contained 9,562 horses, 37,963 cattle, (includ- 
ing 16,575 milch-cows,) 76,352 sheep, and 16,014 pigs. 
PHOSPHATIC MINERAL FERTILIZERS.—In the Journal of the Royal 
Agricultural Society of England, for 1875, Dr. Augustus Voelcker, con- 
sulting chemist of the society, publishes a supplement to his article pub- 
lished in the volume of 1861, upon the chemical constitution of phosphatic 
minerals used as fertilizers. Since his former publication he notes an 
extraordinary development of the manufacture of artificial manures, a 
branch of production almost unknown thirty years ago, and the numer- 
ous discoveries of raw materials resulting from the increased demand 
for fertilizers. Coprolitic or phosphatic deposits have been discovered 
in various parts of England, France, Germany, Russia, Spain, Portugal, 
South Carolina, San Domingo, and several small uninhabited islands of 
the Caribbean Sea. A few selected analyses of these materials are 
given by Dr. Voelcker, indicating the practical drift of these discoveries 
in their influence upon agriculture. 
French coprolites, mostly from the neighborhood of Boulogne, are 
hardly distinguishable except by actual analysis from the inferior 
nodules of Norfolk and Bedfordshire, in England. In the Boulogne 
coprolites the phosphate of lime averages between 40 and 46 per 
cent., of the whole, and the insoluble siliceous matter about 25 
per cent., with considerable proportions of oxide of iron, alumina, 
and fluorine. A superior variety is found in the valley of the Khone, 
near Bellegarde, and close to the Swiss frontier. One specimen showed 
upon analysis 54.79 per cent. and another 60.60 per cent. of tribasic 
phosphate of lime. Both samples were lighter colored than the Cam- 
bridge coprolites, softer, and more easily pulverized. Perhaps the most 
valuable French deposits are those of the Ardennes region, but the cost 
of transportation will probably prevent the export of any to England, 
- except the Boulogne varieties near the coast. 
Phosphatic nodules are in great quantities in the department of 
Koursk, RuSsia, and are very similar in external appearance to those of 
Bedfordshire. One sample showed nearly 49 per cent. of tribasic phos- 
phate, and about 33 per cent. of insoluble siliceous matter, with con- 
siderable quantities of oxide of iron, fluoride of calcium, and a little 
carbonate of lime; it had a dark- brown color. 
Of English phosphates analyses are given of specimens from Cam- 
bridgeshire, showing from 56.32 per cent. to 63.60 per cent. of tribasic 
phosphate of lime, with insoluble siliceous matter from 7.77 to 10.10 per 
cent. A good sample from Bedfordshire shows 51.54 per cent. of the 
phosphate, 7.84 per cent. of carbonate of lime, and 20.81 per cent. of 
insoluble siliceous matter. Most of the Bedfordshire nodules are brown 
colored, and contain a great deal of oxide of iron. A beautiful speci- 
men of fossil phosphatic wood, found in the Bedfordshire deposits, 
showed nearly 72 per cent. of ‘the: phosphate, with 4.19 per cent. of 
