204 ' TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



coat of wool of the usual fineness. Mr. Storer iuformed me tliat knowing 

 that the merino sheep did not shed its wool, he was making an experiment 

 for the purpose of ascertaining whether the long stapled wool for the pur- 

 pose of combing could not be obtained from that race. What was the 

 result of this experiment I cannot say, but the circumstances led me to 

 inquire in relation to the habits of the merino sheep, and I found that it 

 did not in Spain, and had not at that time in America shed its wool. 



The peculiarity in the merino race leads us to seek its origin in a cold 

 climate of nearly uniform temperature, such as can be found only in ele- 

 vated regions in tropical climates. The opinion that the merino race was 

 introduced into Spain by the Arabs, if not by earlier settlers of Mauri- 

 tainave origin, from the lofty valleys of the Atlas, appears far more pro- 

 bable than that which traces its descent from the Cotswold flocks. 



AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE. 

 [By Prof. S. W. Johnson, of Yale College. July, 1859.] 



The Institute has received, since the last meeting of the Club, a valua- 

 ble succinct essay on a very interesting agronomical question, viz : " The 

 Absorptive Properties of Soil.'' It is a valuable manurlal essay — deals 

 in plain terms as well as in those of high science. " Our Indians knew 

 long ago that soil sweetened the flesh even of a skunk — they buried it and 

 it became good to eat. Dogs and foxes bury bones and meat to sweeten 

 them. Old treatises on agronomy allude to the power of soils to absorb 

 gases. Charcoal pulverized covering a dead rat an inch deep, kept it free 

 of unpleasant odor, in the Yale Analytical Laboratory, all summer." 

 " Economy of the ammonia naturally accumulated in the soil. Enormous 

 quantities exist in soils in a state of such intimate combination that 

 boiling the soil with fixed alkalies will not expel it." 



" Water as the vitdium by ivhich the ingredieyits of the soil enter the 

 ■plant. — From experiment. Prof. Way, of England, questions the influence 

 of water in efi"ecting the distribution of plant food. And Liebig, in his 

 recent paper on the subject (Uebereinige Eigenschaften der Ackerkrume,) 

 has concluded that this force is so powerful in soil that ammonia, potash, 

 and phosphoric acid, when applied as manures, are instantly made insolu- 

 ble, so that we must relinquish the idea hitherto entertained that plants 

 appropriate their food directly from an aqueous solution. Eichorn'e 

 investigation of this point are interesting." 



We ask our learned farmers to read Prof. Johnson. 



[Joarnftl de la Societe Imperiale et Centrale d'Horticulture. — Parisj May 1859.] 



Translated by H. Meigs. 



ROSE. 



Mons. Pepin moved a vote of thanks to Mens. Pigeaux for his new rose, 

 growing single at the end of a branch. 



Doubts were thrown upon the propriety of pinching flower and fruit 

 buds off vigorous fruit trees. 



A new beautiful radish from China is introduced by I'Abbe Voisin. The 

 color a lively red, having horizontal white lines around it. It grows en- 



