1853] 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 



283 



process of packing soiiio of the Insti'umenta which could not bo 

 left behind, and also by nearly all thc^Instruments having been 

 dismounted for the purpose of final verification. Their adjust- 

 ment of course occupied some time, but it is now completed, and 

 the full observations are now made as before. The Meteorologi- 

 cal observations have never been at all interrupted. Instruments 

 to replace those taken away, besides others which it has been 

 thought advisable to introduce, have been ordered from England, 

 and are daily expected, and certain necessary repairs and altera- 

 tions will be commenced as soon as the plans for them can be 

 procured. 



The Military Detachment so long employed on this service, 

 has been permitted by Her Majesty's Government to remain here 

 for so long a period as may bo necessary to enable Mr. Cherri- 

 man to make a report to His Excellency, of the staff' that will bo 

 required, and of the steps that may be advisable to render the 

 establishment permanently efteetive and complete. 



We cannot conclude without congratulating the Province upon 

 the completion of arrangements which secure to Western Canada 

 this extensive and well appointed Magnetic and Meteorological Ob- 

 servatory,under a gentleman whose distinguished career at the Uni- 

 versity of Cambridge is sufficient guarantee that all the interests of 

 Science will be as industriously and oflBciently maintained as they 

 have hitherto been, within the same walls, under that manage- 

 ment which has given to it the wide spread and exalted reputa- 

 tion it now enjoys throughout the scientific world. 



The Canadian Journal* 



At the conclusion of the First Volume of the Canadian Journal, 

 we have much pleasure in informing its supporters and contributors 

 that the whole of the present edition, with the exception of a 

 few copies, reserved for the pm-poses of the Institute, has been 

 subscribed for. We may also state that it is confidently anticipated 

 that the circulation of the journal during the j-ear 1853-4, will 

 be such as to cover all the ordinary expenses of its publication. 

 In view of an extended circulation, the Council of the Institute 

 have made arrangements for a very considerable increase in the 

 monthly issue. 



agaiu dried his seed potatoes in 1851, and again his crop was abun- 

 dant and free from disease, irhile everywhere on the surrounding land 

 tlicj' were much affected. Tliis was too remarkable a circumstance 

 not to excite attention, and in 1852 a thii'd trial toolc place. AU Mr. 

 BoUman's own stocli of potatoes being exhausted, he was obliged to 

 purchase his seed, which bore unmistakable marks of having formed 

 part of a cop that had been severely diseased ; some, in fact, were, 

 quite rotten. After keeping them for about a month in a hot room, as 

 before, he cut the largest potatoes into quarters, and the smaller into 

 Iialves, and left them to dry for another week. Accidentally the dry- 

 ing was carried so far that apprehensions were entertained of a very 

 bad crop, if any. Contrary to expectation, liowever, the sets pushed 

 promptly, and grew so fast tliat excellent young potatoes were dug 

 tlirce weeks earlier than usual. Eventually, nine times the amount 

 planted was produced, and althougli the neighboring fields were at- 

 tacked, no trace of disease could be found on either the herbage or 

 the potatoes themselves. 



This singular result, obtained in three successive years, led to inqui- 

 ry as to whether any similar cases were on record. In the course of 

 the investigation, two other facts were elicited. It was discovered 

 that Mr. Losovsky (living in the government of Witebsk, in the dis- 

 trict of Sebege,) had for four years adopted the plan of drying his seed 

 potatoes, and that during that time there had been no disease on his 

 estate. It was again an accident which led to the practice of this gen- 

 tleman. Five years ago, while his potatoes were 'digging, he put one 

 in his pocket, and on returning home, threw it on his stove (pocle,) 

 where it remained forgotten till the spring. Having then chanced to 

 observe it, he had the curiosity to plant it, all dried up as it was .and 

 obtained an abundant and healthy crop ; since that time the practice 

 of drying has been continued and with great success. Professor Boll- 

 man remarks that it is usual in Russia, in many places, to smoke dry 

 ilax,wdieat and rye, and, in the west of Russia, experienced proprie- 

 tors prefer for seed, onions that have been kept over the winter in cot- 

 tages without a chinmey. Such onions arc called dymka, which may 

 be interpreted smoke-dried. 



