6 1 8 General Notices. 



lime to be applied in greater or smaller quantities, according to the roughness 

 or abundance of coarse herbage), an addition is made to the annual value 

 of the pasture, of fully 8s. or 10*. per acre, which has been confirmed to me in 

 the letting of pasture land by auction, annually, to drovers. — C. G. Stuart 

 Menteith. 



A Hint as to Trenching, and the Use of Coal Ashes, referred to by Mr. Gorrie, 

 in Vol. VI. p. 45. — It is therefore of the greatest importance, wherever 

 a garden or orchard is to be planted, if the ground be under grass, to have it 

 pared, burnt, and fallowed, previously to trenching, by which means a fund of 

 excellent manure is obtained and incorporated with the soil ; whereas, to 

 trench down a soil with much grass beyond the action of the weather, will 

 increase the damps arising from a wet bottom, by forming there a stratum 

 similar to that of peat moss. This, I have had occasion to suspect, is very 

 detrimental to the roots of trees. Having attached such importance to soil 

 and vegetable ashes, I trust I shall not be understood as applying the same to 

 coal ashes, from which I have seen the most pernicious effects when applied in 

 quantities to garden ground. It frequently happens, when a garden has 

 been long and severely cropped, or through the application of unsuitable 

 manure, that the soil becomes quite sterile and barren. Composts of fresh 

 soils may be advantageously applied to recover its fertility ; but where moss 

 earth, of a dry loamy nature, can be got, a less quantity of it will be equally 

 serviceable ,• even peat moss, when exposed in a heap for five or six months, and 

 well broken and turned over, will be found of great advantage. The good 

 effects of both have been fully experienced by myself, as well as others, in 

 this neighbourhood. (T. Bishop, Gardener, Methven Castle, in Caledonian Hort. 

 Mem., vol. i. p. 447.) 



Hardening Gratel Walks. — Our friend, Dr. Jamieson, of Wyke House 

 Academy, sent us a communication some years ago on the subject of hardening 

 garden walks by forming them of road stuff* mixed with tar or gas liquor. 

 Colonel Macerone has lately directed our attention to this subject, as treated 

 bj' him in the Mechanic's Magazine, vol. iv. p. 864., from which we make the 

 following extract : — 



" Roman cement, when exposed to the action of the air and rain, absorbs 

 water in such quantity as to be penetrated quite through. Decomposition is 

 assisted in the shade by green mouldy vegetations, and still more mischief is 

 done by the absorbed water expanding with the frost. Let any person ob- 

 serve the side of a cement-covered house, after it has been exposed to the 

 rain, they will find that it will take some days of fine weather to extract the 

 water, and restore it to the same colour with the sheltered part. 



" We have numerous examples in nature of animal gelatinous matter 

 forming in combination with aluminous calcareous earths, and even siliceous 

 sands, substances so hard and compact as to strike fire with steel. In some luma- 

 cular limestones it is very eas}' to distinguish the parts which have received 

 the animal matter of the shellfish, from their superior hardness, and an agatised 

 translucid appearance. I do not pretend that, by any artificial means, we can 

 make agate or flint; but I have observed such a tendency to agglomerate and 

 harden in all earths that have been saturated with animal gelatine or with 

 oils, as, I think, might, in many cases, be turned to good account. 



" I would recommend all plastered walls to be washed over with linseed or 

 whale oil, when at their greatest point of dryness, in fine weather. If size 

 were to be added to the water in laying on the cement, its hardness and du- 

 rability would be very much increased. Roman cement, mixed up with oil, 

 without water, becomes as hard and compact as marble. But to lay it on in 

 the usual way, and, when perfectly dry, to saturate it with oil or size, will be 

 quite sufficient. 



" I have reason to believe that, in default of stone or bricks, artificial stones 

 of sufficient solidity might be substituted, by applying animal gelatine or oil 

 to earths submitted to strong pressure in cast-iron moulds. Chalk, also, cut 

 into regular shapes, and saturated with these substances or with coal tar, will 



