76 



NEW ENGLAND FAUMER. 



Translated from the Annates de Chimie el Physique. 



OX THE EMPLOYMENT OF MURIATE OF LIME 

 AS A MANURE. 



M. DuBuc, Apothecary and Member of the 

 Rnval Academy of Science at Rouen, has em- 

 ployed from the year 1320 to 1823, a solution 

 of muriate of lime as a manure or dressing to 

 stimulate the growth of vegetables. Of his nu- 

 merous experiments, the following is a short 

 abstract. 



A solution is made of one part of dry muriate 

 of lime in sixty parts of water which then niaiks 

 two degrees on the hydrometer. The ground 

 intended to receive the vegetables is first wat- 

 ered with this solution, then the seeds or plants 

 are again watered with it when planted, and this 

 is repeated three or four times during their 

 growth. 



M. Dubuc sowed some maize [Indian corn] in 

 a light soil, which had been eight days prev- 

 iously watered with this saline liquor, and by 

 v«ay of comparison, some more maize was sown 

 on the same soil at six feet distance, but moist- 

 ened with common water. The former sample 

 was again watered with the muriate of lime from 

 time to time during its growth, and ultimately 

 the plants acquired double the size of those that 

 had received only common water. M Dubuc 

 has also m the same way promoted and hasten- 

 eil the growth of the large campanula, the lilac, 

 and other shrubs and fruit trees, &.c. The same 

 beneficial effect has been produced on esculent 

 plants, onions and poppies, for which the soil of 

 Rouen is naturally very favourable, and which 

 under this treatment have nearly doubled their 

 usual size. He has thus brought the large sun- 

 flower, which generally grows to six or eight 

 feet in height, to twelve and fifteen feet, which 

 is its natural growth in Sjiain. Some of these 

 plants, watered with the muriate of lime, throw 

 out leaves from eighteen to twenty inches in 

 width, and bear flowering heads of twelve or 

 fourteen inches diameter, the seeds of which 

 furnish half their weight of oil fit for the table, 

 and which exude from the centre a very frag- 

 rant terebinthinous fluid, drying to a resin by 

 exposure to the air. 



Lastly, M. Dubuc set two beds on the Lst of 

 May 1822, with potatoes, selected as nearly e- 

 qual in size as possible, six feet apart from each 

 other, and watered one bed with the saline so- 

 lution, and the other with common water. Both 

 were dug up on the lOlh of November, when 

 the crop iVom the former bed was found gene- 

 sally near twice that of the otlier, giving many 

 potatoes G inches long, and 12 inches round, 

 weighing nearly two jjounds. These large ones 

 were quite as good food as the other, and kept 

 equally as well to the beginning of the April 

 following. The saline vegetative liquor was 

 only used three times during the six or seven 

 months of the growth of the potatoes, and the 

 leaves and stalks were of proportionate vigour. 

 It appears that in general three or four wat- 

 erings witJi the muriate, at long intervals, are 

 sufficient for vegetables submitted to the action 

 iif the salt ; whose electro-organic power ap- 

 pears to be very singular, since, according to 

 • the o'.)servation of M. Labarraque, apothecary, 

 of Paris, the same subs'.ance applied to the living 

 i body, will =oon stop the progress of gangrenes 

 and foul ulcers, and promotes the rapid growth 



of those hcallhv granulations by which wounds 

 become filled up and finally cicatrize. 



[remarks by the editor.] 

 Dr GoRHAiH, in liis Elements of Chemical Science, 

 vol. ii. p. too, observes, that muriate of lime (or chlo- 

 ride of calcium) "may be formed by adding lime to 

 liquid muriatic acid, the hydrogen of the acid combin- 

 ing with the oxygen of the lime, forming water, and 

 the two other elements uniting with each other. It is 

 also the result of the operation of obtaining ammonia, 

 by quick-lime and muriate of ammonia. When its so- 

 lution is evaporated, it may be obtained in the form of 

 six-sided prisms, terminated by six-sided unequal pyra- 

 mids," &c. But if intended for manure, we should 

 suppose that evaporation would not be necessary. All 

 that would be requisite, would be merely to add chalk, 

 pounded marble, or lime-stone to muriatic acid [spirit 

 of sea salt] till the mixture ceased to effervesce. Then 

 dilute the clear liquor with a large quantity of water, 

 and water your plants with this preparation. We can- 

 not pretend to prescribe the proportion of water which 

 should be used to dilute this solution, and perhaps ex- 

 pei'hnent alone can decide what quantity would render 

 the mixture sufficiently mild to be used with safety and 

 to advantage in watering plants. We believe that this 

 manure might be obtained sufficiently i^heap to answer 

 a valuable purpose, especially for gardeners in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of a large market. 



From Rees'' Encijclopedia. 



WOOL. 



[Continued from page CO.] 



