VOl.. XII. NO. 49. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



397 



again through a filter of Dutnont with fresh animal 

 charcoal. The syrup is thus rendered ready for 

 the cooking, it yields more crystals of a more 

 beautiful hue, and the suppression of the bullock's 

 Mood no longer leaves a portion soluble and alter- 

 able. Payer recommends also the copper <m a 

 pivot for cooking the clarified juice, it (cooking) 

 being in this accomplished in five or eight minutes, 

 while the other method requires thirty or thirty- 

 eight minutes ; moreover, the alteration is Six times 

 less in syrup cooked in this than in the usual sta- 

 tionary coppers. The fire being brisk the ebulli- 

 tion is commenced in one minute in every part of 

 the copper; frequently the syrup is too visfeous 

 and rises in a thick froth, and incompletely wetting 

 the bottom of the boiler, hazards the burning of 

 the sugar ; to check this instantaneously, throw in a 

 small quantity of fresh butter, four or five grammes, 

 which Dombasle recommends to have been pre- 

 viously incited, as that operation prevents the su- 

 gar receiving any flavor from it ; as soon as the 

 syrup, by means of the touch, is found cooked, 

 draw the cord, and thus canting the copper, its 

 contents pour out at once ; open the stop cock 

 and proceed with the process; seven or eight pro- 

 ducts being thus united in the rafraichissoir, it is 

 rolled into the rooms containing the forms, for 

 much of the French beet sugar (raw) is in loaf 

 form. 



I have thus, my dear sir, given all the informa- 

 tion I possess relative to the manufacture of beet 

 sugar from the expression of the juice to the crys- 

 tallization. I have drawn freely from the latest 

 and most esteemed works, hut as yet have not been 

 in a refinery. I thank you for the hint, how I 

 may render my stay here serviceable to my native 

 city ; and shall use my endeavors to gain admit- 

 tance into a refinery before my return. 



I am, with great regard, dear sir, yours, very 

 respectfully, F. Wurdemahn. 



From Goodsell : s Farmer. 

 EXPLANATION OP AGRICULTURAL. TERMS. 



( < 'onlinuedfrom No. 4fi of tlds Vol. N. E. Far.) 

 35. Carbonic Acid — is a combination of carbon 

 and oxygen, in the proportions of eighteen parts 

 carbon to eighty-two parts oxygen. The sources 

 of this acid are immense: It exists in the atmos- 

 phere, it is found in abundance in many mineral 

 waters, as at Ballston and Saratoga, in the State 

 of New York ; it is produced by the combustion 

 of wood and charcoal ; by the fermentation of liq- 

 uors, and by the decomposition or putrefaction of 

 vegetable substances ; but the largest store of it is 

 that enormous quantity solified or rendered solid in 

 all immense beds of chalk and limestone with 

 which every part of the globe abounds. Of lime- 

 stone, 45 parts in every 100 are computed to be 

 carbonic acid. As before observed, when uncom- 

 bined with any other substance, it always exists in 

 the state of gas. It is heavier than atmospheric 

 air. If this gas be poured from a wide mouthed 

 jar upon a lighted candle, it will be as effectually 

 extinguished as by water. 



36. Effervescence — is a sudden disengagement of 

 gas taking place within a liquid, and separating 

 that with a hissing noise. We have an example 

 of this, as before observed, by dropping a little 

 pearlash into cider. The carbonic acid is disen- 

 gaged and rises in the form of gas, producing much 

 foam, with a hissing noise. 



37. Chemical Affinity — is a term used to signi- 

 fy the attraction or tendency there is between the 



particles of certain substances of different natures 

 to unite, thereby forming a third substance possess- 

 ing properties altogether different from those of 

 either of the two substances of which it is com- 

 posed. Thus, potash and oil have a tendency to 

 unite, thereby forming snap, which is a third sub- 

 stance very different either from the oil or the 

 potash of which it is composed. Those substances 

 which are capable, of uniting in this manner, are 

 said to have an affinity for each other, as oil and 

 potash ; hut oil will not unite with water, and 

 therefore those substances which do not form a 

 chemical union, are said to have no affinity. 



38. The primitive Earths — are four, viz. clay, 

 sand, lime, and magnesia. These are the only 

 earths which enter into the composition of soil ; 

 they also enter in very minute portions into the 

 organization of plants. Sand and clay are by far 

 the most abundant; lime is required but in small 

 proportion : every soil, however, is defective with- 

 out it. Magnesia is found but in few soils ; its 

 place is well supplied by lime ; its entire absence, 

 therefore, is not considered any defect. 



39. Clay — in agricultural publications, is called 

 alumina, alumine, aluminous, or argillaceous earth. 

 The term clay should not be given to a soil, which 

 contains less than one-sixth part of aluminous earth. 



40. Sand — is called silex, silica, silicious earth, 

 or earth of flints. " The epithet sandy is not 

 properly applied to any soil, that does not contain 

 at least seven-eight parts of sand, and sand soils 

 are to be distinguished into silicious sandy, or Rutty 

 sand, and calcareous sandy, or chalky sand." 