The second fact is this :— Mr. AVasileffsky, a gentleman residing in 

 the government of Mohiteff, is in the habit of keeping potatoes all the 

 year round by storing them in the place where his hams are smoked, 

 it happened that, in the spring 1859, his seed potatoes, kept in the 

 usual manner, were insufficient ; and he made up the requisite quanti- 

 ty with some of those which had been for a month in the snioking 

 place. Those potatoes produced a capital crop, very little diseased, 

 while at the same time the crop from the sets which were not smoke- 

 dried was extensively attacked by disease. Professor BoUman is of 

 opinion that there would have been no disease at all, if the sets had 

 been better dried. — Gardener's Chronicle. 



HoTir to Preserve Potatoes from the Rot. 



Thoroughly driel potatoes will always produce a crop free from 

 disease. Such is the positive assertion of Mr. BoUman, one of the Pro- 

 fessors in the Russian Agricultural Institution at Gorigoretsky. In a 

 very interesting pamphlet by this gentleman, which has just reached 

 us, it is asserted as an unquestionable fact, that mere drying, if con- 

 ducted at a sufficiently high temperature, and continue i long enough, 

 is a complete antidote to the disease. 



The account given by Professor BoUman of the accident which led 

 to this discovery is as follows : — He had contrived a potatoe-setter, 

 which had the bad quality of destroying any sprouts that might be on 

 the sets, and even of tearing away the rind. To harden the potatoes, 

 so as to protect them against this accident, he resolved to dry them. 

 In the spring of 1850, he placed a lot in a very hot room, and at the 

 end of three weeks they were dry enough to plant. The potatoes 

 came up well, and produced as good a crop as that of the neigliboriug 

 farmers, with this difference only, that they had no disease, and the 

 crop was, therefore, upon the wliole, more abundant. Professor BoU- 

 man tells us that he regarded this as a mere accident ; he, however. 



Maebleized Iron- and Stone.— The manufacture of iron imitations 

 of mai'ble has become an extensive branch of business in New York, 

 although it is but little more than a year old. We have before alluded to 

 the prooess as being chiefly used for mantlepieces; but it is anticipated 

 tliat it wiU hereafter be applied to many other purposes ; it may be 

 used to imitate any sort of wood, or any other polished surface, as well 

 as stone, the closeness of the imitation depending solely on the skill 

 of the artist by whom it is prepared. Care has, however, to be taken 

 not to hit a hard blow upon the surface and not to scratch it. If you 

 scratch marble, the farrow only reveals the same substance as you be- 

 held on the exterior, but with" polished iron the case is very different 

 The same mode of giving a stony face and polish may be applied to 

 wood. Plaster of Paris, terra cotta, and other substances, as well as 

 iron; it is far superior to scagliola in every respect, and must expel 

 that substance from use altogether. "We look to see it appUed most 

 e.-itensively, especially in architecture. It makes very handsome pil- 

 lars, pilasters, and vases for the inside of houses. A different way of 

 producing a result similar to that above spoken of has been discovered 

 by Professor Freund, a Hungarian chemist, tor sometime resident_ in 

 New York; it is chemical ana mechanical, the imitations of stone being 

 produced entirely without the pencil of a painter. Th; elements of 

 tlie stone desired to be imitated, are chemically combined, and finaUy 

 polished by grinding or rubbing with water, pumice stone, _<tc., much 

 as the stone itself would be. For architectural purposes this process 

 produces very beautiful work, far superior to any scagliola; we have 

 seen pillars and wainscotting with aU the loveUness of the finest jas- 

 par or agate. — Livcrjimol Albion. 



The tirst vessel of the Austral.asl.an Steara-ship Company (Panama 

 Sydney), about to commence operations in New "iork, wiU, it is 

 stated, be a new one just completed, c.aUed the Gold-en Age. She is of 

 2364 tons bnrthen, and has capacity for 1200 passengers (200 first 

 cabin, 200 second, and 800 third), Avith 1200 tons of coal, and 500 of 

 cargo. It is expected she will enable the passage to Australia to be 

 completed within Uiirty-five diys fi'om Now York.and fifty days from 

 Engkud. 



