128. [Assembly 



There is one at Sacconex. near Geneva, a magnificent one (male) 

 in the botanic garden of Pisa, nearly 80 feet high and three feet 

 diameter. The gingko is a conifer. 



R. L. Pell said — The subject for debate this morning before the 

 Club, is the cultivation of corn, and, as it is utterly impossible to 

 raise that important cereal advantageously, or profitably, without 

 understanding the constitution of the earthy part of the soil, I 

 will, in the first place, state how that knowledge may be obtained 

 by any agriculturist, without the aid of a chemist. Soils may be 

 thus classified : 



1. Pure clay consists generally of 60 per cent of silica and 40 

 of alumina and oxide of iron, chemically combined. When passed 

 througli water, no silicious sand subsides. 



2. Strong clay consists of pure unctuous clay, mixed with from 

 8 to 16 per cent of sand, which you can readily separate from it, 

 by boiling, and pouring off gently. 



3. Clay loam differs from a clay soil by permitting from 15 to 

 30 per cent of sand to be separated by boiling and decanting as 

 above. 



4. A loamy soil allows from 35 to 65 per cent of sand to de- 

 posite by washing. 



5. A sandy loam deposits from 65 to 95 per cent of sand. 



6. A sandy soil contains very little more than 9 per cent of 

 clay. 



To name your soils as above, examine as follows : Weigh a cer- 

 tain quantity of earth, spread thinly over letter paper, place it on 

 a hot plate in an oven for an hour, but do not permit the heat to 

 be so great as to render the paper brown. The loss of weight 

 when again weighed indicates the water it held. While this ope- 

 ration is performing, weigh and boil another portion, and pour it 

 into a glass jar, and allow the heavy parts to subside until the 

 fine clay begins to settle. Then pour off the liquid, collect the 

 sand, dry it upon paper, and weigh. This weight will be the 

 quantity of sand in the known weight of wet soil. Thus,, suppose 



