186 General Notices. 



M. Payen, quoting M. d'Orbigny, notices the simple method by means of 

 which the inhabitants of Peru dry their frozen potatoes, and thus preserve 

 them for food for an indefinite length of time. (Compies rendus hebdoma- 

 daires des Seances de V Academic des Sciences, No. ix., for February, 1838, 

 p. 275.). A more full account of the above-mentioned phenomena will be 

 found in the very excellent Miscellany of the Botanical Register for February 

 last, and it is our intention to translate the original paper, and copy the en- 

 gravings which illustrate it. — Cond. 



Ultimate Principle of Nutriment to Animals in Vegetable Food, and to Vege- 

 tables in Manure. — According to the most recent discoveries of chemists, the 

 nutritive matter of all vegetables is contained in globular bodies, so small 

 as to be invisible to the naked eye. These globules afford no nourishment 

 till they are broken, and this can only be effected by heat ; either that of the 

 stomach of animals, or that produced by boiling and cookery. The nu- 

 tritive particles of manure are exactly of the same description as those of 

 food, and they can only be burst open by the heat of fermentation, or by 

 chemical decomposition. We learn from these facts, the importance of 

 cookery, of fermenting liquid manures, and of mixing soils and manures of 

 different kinds together, so as to induce chemical action. The reader will 

 find a valuable paper on the subject in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, 

 vol. xii. p. 445., and another in the Journal of the Franklin Institute, for 

 November, 1838, p. 335.— Cond. 



On the Part which Soil acts in the Process of Vegetation. — In an interesting 

 paper, of which this is the title, read at the Academy of Sciences, by J. Pelle- 

 tier, the author endeavours to show that the fertility of a soil depends on 

 the complexity of its composition ; in consequence of which an electro- 

 chemical force is produced, which acts at once on the soil and on vegetation. 

 According to this theory, three primitive earths are essentially necessary to 

 the composition of a good soil. {Journal de Pharmacie, as quoted in Journal 

 Frank. Institute, vol. xxii. p. 341.) 



To preserve Hedge-bills, Scythes, Sickles, and other Steel Instruments, fi~om 

 rusting, wipe them quite dry, heat them sufficiently to melt common bees' 

 wax, and then rub them over with it so as to cover the whole of the steel 

 with a thin coating. The wax completely excluding the air, prevents any 

 decomposition from taking place on the surface of the steel ; and when the 

 instrument is wanted for use, the wax' is readily removed by the application of 

 heat. {Frank. Jour., vol. xxii. p. 359.) 



Grafting-Wax and Grafting-Clay. — Grafting- wax, we observe, is at present 

 recommended by different persons, as preferable to the grafting-clay in common 

 use in nurseries. We admit it to be so in various cases, particularly for coat- 

 ing over wounds in young shoots having a large proportion of pith, such as 

 those of the rose, the vine, the fig, the acacia, &c. ; but it must be remem- 

 bered, that a mass of clay surrounding a graft retains heat and moisture to 

 a much greater degree than can ever be the case where grafting-wax is 

 used. In all operations of the grafting or pruning kind, in the case of plants 

 under glass, grafting-wax will probably be found a more convenient material 

 than grafting-clay, because it requires less labour to put it on, and it has 

 a neater appearance ; while the atmosphere of the house can be kept at 

 any degree of heat and moisture required ; but for grafting fruit and orna- 

 mental trees in the open air in early spring, we think it can never be brought 

 into competition with grafting-clay. — Cond. 



Absorption of Azote by Plants during Vegetation. — It appears that during 

 the cultivation of trefoil in soil absolutely deprived of manure, and under the 

 influence of air and water only, this plant acquires carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, 

 and a quantity of azote, appreciable by analysis. Wheat cultivated exactly in 

 the same circumstances also takes from the air and water carbon, hydrogen, and 

 oxygen ; but analysis does not prove that it has either lost or gained azote. 

 (Annates de Chim. et de Phys., Jan. 1838, as quoted in the Phil. Mag., March, 

 1839.) 



Liquid Manure. — I am :olid enough, and yet have become a great liquid- 



