1843,] 
THE GARDENERS 
CHRONICLE. 
863 
of lime exists in it also, which is a very important ingredient. 
The following is an analysis of such chalk :— 
illaria cucullata, and 
flowers. ‘There were likewise Erica Sebana lutea, and a small 
a plant of Amaryllis aulica with large scarlet flowers; and A. 
calyptrata, with light-green blossoms, F. J. Allnutt, Esq., 
‘was awarded for the two speci- 
Story, Esq., 
‘h 
Was eight. The second weighed 6 lbs. 3 0z., and measured 7xins. 
eight. The third weighed 7 Ibs. and measured 89 ins. in length, 6 
i ips was nine; the 
five Queen Pine-apples, the heaviest of which 
am, were 
Weighed 3 bs. 140z., and measured 6 inches in length and 5 
Were not so well coloured as could have been wished. There 
Were also from Mr. Crawshay specime: rge fine-looking: 
Beurré Diel Pears. . J. Moorman exhibited ood specimens 
f Marie Louise Pear. From Mr. R. Buck was a seedling Pear, 
No. 15, J. A. Beaun’ 
Was fruit of Benthamia fragifera. This plant was introduced 
Some years ago from the North of Indi 
me was prickly, and the other was nearly 
}owing that a Cucumber may be considerably 
altered by the use of different manures, although treated in 
other respects in the usual way as regards soil and heat. From 
Cockburn were ¥ i Ss of T 4 
Cap Gourd, with four curious lobes rising in the 
s a collection of Chrysanthemums; six of these 
Were watered on the 28th of July with superphosphate of linie, 
in the proportion of a 31b. to a gallon of water for each 
Plant. In the course of three weeks after its applica- 
tion the leaves had acquired a very dark green; so apparent 
Was the effect produced on the plants that a stranger could 
have selected those that had been watered with this from a 
manures, it may be applied in different proportions without the 
least risk of injuring the plants. Had it been given to the 
following Apples, viz., Pearson’s Plate, Wyker Pippin, Claygate 
Seedling, and 
Hubbard’s Pearmain; the latter is an excellent late Dessert- 
Apple, and its merits are not generally known; it is a Norfolk 
Sort, very hardy, and an abundant bearer. 
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. 
Dec. 6.—Lord Spencer in the chair. Mr. Br 
Not only to the bulk of materials of which the soil was composed, 
Constituting an oxide. The metal is called Calcium, and is very 
difficult to 
Sium, the metal of the alkali potassa. (Here the lectu 
formed the 
the primary, secondary, and tertiary rocks. In the first it is 
wa 
bonate of lime be submitted to the action of dilute muriatic or 
at Brighton has been found to containa great number of animal- 
OF ithe. PAP ARISE = Se OS By 
Carbonate of magnesia = - - . o) 20°38: 
Phosp f lime . . . . 6. OLD, 
Oxides of iron and manganese eee O14 
Alumina and silica - . . . + 0°80 
100°00 
Chalk with the phosphate might be a valuable manure for chalk 
without it. In order to get the lime, the carbonic acid must be 
got rid of. This is effected by heat, asin limekilns. Fifty cwt. 
of carbonate of lime or chalk yields 28 cw i , 
of carbonicacid are driven off; lime consisting of 22 parts car- 
bonic acid and 28 parts lime. Chalk should always be burned in 
a current of air, and the more moisture this contains the better. 
If lime is exposed to the atmosphereit absorbs water and carbonic 
acid, forming a hydrate of lime and a carbonate of lime. Such is 
ithe affinity of lime for water, that it will dry air exposed to its 
influence in a confined space. When water is poured on lime it 
is rapidly absorbed and heat is given out, so that a match may be 
lighted by it. This is called slaked lime. When this'lime is exposed 
to the air it absorbs carbonic acid, which always exists in the air, 
and parts with its water. Lime is soluble in 700 times its weight 
of pure water, and in this state becomes the best possible test of 
the existence of carbonic acid. If shaken in a vessel con- 
taining carbonic acid, whether from the combustion of a 
in spring water and in the water of the river Thames. When car- 
bonic acid is in excess in water it dissolves the chalk or car- 
bonate of lime, and whilst under pressure the water holds it in 
solution, but the moment the carbonic acid is given off then 
the carbonate of lime falls down, and this is the origin of the 
stalactites and stalagmites of many of our caverns and springs. 
The uses of lime in Agriculture are several: 1st, it decomposes 
vegetable matter, and converts it into what is called Awmus; 2d, 
it neutralises acids which may collect in the soil; 3d, it decom- 
poses injurious salts of iron, forming an inert oxide of that 
metal; 4th, it decomposes the various aluminous compounds, 
Setting free their elements; 5th, it decomposes bone manure, and 
thus produces ammonia, a very valuable constituent in soils. 
