General Notices. 521 



form of starch, that it will be of most benefit ; and to those which have been 

 hurt by long keeping dry, or being exposed to great heat ; those which have 

 been spoiled by dampness have their food decomposed and spoiled. It 

 is difficult, also, to say how far the drying can be endured without being pre- 

 judicial, and when the organised tissue, the seat of life, may have its powers of 

 resuming vital activity so far trenched on as to be considered dead. After 

 this has taken place, any stimulus that can be applied can only hasten con- 

 sumption, as the vital force which should preside over and direct the chemical 

 has fled. Professor Otto of Berlin (as stated by Dr. Lindley, in the Theory 

 of Horticulture) has said he found great benefit in applying substances yielding 

 oxygen : perhaps it may have been to seeds containing oil, which, being a 

 substance nearly destitute of oxygen, will, therefore, require an extra quantity 

 of that substance, more than is found in the atmosphere, to reduce the food to 

 a soluble state. I have never found any benefit to result from the appli- 

 cation of oxalic acid, the substance recommended as yielding oxygen (how is 

 not stated) ; but it was to seeds containing starch, as old magnolia and acacia 

 seeds, I applied it. For old seeds of lint, rape, turnip, and other seeds con- 

 taining oil, the professor's recipe may, therefore, be best. I never found 

 damping or liming productive of much benefit to turnip, fir, and other oily 

 seeds ; but to all containing starch or flour, which is by far the greatest 

 number, the lime, I am convinced, will be of great benefit, and this is, perhaps, 

 the main reason why wheat prepared by steeping in lime and other substances, 

 and potatoes dusted with lime after cutting, have been benefited. 



Curdling of Milk. The albumen of the milk is coagulated by acids, heat, 

 and electricity, or any substance that will act chemically on the milk and pro- 

 duce acidity, as heat and electricity do. The dishes should be carefully 

 cleansed from all substances in which a tendency to decomposition or chemical 

 change may have commenced, in fact from all extraneous substances ; and the 

 place kept dry and as cool as possible. If acidity commences, it should be 

 checked by sprinkling a little powdered chalk or carbonate of lime, which is 

 not so saturated with acid but it will take up what little has been formed, and 

 when it subsides may be drained off. To remedy the flavour of turnips, they 

 should be boiled, and salt given ; and, a few hours before the time of milking, 

 some other food, as beans, bran, &c., should be given, with more salt : for fat 

 cattle, the turnips should be discontinued some days before killing; the vola- 

 tile principle that gives flavour is thus got rid of. 



The Gooseberry Caterpillar, it is said, can only be killed by an infusion of 

 foxglove. I have been very much troubled with it here, and have found 

 the powder of white hellebore, which is more easily got, to be quite sufficient. 

 The caterpillars are on the under side of the leaf; and one man holds up 

 the branches, while another dusts the powder on them from below : if per- 

 fectly dry, it spreads in a cloud of dust, and misses none, if well directed ; 

 and none it touches will live, if the hellebore be fresh and good. When it 

 gets damp, or is too long kept, it loses its pungency and efficiency ; and I 

 have seen frequent disappointments from this cause : if only partially damped, 

 it may be recovered by toasting before the fire in a flat dish. Some prefer to 

 infuse it ; but I have always found most benefit from the dry powder, if 

 carefully dusted on the caterpillar from below. The caterpillar may be seen 

 to collapse when the powder touches it, and in a few hours there will be 

 nothing but skin. 



The Use of Sulphate of Lime. The method advised by Professor John- 

 ston to drive off the superfluous water, so as to make it break smaller, should 

 be the best. As the intention is to expose as much surface to the atmosphere 

 as possible, whatever will make it break into smaller particles should be an 

 advantage ; and, to prevent its being agglutinised again into lumps by the 

 rain, it should be spread out thin as soon as possible after being broken. Dr. 

 Liebig's opinion is, that it acts principally by combining with the carbonate 

 of ammonia in the air to form sulphate of ammonia, and thus form a fixed 

 salt in place of one that is volatile. If this is correct, the more surface that 



