Transactions of the Society of Arts. 275 



the recent Improvements in the agricultural Management of the Fen Districts 

 of Cambridge and the adjacent counties. These improvements are founded 

 on the discovery of beds of calcareous marl, lying almost everywhere below 

 the peaty and silty surface of the fen. A very simple and economical method 

 of raising the marl, and distributing it over the surface, has been found out; 

 the result of which (combined with the perfect system of drainage by the use 

 of the steam-engine) has been, that lands which, in the usual course, produced 

 only two grain crops, both of them oats, now yield one crop of oats and two 

 of wheat." (Preface, p. vii.) 



A paper by Col. Le Couteur, which, though of immediate interest to the 

 farmer, is yet, by analogy, applicable in horticulture, well deserves notice. 

 The Wheat Plant, " as is well known, has two kinds of roots ; namely, the 

 seminal, which are first produced, and descend to a considerable depth in the 

 soil, and the coronal, which shoot out afterwards around the crown of the 

 plant immediately previous to its tillering. Col. Le Couteur seems to have 

 ascertained that wheat sown in drills 7 or 9 inches apart, and covered to the 

 depth of about 3 in., is in the most favourable circumstances for the due • 

 developement of these two sets of roots ; whereas, in wheat sown broadcast, 

 those grains that are only just covered with soil exhibit the two kinds of 

 roots mixed and crowded together^ In wheat sown about Christmas or in 

 January, the coronal roots begin to appear about eighty days after the germi- 

 nation of the seed. This, therefore, is the proper time to give the principal 

 hoeing, as at this time the weeds may be cut up without any risk of interfer- 

 ing with the coronal roots ; and, by stirring and loosening the ground, so 

 much encouragement is given to the growth of them, that they soon extend 

 quite across the drills, occupying the ground to the almost exclusion of the 

 deeper-rooted weeds, and throwing out a luxuriant growth of side shoots, the 

 foi'erunners and causes of an abundant crop." (p. vi.) 



Some Seedling Potatoes have been sent to the Society by Mr. Buchanan, 

 the produce of the second year's growth, which are to be further cultivated, 

 and the results communicated to the public in vol. liii. 



Part I. of vol. liii. contains an account of Mr. Paxton's Machine for making 

 Sash-Bars, referred to in our Volume for 1839, p. 453., and for 1840, p. 572., 

 and for which Mr. Paxton obtained the silver medal. The machine is too 

 complicated and expensive to be erected by individuals ; but it cannot fail, 

 we think, to become an essential part of the furnitiu'e of every extensive 

 carpenter and builder. 



" The motive power is from an engine of four and a half horse power 

 employed on the premises for other purposes. Half of this power is required 

 for the sash-bar machine, and half the expense of the engine, including 

 attendance, &c., is 5s. a day. The machine can make bars at the rate of 

 600 ft. an hour ; but it cannot continue long at this rate, as time is required 

 both to cool and sharpen the saws. The average number of bars per day is 

 500 4-feet lengths, or 2000 ft. The greater number of bars used here have 

 been made from Riga deal, and some from oak, &c. ; but any well-seasoned 

 wood may be used. The attendants required for the machine are only a 

 labouring man and a boy. The first cost was 20/." (p. 101.) 



The following article " On the probable Uses of Coal-dust as a Manure, 

 and on the Nitrates and on Manganese," will be read with interest, as bearing 

 some relation to the papers on growing plants in charcoal, given in p. 152. 

 219. 221. and 252. 



" On the probable Use of Coal-dust as a Manure. — The analogy of the 

 constituent principles of coal to that of oil or animal matter led to the idea 

 that it might probably be employed as food for plants ; and, when I further 

 reflected that many geologists supposed it to be of vegetable origin, I was 

 strengthened in the opinion. Its destructive distillation, yielding olefiant gas, 

 ammonia, tar, oil, &c., still more strongly corroborated the idea ; and I was 

 led to put it into practice and recommend it to others. I shall be very brief, 

 and confine mvself entirely to the results of my own observations, leaving 



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