72 Recent Publications on Manures. 



a good climate ; and, when vegetation begins, it is with plants of 

 the lowest grade, whose seeds may be carried by the wind : these 

 annually decay, and with the dung left by fowls, mixed with par- 

 ticles from the rocks, form soil to receive seeds of other plants, 

 carried either by the waters, or left in the excrements of fowls. If 

 the island which appeared a few years ago in the Mediterranean 

 Sea had not sunk down, it might have been an example of the 

 former ; and it is said that some of the West India Islands are 

 of the latter formation. It would, of course, take ages to form 

 a crust of vegetable soil like that on fertile continents. I see 

 no reason for geologists making a distinction between vegetable 

 soil and that of peat; for the latter contains most of vegetable 

 remains, and only requires heat and pressure to become coal. 

 Cossey Hall Gardens, Nov. 1841. 



Art. V. On the recent Publications on the Subject of Manures. 

 By R. Lymburn. 



The subject of manures seems now to have fairly engrossed the 

 attention of the public, and assumed the important station which 

 it so fairly merits. What is the food of plants, in what form it 

 is most easily absorbed, and how assimilated in the plant, are 

 questions of vital importance in a country where a dense popu- 

 lation presses so severely on the means of support. Conform- 

 ably with your statement in the December Number of the 

 Magazine, of its being a register of all new improvements and 

 advances made in the science and practice of horticulture, I 

 propose, in the following essay, to notice the works that have 

 been published, as far as they have come to my knowledge, and 

 the experiments that have been recorded, or that I have my- 

 self seen, since 1 last endeavoured to elucidate this subject; 

 and endeavour to deduce therefrom what additional remarks 

 appear to me called forth by these statements, to guide myself 

 and other practical men in our operations. To simplify the 

 subject, so as that the greatest benefits may be obtained at the 

 least possible expense, is the ultimate object that ought to be 

 kept in view ; and however far we may be from that object at 

 present, it appears to be, at least, approximating. Most authors 

 incline to give prominence to their own preconceived ideas, and 

 may stretch certain truths to their utmost extent, perhaps often 

 farther than the unprejudiced judgement would approve of; but 

 the confliction of opinion only helps to elicit the truth to the 

 considerate mind, and much valuable information is often got 

 from the keenest controversy, even though there may be errors 

 on both sides. 



