No. 5. BetheWs Process for Preserving Timber. — Multicole Rye. 151 



cations of it, particularly in a dry state. 

 Mixed with water, in the proportion of six 

 quarts of soot to one hogshead of water, it 

 has been Pound a most efficacious liquid for 

 watering plants, particularly those grown in 

 green houses. 



Ashes. — Ashes, leached or otherwise, are 

 of great value as a fertilizer, especially when 

 used on soils that are sandy or light. Un- 

 leached, the potasji contained goes to form 

 silicate of potash, and gives the supply of 

 silex necessary for the stem? of the grasses 

 or corn ; and leached, although the potash 

 is the greater part of it separated, tlie re- 

 maining phosphates of lime and magnesia 

 go far to restoring to the fields on which 

 such ashes are strewn, the necessary mat- 

 ters of which previous cropping has deprived 

 them. One hundred parts of the ashes of 

 the wheat grain contain 32 parts of soluble, 

 and 44 parts of insoluble pliosphates, in all 

 76 parts. The value of ashes abounding in 

 the required phosphates, when used on grain 

 lands, may be seen at once, as well as the 

 folly of those farmers who waste or sell the 

 ashes produced in their dwellings. 



[to be continued.] 



Bethell's Process for Preserving Timber. 



Among the numerous processes for the 

 preservation of timber, which have for the 

 last few years, come before the public, that 

 invented by Mr. Bcthell, is not so well 

 known as some others, though apparently 

 one of the most effective. The following 

 account is from a recent number of the 

 Mining Journal : 



" Mr. Bethell's method consists in impreg- 

 nating the vegetable fibre with oil of tar and 

 other bituminous matters containing kreo- 

 sote, and also with the pyrolignite of iron. 

 The wood is placed in a close iron tank, 

 similar to a hiffh-pressure steam-boiler, filled 

 with the liquid; the air is then exhausted, 

 and more oil, or pyrolignite, is forced in by 

 hydrostatic pumps, until the wood sustains 

 a pressure equal to a hundred, or a hundred 

 and fifty pounds per square inch, which is 

 kept by frequently working the pumps du- 

 ring six or seven hours ; when it will be 

 found to weigh from eight to twelve pounds 

 heavier, per cubic foot, than before, accord- 

 ing to the porosity of the wood. This mode 

 occurred to Mr. Bethell, from the considera- 

 tion of the means adopted by the ancients, 

 for preserving the bodies of the dead; it 

 being a well-known law of nature, that 

 whatever will preserve animal matter, will 

 also preserve vegetable. Native mwnmia, 

 or mineral tar, was used by the Egyptians, 

 as well as that manufactured from vegeta- 

 bles, and one kind called cedria, was oh 



tained from the cedar tree; the leaves and 

 bindings of books, were sometimes covered 

 with the latter, to render them indestructi- 

 ble by age. The effect produced by the in- 

 jection of these substances, is the perfect 

 coagulation of the albumen, as well as giv- 

 ing an air-tight coating, which not only pre- 

 serves the fibre from destruction, but pre- 

 vents atmospheric action, and consequently 

 decay. A post of beach, or Scotch fir, thus 

 prepared, becomes equal to the best oak, the 

 bituminous matter binding the fibrous text- 

 ure of the wood in one solid tough mass. 

 The composition also preserves iron from 

 corrosion, for an iron bolt, driven into a 

 Bethellised post, will be found to remain 

 any length of time free from rust; it resists 

 the attacks of insects, and the leredo will 

 not touch it ; and it requires no painting, 

 unless it be tor ornament. 



" The process has been adopted on the 

 Great Western, Bristol and Exeter, Man- 

 chester and Birmingham, North Eastern, 

 South Eastern, and other English rail-ways; 

 and the sleepers, after three years use, ap- 

 pear in much better condition than when 

 laid down. — CampbelV s Magazine. 



Multicole Rye. — This is the name given 

 to a plant, a native of Poland, which has 

 been introduced into cultivation with great 

 success, in the South of France, and of 

 which the following account is given in the 

 London Farmer's Magazine : — " It grows on 

 common soil suited to the old fashioned 

 rye, but its habits are totally different. By 

 the report of above thirty respectable agri- 

 culturists near L'Orient, who have culti- 

 vated it for the past two years, it does best 

 when sown the 1st of June. Its growth is 

 most rapid. Two crops of it are before 

 July cut for hay, and by the 15th of August, 

 a grain crop is reaped. The straw is from 

 eight to ten feet high, and the ear from ten 

 to eighteen inches long. An account of 

 this rye may be found in the 'Transactions,' 

 published by the French Minister of Agri- 

 culture, &c. Would not this variety of 

 spring rye, be worthy of trial in those parts 

 of the country where other grasses are diffi- 

 cult of growth, on soils rather sandy and 

 light, but which, if in good condition, are 

 the best for this grain. The growth, if cor- 

 rectly stated, is truly surprising. — British 

 A merican Cullivator. 



In northern countries, the shortness of the 

 summer is compensated by the length of the 

 days, and that in them vegetation goes through 

 its various states in a much shorter time 

 than in more soutliern regions, where the 

 days are not so long. 



