THE GARDENERS' 



CHRONICLE 



It is 



Qll-shaptd tL.were of the most delicate pink 

 <£$£» « the smallest of the Sdckim Rhododen- 



drons. 



t* 



Dr. Hooker only gathered it .twice 



1 



here 



^Ihe large scale, and, therefore, lead us to con- 

 sider the effects in nature to which it must give rise, 

 on I It appears, then, that most soils possess the power 

 s of absorbing a very large quantity of ammonia, so 



ry . " , „„„ tnnnrUnd plants. " wiiere us I aosorDing a veij W i g c 4 u«u MV ^ . 7-p * 



Alpine slopes among ^oorUnd plant ^ or & g soluUon of 



^}^ t ^^^^^\^ m seen Lnonia in° water, is filtered through a portion of 



gffi ^t th X "irEiStoTAart heathdike so il, the ammonia will be absorbed and the liquid 



peeping above the surrounding snori ««"" 

 fetation, reminding the botanist of tho.eof Lin- 



?ht r tnows, in No. 5, a striking contact fc ike 



>rm of it H«l9*mir+ tree with ample ^ leases 



silvery white beneath, and ^eat rose-co loured 



flowers containing 18 stamens This and Abies 



Webbiana are described as the ^temticroder. 



wd and tree at the elevation of 10-12,000 feet 

 in all the valleys of Sikkim. It will probably be 

 found one of the most cultivable of all the species. 

 Caps, spoons, and ladles are made of its wood. 

 "Nor is the foliage without its allotted use. The 

 leaves are employed as platters, and serve for 

 lining baskets for conveying the mashed pulp of 

 Arisatma root (a kind of Colocass) ; and the 

 accustomed present of butter or curd is always 

 made enclosed in this glossy foliage." 



sixth of the plates, again 



the wool 





the 



.. 



jR. lanatutn, the 

 reminds us of R. campanulatum, but 

 beneath the leaves is white or tawny, and 

 flowers are pale sulphur colour. It is found 

 the rocky spurn of the humid mountains and gullies, 

 at an elevation of 10—12,000 feet." 



It.glaueum, No. 7, is a delicate little species, 



on 



about 2 feet 



high 



with scurfy leaves, and pale 



depreoMd ridges, at an elevation of 10 



The eighth kind, R. Madden i, ha 

 flowers, and dark 



pinkish purple flowers. The leaves are remarkably 



C icons on the under-side, and the whole plant 

 a powerful resinous smell. It is from "rocky 



-12,000 feet" 

 very large white 

 green sharp-pointed leave a 

 covered with rusty down on the under-side. It 

 has is— 20 stamens, and a faint perfume. It forms 

 a bush V>— 8 feet high, at an elevation of 6000 feet. 

 Finally, the work closes with R. triflorum, a yel- 

 low, flowered species, with scurf ives, something 

 like the plant exhibited at the last Horticultural 

 meetinc, by Mr. Hussey's gardener, and R. sctosum, 

 a RoK-leav I bush, looking like a Rhodora. Thi 

 I t inhabits extensive moorland tracts, and rocky 

 slopes, at the height of 13— 16,000 feet, and evi- 

 dently belongs to a drier climate than the pre- 

 c ng. Dr. I [ooker says—" It is the T Ulu of the 

 Sikkim Bhoteas and Thibetians, who attribute the 

 o »ression and headaches attending the crossing the 

 loftiest passes of the Eastern Himalaya to the 

 strongly resinous odour of this and of the R. antho- 

 pogon Wall. <l»alu of the natives.) The species 

 certainly abounds to within a few miles of the 

 summits of all the asses, and after hot sunshine fills 

 the atmosphere with its powerful aroma, too heavy 

 I) far to be agreeable ; and it is. indeed, a sad 

 aggravation to the discomforts of toiling in the 

 fied medium it inhabits." 



which passes through will be found to contain no 

 ammonia. It is plain, therefore, that the small 

 quantity of carbonate of ammonia which rain-water 

 usually contains, will be absorbed by the surface 

 soil, and that in a very heavy shower of ram, suf- 

 ficient to render the soil thoroughly wet to a con- 

 siderable depth, there is no fear that the ammonia 

 thus supplied to the soil will be washed away by 

 the continuance of the rain. It is also evident 

 that, when land is flooded, the ammonia which the 

 water contains will be for the most part arrested by 

 the soil over which it flows. The great fertilising 

 effects produced jp E^ypt by the waters of the Nile, 

 in its periodical floods, were no doubt partly due to 

 this cause ; the benefit resulting not from the small 

 quantity of slimy mud which the water left behind, 

 but from the saline matters which it brought with 

 it, and which w T ere absorbed and retained by the 

 surface of the soil as the water flowed over it. Mr. 