41. Lime as it exists in the soil, is commonly 

 called calcareous earth. " The word calcareous is 

 not properly applied to any soil, unless a specimen 

 of it is found strongly to effervesce with acids ; or 

 unless water having a channel in the soil affords a 

 white earthy deposite when boiled." " Each of 

 these earths answer a determinate and specific pur- 

 pose in the economy and growth of plants ; and 

 the perfection of soil lies in a mixture of the whole." 



42. Basis' of the soil — By this term is under- 

 stood the primitive earths which euter into its 

 composition. 



43. Vesretable Matter — all vegetable substances 



shell, clay, and stone marie. It is useful as a 

 manure. 



50. Putrescent .Manures — are all animal and 

 vegetable substances in a decaying state. 



51. Excrcmentitious Matter — is the manure from 

 animals. 



52. Long Manure. — is green barnyard manure 

 before it is rutted. 



53. Short Manure — is barnyard manure made 

 fine by rotting, so as to be cut easily with a spade. 



54. Fossil Manures — are lime, marie, plaster of 

 Paris, and other substances which operate on the 

 mechanical constitution of the soil, but do not af- 

 ford direct nourishment to plants. 



55. Compost Manure — is that which is formed 

 by the mixture of various substances, as turf, pond 

 mud, weeds, ashes, lime, &c. with stable or yard 

 manure, so as to constitute one uniform mass or 

 substance, fit for the improvement of the soil. 



56. Irrigation — is the turning of water from its 

 natural channels, and carrying it by ditches over 

 grass lands, so as to render them more highly pro- 

 ductive. 



57. Tilth — is the condition in which ground is 

 left after tilling. When it is well pulverized by 

 the plough and harrow, and made light to a suffi- 

 cient depth, it is said to be in good tilth. 



58. Stumming Casks — is burning within them 

 matches covered with sulphur. A strip of cloth, 

 ten or twelve inches long, and from one to two 

 inches wide, smeared with melted sulphur, and 

 lighted, is let down into the cask, and suspended 

 from the bung. Some have a long, tapering bung, 

 that may fit any cask, with a crooked wire in the 

 small end, from which to suspend the match. 



59. Must — is the new liquor pressed from ap- 

 ples or grapes, before it has worked or fermented. 



60. Lees — is a term used to signify the gross 

 sediment or settlings found at the bottom of casks 

 containing fermented liquors. 



01. To rack Cider or Wine — is to draw them 

 from off their lees or sediment, into clean casks. 



ROOKS. 



From a notice of some length, on the useful- 

 ness of the rook, which has been published in the 

 Magazine of JVatural History, vol. vi, p. 142, 143. 



" In the neighborhood of my native place, in the 



in a decaving or rotten state. 



44. Animal Matter— all animal substances in a count y of York, 

 putri lying state. 



45. Organic Matter — is a term applied both to 

 animal and vegetable substances in a putrifying 

 state. 



46. Vegetable Mould- 



the earthly remains of 

 vegetable substances which have either grown and 

 decayed on the soil, or have been conveyed thither 

 in the progress of cultivation. 



47. Loam — is a combination of vegetable mould 

 with the primitive earths. 



48. Peat — is a substance dug out of swamps; it 

 is produced from the decay of vegetables ; is of a 

 fibrous texture, and may be cut with a spade. 

 Peat is frequently used for fuel ; it is of no use as 

 a manure until it shall be brought into a state of 

 fermentation, or putridity, which may be done by 

 mixing it with other manures. Running water 

 also extracts its antiseptic qualities, and leaves it 

 ready to pass into a state of decomposition. 



49. Marie — is a substance consisting of lime 

 with a small portion of clay, and sometimes of 

 peat, with a mixture of marine and animal remains. 

 It is found extensively in some situations, at differ 



Vavasour, Esq. of Weston in Whorfdale, in which it 

 is estimated that there are 10,000 rooks, that 1 lb. 

 of food a week is a very moderate allowance for 

 each bird, and that nine-tenths of their food con- 

 sists of worms, insects and their larva 1 ; for, al- 

 though they do considerable damage to the fields 

 for a few weeks in seedtime, and a few weeks in 

 harvest, particularly in backward seasons, yet a 

 very large proportion of their food, even at these 

 seasons consists of insects and worms, which (if we 

 except a few acorns and walnuts in autumn) com- 

 pose at all other times, the whole of their subsist- 

 ence. Here, then if my data be correct, there is 

 the enormous quantity of 468,000 lbs. or 209 tons 

 of worms, insects, and their larva?, destroyedjby 

 the rooks of a single rookery." 



REPELLING OP INSECTS. 



Taking the earth away from the roots of trees, 

 and returning back earth mixed with a small quan- 

 tity of sulphur, will keep insects from ascending 

 the trees. Other repellants of insects may answer 

 the purpose for one Spring — such as quick-lime, 



fine salt, old urine, strong soap-suds, a strong de- 

 em depths under ground, and is distinguished into | coction of tobacco, onions, &c. — Farm. Assist. 



