58 Domestic Gardener'' s Manual. 



nomena are chiefly attributable to chemical agency ; and 

 therefore inferred that, by attending to the constituents of the 

 combinations manifested by analysation, a knowledge might 

 be obtained that would materially assist both the gardener 

 and farmer, by making known to them the elements necessary 

 to be applied as the food of plants. 



Many lectures have been delivered, and essays written, 

 w'-ith a view to this application of chemical science, but hitherto 

 with no decided advantage. The component qualities of 

 vegetables, it is true, have been ascertained, and their com- 

 binations have been })retty well accounted for ; but such know- 

 ledge yields no practical assistance. It appears from much 

 that has been written on the subject, that an error has pre- 

 vailed, in conceiving that whatever qualities or substances 

 were detected in the plant were first contained in, and ex- 

 tracted from, the soil in which it grew ; forgetting, it would 

 seem, that it is the plant itself that elaborates and combines 

 the various qualities of which it is composed, by simply assi- 

 milating extraneous bodies to its essential constituents. It 

 has been stated by an eminent chemist (Grissenthwaite), 

 " that a considerable quantity of superoxalate of lime has 

 been discovered in the pea, and that it is necessary for this 

 plant. As, however, the oxalic acid is seldom found in 

 nature, it is probable that the pea plant has the poiioer of form- 

 ing itr 



To apply chemical knowledge still more intimately to the 

 cultivation of useful plants, and to account for many of the 

 processes of gardening and practices of gardeners, not clearly 

 understood by themselves, are the leading objects of the Manual 

 before us ; and this the author has accomplished with very 

 great credit to himself. 



The directions for kitchen-gardening are well selected from 

 the first authorities ; and the particulars are carefully arranged 

 in calendarial order, under the heads of sowing, planting, &c. ; 

 and,' to enrich the work, there are given, at the end of every 

 month, miscellaneous remarks, a naturalist's calendar, and an 

 English botanist's companion, with explanations of all terms 

 used in botany and vegetable physiology. 



He gives distincts essays on " the nature and offices of 

 earths and soils," in Januai'y ; " on electricity," in February ; 

 " on water," in March ; " on the atmosj)here," in April ; " on 

 light, heat, and dew," in May ; " vegetable physiology," fii'st 

 part, in June ; ditto, second part, in July ; ditto, third part, 

 in August ; " construction of a garden," in September ; the 

 same continued, in October ; " scientific operations of garden- 

 ing," in November ; and the same concluded, in December. 



