Miscellanies. 203 



on mercury covered with a very little water, that the germination pro- 

 ceeded as usual, and the radicle descended into the mercury to the 

 depth of eight or ten lines. Having placed this grain in a state of 

 suspension and equilibrium above the surface of the mercury, the 

 radicle descended into the metal in the same manner, though the 

 least resistance seemed as if it would disturb the equilibrium which 

 maintained it. — Bib. Univ. Avril, 1830. 



5.. Boring for Water. — At the annual meeting of the Agricultu- 

 ral Society of Paris, April 15, 1830, after an appropriate discourse 

 from the Ministers of the Interior who presided over the meeting, a 

 memoir was read from Hericart de Thury, on the association (con- 

 cours) for opening bored wells for the purpose of obtaining jets ap- 

 plicable to the wants of agriculture. He showed how rapidly this 

 useful application of the miners' sound to the business of the well dig- 

 ger had spread not only in France but in every country of Europe. 

 The programme of the society had been translated into Spanish, 

 Italian, Dutch, Russian, Arabic, &;c. and associations had been form- 

 ed in many places for the acquisition of the requisite implements for 

 boring, &;c., and more than twenty departments are engaged in the 

 enterprise. — Rev. Encyc. Mai, 1830. 



6. Preservation of iron from rust. — A mastic or covering for this 

 purpose, proposed by M. Zeni, and sanctioned by the Societe d'En- 

 couragement, is as follows : eighty parts of pounded brick, passed 

 through a silk sieve, are mixed with 20 parts of litharge ; the whole 

 is then rubbed up by the muller with linseed oil so as to form a thick 

 paint, which may be diluted with spirits of turpentine ', before it is 

 applied the iron should be well cleaned. 



Prom an experience of two years, upon locks exposed to the air, 

 and watered daily with salt water, after being covered with two coats 

 of this mastic, the good effects of it have been thoroughly proved. — 

 Bull. d'Encour. Jan. 1830. 



7. Beet Sugar. — The success of this branch of industry, in the 

 North of France, leaves no doubt of its success in Belgium, the soil 

 and climate of which are so favorable to the culture of beets. The 

 rapid increase of the number of manufactories of indigenous sugar, in 

 many parts of France, is a proof of the advantages which this new 

 species of activity will afford to the country, and which doubtless will 



