660 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 9 



dant root — and as reduclion, ol" the bulk to be sup- 

 ported, is indicated in boiii case? when tlie sustain- 

 iriirorfrans are inip.iired, it would seem that the an- 

 al oo;y Is clearly in liivor of tnnmiing otl' a portion 

 ol" The limbs, so as to leave ihe top of the tree pro- 

 portioned to the remaininu; root. 



Eut further— is not ihis new theory entirely at 

 war with the system of pruning I done lor ihe 

 doub'e purpose of preservin"; the tree, and impro- 

 ving the fruit — a system which has stood the test 

 of ages, and has the sanction of experience, the 

 best guide to young agricuUurists. 



Eut lacts arc the best arguments in these mat- 

 ters ; about 30 years ago, 1 transplanted a pear 

 tree into my irarden. It was seven indies through, 

 dug up in December in ireezing weather, 'i'o 

 sav^e it, I trimmed oH' most of the top, so nmch as 

 to admit of its being carried mto a cellar to pre- 

 serve it for the night from the frost. Next day it 

 was carried a mile and plunted. It is ^et a uood 

 bearinir tree. About ten years past I transplant- 

 ed a beariuiT Junetting ap|)le tree more than half 

 grown, cutting off most of the top. This year it 

 bore liie best and largest apples of any Junetting 

 tree in my orchard. 



Some ibur or five years past, a neighbor of mine 

 transplanted li'om the forest to his yard a very un- 

 common and beautiful tree, bearitig berries: desi- 

 rous of saving the top, he trimmed off none, and 

 the tree died. 



Such iLicts could be advanced without number. 



A CURE FOn THE RED ANTS. 



The evils of this little visitant are well known 

 to perhaps every house wife, and perhaps nothing 

 would more exhilirate the domestic circle than the 

 discovery ol' a remedy for the red ants. Such dis- 

 covery I iiave made and wish you to communicate 

 to the public through your useful paper. Common 

 salt is a complete barrier to the approach of the 

 red ant. Let the salt be so placed that Ihey can- 

 not approach the place fi'onfi which you wish to 

 exclude them without passing over it, and the 

 remedy is complete. For instance, if you wish to 

 exclude them li'om the cellar cupboard or any 

 moveable cujjboard, if it has no legs make arti- 

 ficial legs to your cupboard, then provide some- 

 thing suitable to hold for each leg of the cupboard, 

 a pint or quart of salr, in which place the legs of 

 the cupboard, and set it free from everything else 

 so that nothing can creep on to it without passing 

 over the salt, and the remedy is complete. JHav- 

 ing tested this remedy for two seasons I liave no 

 hesitation in recommending it as a complete cure. 

 Worcester jEsis. 



SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY — SOLID AIR. 



At a late sitting of the French Academy, there 

 were presented some specimens of solid air. 

 Kvery one could touch and handle them, sec them 

 dissolve, escape from the fingers and recover again 

 the state of gas without leaving any traces. The 

 pieces were divided, distributed, every body could 

 taste them, and feel ,the impression of extraordi- 

 nary cold which a solid gas produces, when re- 

 turning to the state of air; or rather it was oliserved 

 with surprise, that a substance, the touch of which 

 congeals mercury and spirits of wine, and causes 



the thermometer to descend to 90 degrees below 

 iU'ro, did not produce on our organs of ser;sation 

 the cold that might have been expected. It would 

 seem iis if our senses were not capable of ap- 

 preciating such a low degree of the atmosphere; 

 it is a new sensation which is unknown to them, 

 and which they are unable, so to speak, to de- 

 scribe. 



We have said that there were specimens of 

 solid air, but it was not the atmospheric air, the 

 air that we breathe, which was shown by piece 

 meal to tlie academy, but we so sneak of it, to 

 make more apparent what there is remarkable, 

 and truly^ astonishing in the liict. For peo|;le in 

 ixeneral, there is but one sort of air, that which 

 surrounds us, and if we had said that we had suc- 

 ceeded in making solid gas, this fact wouKl appear 

 very simple, and would |;erhaj;s pass imnoticed. 

 It would be ihouixhtthat gas is a chemical [)ro(luc- 

 tion which can bend to its laws, and whose condi- 

 tion can be altered l)y the scientific at will, with- 

 out, havinir any right to call for the attention of 

 world. As to the air which we breathe, it still en- 

 joys its reputation as an element — it is one of the 

 powers of nature — it is one of the ereat constitu- 

 ent bodies of the world, ami if we learn that man 

 has succeeded in governing it, changing iis condi- 

 tion, we expect to see him overturning the oriler 

 and harmony of thmgs. We forget that air is a 

 cas like any other, a compound gas, which has 

 not resisted the agents of decompnsition at the dis- 

 posal of the learned. To be more explicit, the 

 carbonic acid gas, f-jimerly known underthe name 

 of fixed air, of,which we breathe a certain quan- 

 tity in the surrounding air, is the true air which 

 has' been coiiiprrssed, the little particles of which 

 are drawn together, to the state of water in the 

 first place, and then made solid, as water itself 

 becomes solid in freezing. 



It is fi-om an enormous cylinder cf cast iron, 

 capable of f)earing a laessure of more than 60 at- 

 mospheres, that M. Thiorien has obtained the li- 

 quid carbonic gas. By allowing the gas to escape 

 through a very small tube, it is seen to spread it- 

 self out under the form of" a snowy vapor — it is 

 su'fficient then to direct the flowing of tliis vapor 

 into a tin box, when it may be seen to unite itself) 

 becomes a mass, and soon it may be collected, 

 pressed like common snow, and placed in a glass 

 vase. It was under this form tliat the solid car- 

 bonic acid was presented to the Institute by M. 

 Belong, to whom M. Thiorien handed several 

 masses which he obtained from his apparatus, 

 placed in an apartment tidjoining the hall where 

 the Academy vvtis in session. We cannot sufR- 

 cienlly applaud the perseverance and devoted- 

 ness of the author of this discovery. Aluch cour- 

 age is necessnry to manage an apparatus so pow- 

 erflil and so dangerous. 



ON THE SOILS SCITABLE FOR COTTOJf, TOBAC- 

 CO, SUGAR, AND THE TEA-RLAKT. 



By H. Piddinglon. 



Read to the j^gricitltvraland Horticultural Society 

 of India, 5ih March. 



[We are indebted to Dr. Richard Harlan of Phila- 

 delphia, for the following recent communication to 

 the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India. 