Wh ii sin t ith potash it b: dd 
into nitric acid, and thus are probably formed the large nitre 
beds of various parts of India; 6th, when it comes in contact 
with felspar it evolves the potash and the silica of these rocks, 
gramineous plants which are known to require 
One of the best tests for the presence of lime is the oxalate o: 
ammonia, which throws down in lime-water a copious white 
precipitate, which is oxalate of lime. The presence of carbonate 
of lime alone may always be ascertained in rocks by its making a 
clear solution in weak acids, but if there is magnesia or other 
salts, then the solution becomes turbid. I been stated that 
lime is be: 
the plant, The sulphate and phosphate of lime are to be treated 
of in the next lecture. The lecture was illustrated by a number 
of judiciously-selected and well-performed experiments. The 
Duke of Richmond, at the conclusion of the lecture, proposed a 
vote of thanks to Mr. Brande, who had at a short notice, in con- 
Sequence of the indisposition of Dr. Playfair, the Society's 
chemist, prepared the admirable lecture they had just listened 
to. He also proposed a vote of thanks to the Council of the 
Royal Institution for the use of their lecture-room, This pro- 
position was carried by acclamation. Lord Spencer, having con- 
gratulated the Society on the promising aspects of the union of 
Chemistry and Agriculture, presented Mr. Brande the thanks of 
the Society, 
LINNEAN SOCIETY. 
Dee. §.—Edward Forster, Esq., in the chair. Mr. Westwood 
exhibited specimens of Géstrideous insects, from Professors Zet- 
terstedt and Dehibon, which proved that the species previously 
described by Mr, Bracy Clarke in the Transactions of the Society 
were but the different sexes of the same species. A large collec- 
tion of dried fruits was presented by Mr. John Smith, of Ki 
for the Museum, ee B. Ward presented a specimen of the 
Shea Butter, the produce of the Bassia Parkii, which had been, 
collected by Dr. Stanger during the recent Niger expedition, 
The fruit of this plant was exhibited in Mr. Smith’s collection. 
Several fruits were also presented by Mr. Ralphs. Some further 
observations were read by the Secretary from Mr. Griffiths, on 
flora, with ob: 
panied with drawings, was also read from the same 
Mr. Solly exhibited several specimens of the preparations of the 
ovules of Loranthus globosus, Acrostichum dimorphum, ani 
Santalum, which he had received from Mr, Griffiths, illustrating 
his papers in the Transactions of the Society. Mr. Varley exhi- 
bited_a microscope with a new movable stage, and specimens of 
the Philodice roseola, obtained in the vicinity of London. Mr. 
Ross exhibited a new obj the 
one-twelfth of an inch focus, which was highly commended by 
the microscopists present. A collection of the fruits of Con‘- 
feree from Dropmore were exhibited from Lady Grenville. There 
were excellent specimens of most of the fruits of the genera 
Pinus and Abies, and amongst others of the Pinus Douglasii. 
NOTICES or NEW PLANTS WHICH ARE EITHER 
USEFUL OR ORNAMENTAL. 
VERONICA spEciosA.—Showy-flowered Speedwell. 
hardy wud.) i i i 
of none more to be desired wherewith to enrich our collec- 
tions, than this very remarkable and beautiful Speedwell, 
judging both from the first specimens we have recei 
weather-beaten coast, in nearly the same degree of southern 
latitude (about 36°) in which we believe the Clianthus has lately 
peen found. Living a een h r. Edgerly 
from Hokianga, which were purchased by Mr. Knight, in 
whose i y their i blue purple 
flowers in the month of September of the present year. It is at 
present too rare to run the risk of exposing it toan English 
winter; but it thrives well in a cool greenhouse. 
Botanic Garden of Kew is indebted to Mr. Knight for the posses. 
sion of this scarce plant. In its native country it attains to a 
height of from three to six feet.”—Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, 
BARRINGTONIA SPECIOSA. Showy Barringtonia. (Stove Shrub.) 
Monadelphia Polyandria.—Cultivators will be pleased 
to find that this noble plant, which is chiefly known in our stoves 
for its very handsome foliage, and for the alleged difficulty of 
growing it well, has produced its remarkable inflorescences in 
the stove of Colonel Baker, at Salisbury. From Mr. Dodds 
2 
2 
as in the various parts of India, China, and the Indian Islands. 
