324 Queries and Answers. 



Art. IV. Queries and Answers. 



Perpetual Cropping. — In answer to D. W. Stewart, X. 465. I enquired 

 of an old farmer, who came from the banks of the Carron, respecting the fer- 

 tility of the soil, referred to in the Conversations on Vegetable Physiology. He 

 told me that, about forty-five years ago, his fathei', along with some others, 

 enclosed part of the alluvial deposit which is collected upon the banks of the 

 Carron, and which is composed for the most part of alumine and sand with a 

 mixture of vegetable and calcareous matter. For five or six years after it 

 was enclosed, it produced excellent crops of wheat and beans ; and all that 

 was thought necessary to manure it was to sow a few peas along with the 

 beans. Not being fully satisfied with this account, I went to procure part of 

 the soil, on purpose to analyse it, and to get what information 1 could on the 

 spot. I was then informed that no such thing existed in that part of the 

 country as land bearing crops for thirty years without manure. About six- 

 teen years ago a considerable tract was enclosed; it requires less dung than 

 that which has been longer in cultivation, but still a little is necessary. I 

 brought part of it home with me j and on submiting it to analysis, 1 ounce, or 

 480 grains, gave as follows : — 



Water of absorption 





_ 



- 66 



Matter destructible by 



heat. 



chiefly vegetable 



- 24 



Alumina 





- 



- 138 



Sand - 





- 



180 



Calcareous matter 





- 



- 12 



Oxide of iron 





- 



6 



Carbonate of lime 





. 



- 24 



Carbonate of magnesia 





- 



5 



Muriate of soda 





" 



2 

 457 



Loss 





■ - 



- 23 



480 

 — Peter Mackenzie. West Plean, Oct. 22. 1834. 



Gardening Authors. — Some account is wanted of the following gardening 

 authors by a gentleman who is preparing a biography of gardeners. It may 

 be sent to W. W., to the care of the Conductor, 39. Paternoster Row : — 



John Worledge, or Woolridge, author o^ the Sy sterna AgriculturcB,h\. 1669; 

 Art of Gardening, &c. He appears to have resided at Petersfield, in Hants. 



Stephen Siuitzer, author of Ichnographia Rustica, and other works on gar- 

 dening. He was a Hampshire man. At the trial of Deacie v. Baring, at Win- 

 chester, 14th July, 1831, a John Switzer, a police constable, was examined; 

 as the nasne is not common, he may be a descendant of Stephen Switzer. 



William Boutcher, nurseryman. Comely Garden, near Edinburgh. 



Bartholomew Rocque, of Waltham Green. — W. W. London, May, 18.35. 



The Dimensions of the folloiuing Trees and Shrubs, mentioned in the Gent. 

 Mag., vol. i., new series, p. 500., are very much wanted for the Arboi^etiim Bri- 

 tannicum. The cypress in the Parsonage Garden at Sutton, near Ipswich ; the 

 andrachnes at Exbury and at Henham; the Pinus paliistris at Henham; 

 the tulip tree on Englefield Green, near the turnpike to the right; and the 

 large Oriental plane at Lee, in Kent. — Cond. 



The south-eastern Part of the County of Sussex is said to be peculiarly suitable 

 for acclimatising plants, and to contain some fine standard magnolias, ca- 

 mellias, myrtles, yicacia Jidibrissin, pomegranates, and andrachnes. {Gent. 

 Mag., vol. i., new series, p. 500.) We should be very much obliged to any 

 reader for farther particulars of these plants, and for any notices respecting 

 salisburias in every part of the world. — Cond. 



The Cedar of Lebanon. — At Bretby, in Derbyshire, the seat of the Earl of 

 Chesterfield, is a cedar of Lebanon, 13 ft. 9 in. in circumference, planted in 



