176 Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, 



Burning Lime. — Mr. Wallace, ofWigton, has shown that when coals 

 are scarce, lime may be burnt with wood or peat placed in layers in a coni- 

 cal form, covered with clay, and of 5 or 6 yards in diameter, with a funnel 

 of dry furze and peat in tlie centre, of 2 ft. in diameter. The pile is set fire 

 to by the top of this funnel, which will burn down to the bottom and set 

 the whole into combustion. 



Nitre as Manure. — Thomas Bruce, Esq., of Grangemuir, applied nitre to 

 " wheat after a crop of potatoes, upon a strong loam ; and to grass, intended 

 for hay, upon a stiff clay. Upon both, the effect has been wonderful." The 

 nitre was obtained from Messrs. Forman and Haddow, 51. Lime Street, 

 London. William Hawkins, Esq., of Hitchin, Herts, gives the experience of 

 twelve of his neighbours of this salt. They all agree that it should be sown 

 in damp weather, that it improves chalky soils, and that its effects are par- 

 ticularly striking on the pasture grasses and on clover. It was first used in 

 the neighbourhood of Hitchin, about fifteen years ago, at the suggestion of 

 an ingenious gentleman, Mr. Bessanier. From 1 to 2 cwt. is sown per acre 

 in March or April. One gentleman has used it fifteen, another twelve,"an- 

 other ten, another six years, &c. We hope some gardeners will try it with 

 culinary crops. 



Of Plants cultivated for their Roots. — This is a most complete detail of 

 the ridgelet system of cultivating turnips, admirably illustrated by wood-cuts. 

 The only thing which surprises us in it is how a writer, apparently so well 

 acquainted with the subject, should state that the turnip " as is well known, 

 was first cultivated in rows on the great scale in Norfolk, to which circum- 

 stance this celebrated county owes the distinguishing character of its agri- 

 culture." Every Scotchman who has been in Norfolk knows that turnips 

 are not even now cultivated on the ridgelet, or even the drill, system 

 there except at Mr. Coke's and a few other places. (See Encyc. of Agr., 

 p. 1118.) 



On a remarkable Law of Vegetable Life, and its Influence on several Ope- 

 rations in Horticulture and Agriculttcre. By the Rev. Dr. Fleming, of Flisk. — 

 In the animal kingdom abundance of nutriment accelerates the period of 

 puberty ; but in the vegetable kingdom it is, or appears to be, the reverse, 

 and the scantier the supply of nourishment the sooner will the plant pro- 

 duce blossoms. Old and consequently more or less injured seeds produce 

 plants, which, being scantily supplied with nourishment from the cotyledons, 

 sooner produce flowers, than plants from fresh seeds, the cotyledons of which 

 are in greater vigour. Hence the custom of carrying melon seeds in the 

 breeches pocket, like most other customs that have stood the test of ages, 

 is founded in utility. But while plants, the object of cultivating which is 

 speedily to produce fruit, should mostly be raised from old seeds, those 

 where the leaf or root are the object, should be raised from young seeds, e. g. 

 turnipa, carrots, cabbages. The same law will hold as to" cuttings whether 

 of herbaceous or ligneous shoots, tubers, or other roots. Grafting a rapid- 

 growing tree or plant upon a slow-growing stock, transplanting them from a 

 rich to a poor soil, from a wet to a dry soil, or, after keeping a plant for a 

 long time very moist, suddenly keeping it very dry, will have the same ef- 

 fect. An error has crept into a part of this valuable paper, which we are 

 rather surprised at. It is stated (p. 293.) that the ascent of the sap is indi- 

 rectly diminished, by having portions of the bark removed by the knife, or 

 wires twisted round the stem or the branches. The sap, it is well known, 

 ascends by the wood, and descends by the bark, and the effect of twisting 

 wires round the stem is to obstruct its descent, and if this be done in old 

 trees at any time, or in young trees at or after midsummer, the tree not 

 having strength, or time to employ the sap in forming leaf buds, employs it 

 in turning the leaf buds already formed in embryo into flower blossoms. It 

 may be said, therefore, that in such cases it is not the want of nourishment 

 which throws a plant into a fruiting state, but the direction of the nourish^ 



