Catalogue of Works on Gardening, Sfc. 1 29 



quantity of sulphate of magnesia to a mixture of urine and feces, and mixing 

 the whole with the ashes of coal or vegetable mould, till it acquired the con- 

 sistence of a thick paste, which was thus dried by exposure to the sun. 



" There are certain plants which contain either no potash, or mere traces of 

 it. Such are the poppy (Papaver somniferum), which generates in its organism 

 a vegetable alkaloid, Indian corn (Zea Mays), and Helianthus tuberosus. For 

 plants such as these the potash in the soil is of no use, and farmers are well 

 aware that they can be cultivated without rotation on the same soil, particu- 

 larly when the herbs and straw, or their ashes, are returned to the soil after 

 the reaping of the crop. 



" One cause of the favourable action of the nitrates of soda and potash must 

 doubtless be, that through their agency the alkalies which are deficient in a 

 soil are furnished to it. Thus it has been found that in soils deficient in pot- 

 ash, the nitrates of soda or potash have been very advantageous ; whilst 

 those, on the other hand, which contain a sufficiency of alkalies, have experi- 

 enced no beneficial effects through their means. In the application of manures 

 to soils we should be guided by the general composition of the ashes of plants, 

 whilst the manure applied to a particular plant ought to be selected with re- 

 ference to the substances which it demands for its nourishment. In general, a 

 manure should contain a large quantity of alkaline salts, a considerable pro- 

 portion of phosphate of magnesia, and a smaller proportion of phosphate of 

 lime ; azotised manure and ammoniacal salts cannot be too frequently em- 

 ployed." 



After giving the chemical composition, in great detail, of thirty-eight different 

 soils, chiefly in Germany, the analysis of several English soils, by Davy, is 

 given, and after each are remarks, pointing out its imperfection. 



" Davy," says the author, " has made several analyses of various fertile soils, 

 and since his time numerous other analyses have been published ; but they are 

 all so superficial, and in most cases so inaccurate, that we possess no means of 

 ascertaining the composition or nature of English arable land." (p. 240.) 



Next follow analyses of soils in Sweden, Java, the West Indies, and North 

 America. On an analysis, by Berzelius, of a soil in Sweden which produced 

 the most abundant crops, and had never been manured, it is observed of the 

 operator — 



" This great chemist has strangely omitted to detect in the soil potash, soda, 

 chlorine, sulphuric acid, and manganese. As this soil is eminent for its fer- 

 tility, there cannot be the slightest doubt that all these ingredients must have 

 existed in it in notable quantity." (p. 241.) 



These quotations will show the immense importance of the additions which 

 are made to this edition, which cannot fail to add to its already deserved 

 celebrity. 



The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal for 1841. 4to. 

 The Surveyor, Engineer, and Architect, for 1841. 4to. 



We have recommended both these works in preceding volumes ; not, indeed, 

 to be purchased by the gardener, who has already too many calls on him for 

 books relating directly to his profession, but to the country gentleman and the 

 amateur of architecture and mechanical invention. The gardener also, where 

 he can have an opportunity of reading these works, will find a variety of 

 matters that can be brought to bear on his art ; such as modes of heating and 

 ventilating, glazing, painting, measuring, draining, road-making, &c. 



Taste: a Lecture. By the Rev. R. Jones, D.D., M.R.S. L., &c. Pamph. 

 8vo, pp.44. London. 



The author treats, in a discursive and agreeable manner, of mental taste; 

 without losing sight of that moral taste, the truest purifier and preserver of all 

 other taste ; a taste which regulates the heart, the principles, and the life. 



3d Ser. — 1842. II. k 