Short Clothing Wool. — Tlie principal qualities 

 deserving attention in clothing-wools are the 

 regular fineness of the hair or pile, its softness 

 and tendency to felt, the length and soundness 

 of the staple, and the colour. The wool-buyer 

 also regards as important the clean state of the 

 fleece ; and to the grower its weight is partic- 

 ularly deserving attention, for in fleeces equally 

 fine, from sheep of the same size, some may be 

 much heavier than others, the fibres of wool 

 being grown closer to each other on the skin. 



The fineness of the hair can only be estima'.ed 

 to any useful purpose, in the woolen manufac- 

 ture, by the wool-sorter or wool-dealer, accus- 

 tomed by long habit to discern a minute differ- 

 ence, which is quite imperceptible to commjn 

 observers, and scarcely appreciable by the most 

 |)owerful microscopes. Of the various altemjits 

 that have been made to recVice the fineness of 

 wool to a certain standard, by admeasurement 

 with a micrometer, we shall afterwards speak. 

 From some experiments we have made, as well 

 as from those made by Mr Luccock, Dr Parry, 

 and others, wc may estimate the thickness of the 

 finest Spanish and Saxony wool to be not more 

 than the fifteen hundredth ]>art of an inch, and 

 that of the finest native English, to be from 

 twelve to thirteen hundred parts, whilst the in- 

 terior sorts gradually increase to the six hund- 

 redth part of an inch and more. A difl'erence 

 in the size of these fibres, too minute to be no- 

 ticed by the common observer, may occasion a 

 dillerence of 10 percent, or more, in the value 

 of the wool. The fineness of the hair has ever 

 been considered as an important quality since 

 the clothing manufacture emerged from it.s rud- 

 est state. Fine wool was foimerly valued be- 

 cause a fmer thread could be spun from it, and 



.1 thinner fabric made, than from the coarser 

 wool ; but since recent mechanical improve- 

 ments have been introduced into the woolen 

 manufacture, it has been found practicable to 

 spin coarse wool to the same length as the finer 

 wools were formerly spun to. It is well known 

 however to cloth manufacturers, that whatever 

 he the fineness of the yarn, unless the wool be 

 fine, it is impossible to make a fine, compact, 

 and even cloth, in which the thread shall be 

 covered with a thick, soft pile ; nor would a thin 

 cloth made from coarse wool, have the same 

 durability or appearance as one from fine wool 

 uf equal weitrht per yard. Fine wool will, 

 therefore, always preserve a superior value to 

 the coarse : indeed, it was always considered 

 as the principal and almost the only quality de- 

 serving the attention of the wool-grower, the 

 wool-stapler, and the clothier. 



The regular fineness of the fibre is also an 

 object of considerable importance; the lower 

 end of the staple, or that part of the fleece 

 nearest the skin, will sometimes be very fine,^ 

 and the upper part coarse. In some fine fleeces, 

 there will frequently bean intermixture of long, 

 silvery, coarse hairs, and in other fine fleeces, 

 an intermixture of short, thick, opaque hairs, 

 called kemps. When the wool is thus irregu- 

 larly fine or intermixed, it is technically called 

 not true gron-n. The fleeces of Spain and Por- 

 tugal, [jarticularly of the latter country, are 

 many of them injured by the long silvery hair 

 before mentioned ; whether this be owing to 

 the original Tarentine breed having been cros- 

 sed with the coarse-wooled native sheep of 

 Spain, and still preserving a tendency to revert 

 to their first condition, or whether it be the ef- 

 fect of heat on the skin, is uncertain. The Sax- 

 ony fleeces from the same breed, removed to 

 colder climates, are generally free from this 

 detect. The coarser short hairs, or kemps, are 

 not uncommon in some of the fine-wooled flocks 

 ofEngland&,\Vales,particularly those which are 

 much exposed to the inclemencies of the weath- 

 er, and which have a scanty and irregular sup- 

 ply of food. In some flocks, the proportion of m 

 fine wool in each fleece is much greater than in 'I 

 others, for in few or none is the wool grown ■ 

 uniformly fine over the whole body. ^ 



On the Merino sheep the fleece is more reg- 

 ular, whatever be the degree of fineness, than 

 in any of our native English fine-wooled breeds. 

 ' The Merino fleece admits of a division into three 

 I sorts, — the rcfiiii, the _^ia, and the terccra., with 

 1 a very minute portion of coarse from the shanks 

 [and head, which is not sent to market. These 

 I three sorts are distinguished in commerce by the 

 j names R. F. and T. On the average, there will 

 I be in each fleece nearly three-tourlhs of the best 

 j or R. wool. The second and third sorts, or the 

 I F. and T. wool, will also contain a considerable 

 portion as fine as the best, but being shorter and 

 discoloured, or intermixed with coarse hairs, 

 will require their locks to be separated from 

 the best sort, or the refina. 



In the native English fleeces, however fine 

 some part may be, the proportion of the best 

 sort rarely exceeds one third part, and is fre- 

 quently not more than one sixth part of the 

 whole fleece. 



The value of the best part of a Spanish fleece, 

 or the R. ivool, varies greatly in different flocks. 

 When this sort, from the most esteemed flocks, 

 may be worth six shillings and six pence per 



