On Gardening and Rural Affairs. 319 



buildings from lightning, metallic plates instead of rods ; but rods, he con- 

 siders, may be still employed for thatched buildings. He says it has been 

 proved, that electricity is a necessary element of hail, and also, that fields 

 with lightning-conductors (paratonnerres,) have been preserved from hail, 

 while the neighbouring fields have been ravaged by the storm. " Several 

 facts observed in the vineyards of Italy, and in the Alps, have been cited 

 to prove the influence of the electricity of the atmosphere on the form- 

 ation of hail. Recently, M. Crud of Geneva, the translator of Thaer's 

 Agriculture, has given his opinion in favour of par agr ties, hail-protectors, 

 and has placed some on his own land." A communication on this. subject 

 by M. Crud, is published in the Annals of the Paris Agricultural Society for 

 August 1825, by which it appears that it is of no use employing paragr61es, 

 excepting on a large scale, and that farther experiments are necessary. 



Mr. Murray, the chemical lecturer, in an appendix to his " Remarks on 

 the Silk-worm," says, " I am of opinion, that the paragreles so universally 

 adopted in the Canton de Vaud, must very much modify the phenomena of 

 the hail-storms, so prevalent along the chain of Alps, and so frequently and so 

 extensively mischievous to the vine and Indian corn. I shall elsewhere 

 discuss the question at some length ; meantime, I may state, that I every 

 where received assurances of conviction in their protecting power in those 

 localities where they had been introduced ; and may only repeat here what I 

 did to Professor Chavannes, the discoverer, my firm conviction that the prin- 

 ciples on which they are constructed are strictly just andscientific ; that they 

 must form a protection, and finally triumph over all prejudice and ignorance, 

 together with the attacks by which they have been assailed." (p. 22.) The 

 notions of Mr. Williams on the subject of establishing electrical conductors 

 in the fields in this country, may, perhaps, be recollected by some of our 

 readers, and with less prejudice against them, than was excited by their first 

 proposal. Possibly we may in time be able to produce effects on the at- 

 mosphere, analogous to those of draining, irrigation, and shelter, on the 

 soil ! 



Dubrunfaut, M. L'Art de fabriquer le Sucre de Betteraves. Paris, 8vo. 



M. D. is of opinion, that even in a time of peace like the present, 

 under favourable circumstances of soil, situation, &c. this manufacture may 

 be carried on in France with a profit ; in which, however, he differs from 

 the Comte Chaptal, as expressed in the introduction to his Industrie 

 Franeoise. 



Decandolle, M. Aug. Pyr., of Geneva, the celebrated botanist, member of 

 many societies, and author of numerous works : M^moires sur la Famille 

 des Legumineuses. Paris, 4to. Parts 1 to 5 are published. 

 Part 1st describes the organization of the plants belonging to this family ; 



the second and subsequent ones are to contain the description of the 



genera and species, with some incidental remarks on their culture and 



uses in the arts. 



Jaume Saint- Hilaire, M., with an Introduction, by the late Professor 

 Thouin ; Traite" des Arbrisseaux et des Arbustes cultives en France et 

 en pleine Terre. Paris, 4to and 8vo. Many plates, coloured. Published 

 in parts, of which 22 have appeared. 



Pirolle, M. Amateur Cultivateur : L'Horticulteur Francais, ou le Jardinier 

 Amateur ; Traite" complet, theorique et pratique, du Jardinage, divise - en 

 huit Livres. Paris, 12mo. 



Poiteau, A. and P. Turpin : Traite - des Arbres Fruitiers, par Duhamel du 

 Monceau ; nouv. edit., augmented d'un grand Nombre de Fruits, les uns 

 echapp^s aux Recherches de Duhamel, les autres obtenus depuis des Pro- 

 gres de la Culture. Paris, fol., 31 parts. Coloured plates. 

 Braver, M. J.R.L. Statistique du Department de PAisne. Laon, 4to. 



Z 3 