The bark is ash-coloured. The branches are numerous and 
spreading. The leaves are often more than a foot in length, of a 
strong and firm texture, with a lucid surface, and of a beautiful 
bright green, The flowers are numerous, large and white, with 
a vast number of stamens of a deep sanguineous purple. They 
are produced from the upper parts of the branches, and blow 
chiefly in the evening, falling off the next morning, and are fol- 
lowed in succession by others. The tree continues in flower for 
a considerable time.’’ Mr. Dodds has likewise fayoured us with 
some interesting facts regarding his treatment of the plant. He 
since made new shoots of more than four feet long. When our 
first plant was about eight feet high, I cut a foot off the top in 
March, and struck it. I found it to root freely, and it was ready 
to pot in five weeks. This young plant was well grown, and 
about the third year the top again taken off, and treated exactly in 
e same way as the other. The plant we have now bloomed was 
I then potted it into a twelve-inch pot, in a 
peat, and on the 4th of the 
splendid plant was induced to bloom, It is rich in instruction. 
umphius; this title has 
since been abandoned for one which commemorates the Hon 
Daines Barrington.—Paaton’s Botanical Magazine. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Analysis of the Raspberry-bush.— Having noticed that 
the Raspberry-bush sprung up wherever fields had been 
burnt over, and also by the side of decomposing stone 
walls, Dr. J.\was led to analyse it, with the expectation 
of finding an unusual amount of potash. The following 
are the results of the analysis of the Rubus strigosus :— 
1000 grains of the dry Raspberry-bushes were burnt in a 
platina dish, in a muffle, and the ashes collected in this 
manner were found to be burnt perfectly free from carbon. 
The amount of ashes from 1000 grains of the bushes was 
16°2 grains, or 1-62 per cent. They were easily melted and 
flowed in the capsule. ‘lhe fused ashes, analysed in the 
usual manner, yielded— 
. . . + 0°25 or per cent. 0°025 
Phosphate of Lime. . + 3°65 ” 0°365 
Carbonate of Lime. - 3°40 ” 0°340 
: + « « 524 ” 0°524 
Soda. . . . + 0°50 ” 0°050 
Ox. Manganese i 420k OD! » 07100 
14°04 1°404 
Carbonicacid . . . 216 
16-20 
—Proceedings of Boston Society of Natural History. 
Alloiments.— Before reaching the factory of Messrs. 
Gott of Leeds, we pass by a pair of folding-gates, giving 
entrance to a large plot of ground presenting a twofold 
interest, both from the purpose to which it is now applied, 
and from the improvements which it indicates in the 
mode of manufacture. This ground was formerly occupied 
as a tenter-field, where the woollen cloth, in various stages 
of its manufacture, was suspended by hooks on rails to 
dry. But the custom became introduced, by degrees, of 
drying the cloth in close rooms or galleries heated by 
steam or by hot air ; and this has been found in various 
ways so much more efficacious, that the old system of 
tentering is no longer acted on in large establishments. 
The tenter-ground thus set at liberty has been laid out in 
@ series of gardens for the workmen in the factory, and 
thus presents a most pleasant and healthful boundary to 
the factory on the eastern side. The extent of ground 
thus laid out is about eight acres, divided into 142 allot- 
ments of nearly equal size. Such of the workmen as 
take an interest in gardening are allowed to cultivate these 
little allotments, paying a trifling sum in the form of rent, 
not as a source of profit to the proprietors, but to give 
the men an undisputed right to the produce which they 
may have cultivated. Nearly all the allotments are in a 
flourishing and healthy condition, each one staked off, 
Separated from the others, and numbered, and each one 
Serving to denote the kind of produce which its cultivator 
chooses to select. Some contain flowers chiefly ; while 
Others (and these more generally) contain such culinary 
vegetables as Potatoes, Cabbages, Lettuces, Onions, &c. 
The family of one of the workmen reside in a kind of 
lodge near the entrance, and to this family the care of the 
garden is intrusted. Opposite the lodge is a tool-house, 
where, on hooks and nails properly numbered, hang all 
the gardening tools, such as spades, hoes, rakes, and so 
forth, each renter having his own tools. In this tool- 
house is a board inscribed with the ‘ Rules and Regula- 
tions,’ which the proprietors have established for the good 
management of the garden : such as the hours during 
which the workmen and their families may have access to 
the garden, the admission of the friends of the workmen, 
and other arrangements of a similar character. In a busy 
town such as Leeds, where houses and factories are neces- 
sarily congregated very thickly, the existence of a 
plot of garden-ground in such a situation is important in 
respect to the health of those who live near, independent 
of the good effects likely to result from the maintenance 
of these kindly relations between masters and workmen. 
—Penny Magazine. 2 
‘Bermuda Coffee.—Coffee was introduced into Bermuda 
almost as early as into Jamaica. Its cultivation being 
neglected, it has maintained itself as if it were an indi- 
genous plant, growing wild under the Cedars. The quality 
of this Coffee is excellent, so that the Bermudians never 
find any they import to equal it. Mocha lies in a more 
southern latitude, but the Mocha Coffee is said to grow on 
