220 AGRICULTURE. 



simple process. But we own that he is too fast for us. 

 We cannot follow him. His calculations are all made in 

 vacuo, without any allowance for resistance of the air or 

 for friction. And yet he tells us that Ammonia, the object 

 of his fond admiration, is the most volatile creature alive 

 that she will elope with anybody, and is sorely in need 

 of protection (p. 21). He talks a great deal about fixing 

 her, but he leaves us quite behind. We have no idea what 

 he proposes to do to her, or how she would act if she were 

 fixed. We are much consoled by finding (Pusey, pp. 8-10) 

 that the accomplished editor of the " Royal Agricultural 

 Journal" is as much perplexed as ourselves. 



We must now bring back our readers to the point from 

 which we started, and must remind them that Mr. Huxtable 

 has stated that ammonia is too dear at Qd. per lb., and that 

 he can manufacture it for less. We are examining whether 

 he has done so. We have been obliged, by the state of the 

 markets, to cut down the price of his pork from 5d. and 

 4^c?. to 46/., because, neither in this year, nor in the last, 

 has the price of bacon hogs been more than 4J. per lb. in 

 the average markets of England. This, by his own state- 

 ment, leaves his pork just evenhanded with his food. 

 Though we accept with perfect confidence Mr. Huxtable's 

 statements, we do not, as our readers will have perceived, 

 confide in his deductions ; but, for the purposes of this 

 investigation, we accept them all. Mr. Huxtable, having 

 bought his pigs and sold them, having paid interest on the 

 money employed, and insurance on the pigs, having lodged 

 never less than 70, and sometimes 90, having cooked for 

 them, having cleaned them, we suppose rung them; having 

 tended them in sickness and in health, having done all 

 this for more than six months, has, at the end of that time, 

 by his own showing, received, for doing it all, 1524 Ibs. of 

 ammonia, worth, at 6d. per lb., 38Z. 2s. Has his ammonia 

 cost him less than Qd. per lb. ? We believe, that, on any 

 fair charge for the particulars which we have stated, on any 

 fair return on the buildings and apparatus necessary for 



