182 Reviews. — Jl Muck Manual for Farmers. 



REVIEWS. 



Art. T. Jl Muck Manual for Farmers. By Samuel L. 

 Dana. 1 vol. 12mo., 242 pages. Lowell: 1S42. 



If the agricultuie of this country is not sensibly improved, 

 it will not be for the want of information which would lead to 

 so desirable a result. It is but a few years since that ex- 

 cellent work, Chaptal's Jlgricultural Chemistry, was given 

 to the American public: subsequently, a still more valuable 

 practical volume, from that pioneer in an improved state 

 of agriculture, the late Judge Buel, passed through sev- 

 eral editions: then came the masterly work of Liebig, a 

 complete storehouse of the most useful information upon the 

 subject of agricultural chemistry. Besides these, there have 

 been, in the mean time, the several Reports of the Agricultu- 

 ral Commissioner, and the geological Reports of Dr. Jack- 

 son; each containing practical as well as theoretical hints upon 

 the great science of agriculture. Now, we have the volume 

 named at the head of this article, another and most excellent 

 contribution to the subject on which it treats. Dr. Dana is 

 well known to the jNIassachusetts farmers, from the communi- 

 cations which have appeared in Mr. Colman's Report, in re- 

 lation to geine, &c. He is a practical chemist, and his re- 

 searches have been made with much care and study. The 

 volume is the substance of eight lectures on the chemistry of 

 soils and manures, delivered to the citizens of Lowell (by 

 their request,) to whom the work is dedicated. 



'fhe work is divided into eight chapters, as follows: — I. 

 Geology of Soil. II. Chemical Constitution of Rocks and 

 Soil. III. Properties and Chemical Action of the Elements 

 of Soil. IV. Of the Organic Constituents of Soil. V. Of 

 the Mutual Action of the Organic and Inorganic Elements of 

 Soil. VI. Manure. VII. Artificial Manure and Irrigation. 

 VI 11. Physical Properties of the Soil. 



The subject is treated in a concise and plain manner. Each 

 chapter is divided into separate sections, the whole numbered 

 from beginning to end, in order to facilitate references to any 

 particular matter. 



We have only room for a portion of the closing chapter, 



