THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



567 



In 1840, again, the seed-potatoes were from 

 Gala Water, dons and hlues, which were planted 

 in ihe end of May in a light loam lull ol' wire- 

 worm, but well worked, and the dung very dry. 

 The crop was fine. A few drills were tried as 

 en experiment wiihout the lime, and they were 

 80 complete a failure that they were ploughed 

 down. 



OPERATIOKS OF LICHENS. 



From the British Farmers' Magazine. 



To the lichens may well be applied the title of 

 vernaculi, or bond-slaves ; which Linnieus lanci- 

 lully gave to the sea-weeds, regarding ihem as 

 lettered to the rocks on which ihey grow. For 

 the lichens seem, as it were, chained to the soil 

 which ihej' labor to improve, (or the benefit of 

 others, although they derive no nourishmenl from 

 it themselves. The mode in which they prepare 

 the sterile rock for the reception of plants which 

 require a higher kind of nourishment, is most re- 

 markable. They may be said to dig for them- 

 selves graves liar the reception of their remains 

 when death and decay would otherwise speedily 

 dissipate them ; (or, whilst living, these lichens 

 form a considerablequantity of oxalic acid (which 

 is a peculiar compound of carbon and oxygen, 

 two ingredients supplied by the atmosphere,) and 

 this acts, chemically, upon the rock (especially if 

 of limestone,) Ibrming a hollow which retains the 

 particles of the structure when their term of con- 

 nected existence has expired. The moisture 

 which is caught in these hollows finds its way 

 into the cracks and crevices of the rocks ; and, 

 when frozen, rends them by its expansion into 

 minute fragments, and thus adds more and more 

 to the forming soil. Successive generations of 

 these bond-slaves continuously and indefatigably 

 per(brra their duties; until at length as the result 

 of their accumulated toil, the barren and insulated 

 rocks, or the pumice or lava of the volcano, be- 

 come converted into fruitful fields. For, when 

 Flora's standard has once been planted on tracts 

 thus claimed, they are soon colonized by plants 

 of other tribes. The mosses, ferns, and other 

 cryptogamia Ibllow them ; and at last, by the 

 growth and decay of successive generations of 

 plants, a sufficient thickness o( soil is produced 

 lor the nourishment of the luxuriant herbage and 

 the support of the lofty forest-tree. And thus, 

 by the labor of these apparently insignificant 

 plants, men are enabled to reap their harvest and 

 to supply themselves with timber (rom the forests ; 

 and cattle increase and multiply on what was 

 formerly but a naked and desolate rock. 



actual real transactions, whose particutare "are 



known to the party discounting. The merchants 

 of Holland have never been charged with any 

 want of enterprise, or deficiency in spirited specu- 

 lation. They have, on the contrary, been at all 

 limes ready to engage in any adventure, however 

 hazardous or however remote, provided there was 

 held out a reasonable prospect of even a mode- 

 rate profit. We are, therelijre, entitled to infer 

 that commercial enterprise among the Dutch does 

 not necessarily depend on long credits as an origi- 

 natingor sus'ainii'g stimulus. It gives us a strong 

 proof of the well-working of this syelern, that 

 bankruptcies are extremely rare in Holland — 

 gieatly more rare than in any other mercantile 

 community. As an instance of this, in point, 

 notwithstanding the loss and interruption to all 

 snris of business occasioned by the French, in 

 1795, the bankruptcies in that and the subsequent 

 season were not, comparatively, so numerous as 

 in England in ordinary years; while, during the 

 hubsequent convulsions arising from the separa- 

 tion of Belgium, no suspicion was ever entertain- 

 ed of the solvency of any considerable mercantile 

 house in Holland or Flanders. Bankruptcy in 

 Holland is tantamount to mercantile death ; (or no 

 bankrupt can again go into or carry on any 

 respectable business. 



THE DUTCH COMMERCIAL SYSTEM. 



From the European. 



One of the leading principles of the Dutch 

 merchants is short credit. It is extremely diffi- 

 cult for a bill-broker on the Bourse, at Amsterdam, 

 to obtain discounts for paper unconnected with 



PROTECTION or THE HOP-PLANT FROM 

 INSECTS. 



From the British Farmers' Magazine. 

 Mr. John Hobbs, of St. Ives, Cornwall, effects 

 the destruction of all the small insect tribes which 

 infest the hop-plant, by the erection of rails of a 

 particular construction, smeared over with coal- 

 tar, or the saturation of the poles with a solution 

 of copperas. 



COAL DUST. 



Mr. Webster, of Ipswich, filled garden pots 

 with fine coal dust, and placed a variety of plants 

 in them, such as potatoes, onions, &c. ; in all of 

 which the vegetation wais vigorous and luxuriant. 

 Strawberries, onions, and a variety of useful and 

 ornamental plants thrive extremely well in this 

 material, which is clean, neat, inoffensive, with- 

 out odor, incapable of harborinir insects, well 

 adapted (or in-door floriculture, and enduring for a 

 long period.— TVans. of Society of ^rts. 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE FOLLOWING 

 NOTICES OF GRASSES. 



Having very recently had the benefit of the 

 company and aid of a friend, M. Tuomey, esq., 

 who possesses that knowledge of botany of which 

 we have often before confessed our entire defi- 

 ciency, we have been enabled thus to be inlbrmed 

 and to have determined the botanical names and 

 characters of grasses and other plants of which 



