404 Outli7ies of Horticultural Chemistry: — 



more efficient mass of manure may be obtained, than by the 

 usual method of disposing of it ; or by digging it into the soil 

 in a o-reen or undecomposed state. Notwithstanding what 

 has been said about excluding the air and rain from ferment- 

 ino- composts, it will be found, that when the means are pro- 

 vided for preventing the running off of the liquid, and that no 

 other water be added than such rain as may fall on the surface 

 of the duncr-heap, it will have lost nothing of its value by ex- 

 cess of moisture. 



From what is here explained as to the application of blood 

 to plants, it must be seen, that the barely supplying a plant 

 with nutritious matter, is not enough to insure a healthy, 

 vio-orous, and prolific growth; as such effects depend upon the 

 proportion of matter, and the time, or season, and manner of 

 applying it. This, therefore, requires to be duly understood, 

 and shall form the subject of a future paper from, 



Sir, yours, &c. Joseph Hayward. 



Art. VIII. Outlines of Horticultural Chemistry : — Analysis of 

 Soils. By G.W. Johnson, Esq., Great Totham, Essex. 



{Continued from p. 152,) 



Two hundred grains are as eligible a quantity of any soil to 

 analyse as can be selected. Previously to analysis, a proportion 

 should have been kept, slightly covered, in the dry atmosphere 

 of a room for several days, to allow it to part with all the moisture 

 that can be obtained from it by mere atmospheric exposure. 

 Two hundred grains of the soil thus dried, should then be 

 placed on a small plate, and held, by means of a pair of 

 pincers, over the flame of a candle or lamp, with a small 

 shaving of deal upon it, until this shaving begins to scorch. 

 The process is then to cease, and the loss of weight, sustained 

 by the soil being thus dried, ascertained. We will suppose 

 it amounts to 30^ grains. The residue must then be gently 

 triturated in a mortar, which properly should be of agate, 

 and sifted through a piece of fine muslin ; what remains in 

 the muslin will consist of stones and vegetable fibres; the 

 weight of these must be ascertained, and this we will suppose 

 amounts to 15^ and 5 grains respectively. The stones must 

 be examined by dropping some sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) 

 upon them ; if they effervesce, they contain chalk ; if not, 

 they are silicious and will be sufficiently hard to scratch glass, 

 and will feel gritty; or they are clay stones, will feel soft, 

 and be with little difficulty cut with a knife. That part which 



