General JVotices. 1 09 



hide, as a preliminary measure, from grease, and every useless sub- 

 stance, by mechanical pressure, by means of rollers passing over them 

 when drawn from the vats. They then imbibe the tanning readily, and 

 the whole process is completed in from two to eight weeks. — {Cul- 

 tivator. ) 



Preservation of Fruit. — Our holiday rounds have afforded ample 

 proof of the etiicacy of cotton iu ])reserving fruits, in their natural 

 state, for a long time after their natural period of decay. We have 

 seen and tasted black Hamburgh, sweet water and Isabella grapes, in 

 this year, 1837, as fresh and plump as they were wb.sn plucked from the 

 vines in September or October, preserved in cotton, according to the 

 directions given in the Culivator last summer. Fruits thus preserved 

 should be mature, and perfectly dry, and if grapes, the unripe and de- 

 fective berries should be carefully plucked off. They are placed in 

 layers, and alternated with clean cotton l)atting, in a stone jar or tight 

 box, the mouth of the vessel covered so as to exclude the air, and the 

 jar or box placed in a dry place, secure from frost, till the fruit is want- 

 ed for use. — {Id.) 



Principles of Vegetation. — At the British Association in Bristol, Eng., 

 Mr. O. Webb Hall read a communication "On the accelleration of the 

 growth of Wheat." He called the attention of the meeting to a state- 

 ment of facts, by which it would seem that the usual period allotted to 

 the occupation of the ground for a crop of wheat might be very materi- 

 ally abridged. At an average, this might be estimated at ten months, 

 though twelve, and even thirteen, were not unusual, and eight might be 

 considered as the shortest period for the ordinary winter wheat. By a 

 selection of particular seed, and a choice of peculiar situation, wheat 

 sown early in March has been, on different occasions, ripened before die 

 middle of August, a period scarcel}"^ exceeding five months. Mr. Hall 

 considers it an unquestionable law of vegetation, that the offspring of a 

 plant of early maturity seeks to become so likewise, even when placed 

 in unpropitious circumstances, and that it recedes with reluctance from 

 the condition of its parent. Hence the seed of a crop which has been 

 ripened in five months has a better prospect of producing another crop 

 equally accelerated than that from a crop which has been longer in ri- 

 pening. He also asserted that the acceleration of a crop was farther 

 promoted by thick sowing, which likewise might be considered advan- 

 tageous in checking and stopping the mildew. 



Dr. Richardson referred to the remark of Humboldt, that in South 

 America the w heat crop was ripened in ninety days from the period of 

 sowing, and stated, that about Hudson's Bay this period was only sev- 

 enty days. He suggested the probable advantages that might arise 

 from importing seed from the latter country for the purpose of further- 

 ing Mr. Hall's views, but this gentleman stated that he had found that 

 seed imported from a distance (and he had tried some from Italy) was 

 liable to become diseased. As connected with the subject of accelera- 

 tion of the growth of seeds, Professor Henslow mentioned I'osults of ex- 

 periments which he had tried upon seeds of a species of acacia, sent by 

 Sir John Herschell from the Cape of Good Hope, with directions that 

 they should be steeped in boiling water before they were sown. Some 

 of these w^ere kept at the boiling temperature of three, seven, and sev- 

 enteen minutes respectively, and had yet germinated very readily in the 

 open border, whilst those which had not been steeped did not vegetate. 

 It was suggested that these facts might lead to beneficial results, by 

 showing agriculturists that they may possibly be able to steep various 

 seeds in water sufficiently heated to destroy certain fungi or insects 

 known to be destructive to them, without injuring the vital principle in 

 in the seed itself- Mr. Hope mentioned a practice common in some 