 Way's experiments show that a good soil (one which 

 contains a reasonable quantity of clay, which is essen- 

 tial to this effect) has the power of thus absorbing 

 or fixing ammonia in whatever state that substance 

 is presented to it ; it is the same whether the am- 

 monia is in its free and uncombined form or whether 

 it is united to some acid constituting a neutral salt. 

 In the former case the ammonia is directly absorbed, 

 and the water passes off entirely deprived of it ; in 

 the latter case the salt appears to be decomposed 

 under the influence of this peculiz 



It is by studying details like those we have 

 quoted, that gardeners will [earn how to manage the 

 •pecies they have reared ; and, we trust, that in the 

 next part of this Important work, the learned and 

 indefatigable author, whose return from India is daily 

 xpected, will furnish cultivators with an abundance 

 or similar information. 



power of absorp- 

 tion, the acid with which the ammonia was pre- 

 viously combined uniting to lime or some other base 

 present in the soil. 



Every fact of this sort certainly seems to supply 

 fresh evidence as to the important of ammonia to 

 plants. We find that it is constantly present in the 

 air, that it is from time to time brought down by 

 rain, and that the soil possesses the very singular 

 property of seizing upon it and fixing it in the most 

 perfect manner. Again, this power does not belong 

 to all soils indifferently ; they must contain a por- 

 tion of clay, or they are not thus able to absorb am- 

 monia ; pure sand possesses very little power of 

 absorbing ammonia, and a soil consisting of nothing 

 but pure sand is hardly able to support vegetation. 



There is not much novelty in M. Mene's experi- 

 ments, the chief objects of which are, to prove that 

 salts of ammonia act beneficially on plants, and that 

 certain substances have the power of fixing the vola- 

 tile compounds of ammonia, and of rendering them 

 not volatile at ordinary temperatures. It is well 

 known that gypsum and various other salts do thus 

 hx ammonia, and they are used very largely for that 

 purpose; the chemical principles on which they 

 effect this are pretty well understood, and are fully 



in most treatises on chemistry ; but the 

 experiments of Mr. Way seem to throw 

 upon the subject, and though, of course, 



As we last week gave some account of recen 4 

 xpenments on the direct absorption of nitrogen by 

 plant,, and made some remarks ™ the conXioS 

 which are at ? ted to be drawn from these e^- 

 nments we shalf to-day say a few words b Jon 5e 

 other side of the question generally, and especially 

 m connection wna some L atp. investigate of M 



which will be found at length in another 



#w r i P f Tt from the ^entitle or purely 

 t Wical mterest, the subject is important Tn its 

 ^ on the preservation and employment tf 



A few months sine Mr. Way drew attention to 

 the remarkable p w which soils generally W of 

 & t ff ;^a and its salts, ft had Ion .been 



explained 

 preceding 



S¥' "fT l " c »wwj«ji, ana tnough, of course, 



Srt of £ *l a 7 T aff6Ct the mei4 chemica 

 part of the subject, they nevertheless modify the 



conclusions which may be drawn from such facts to 

 a very considerable degree. 

 M. Mine's 



Ilk 



column. 



experiments merely prove that the 



S : Vh i Ch "^ u fl '° m ferra ^fng P manure 

 which contain carbonate of ammonia " 



and 



not on v new but lit*,,/ nxei \ hls statement is 

 a one thS prove tbT S ° meWhat m <*<*l It 

 described but it <t? F P ? m aCts in th * 



follow hat i "ennnot ^' nly doe l not ^es.arily 

 _ at u cannot act in any other way. A little 



way 



17 \T* rw^Miig ammonia from the lir • U 

 had likewise been lonf L-nm™ *u n >. • , ?. ' li 

 > :. mAsl _T £ ,5 k ?.°* n that » m addition t« 



chemical agents present " " 



consideration will satisfy™? ' iW^' A little 



in them : and 



certain 

 there 



«ui farther a number nf ^ ? T iliere Was 



lowing that the tb eCt ZZlT'* ^ a11 



tigated-fact S , seemin " ff \^ m ^7 *- 



or chemical property belonging t^ - "^ ***** 



or 



5 absorption of 

 sulphuric acid. 



consequence of which 

 Mr. Wats 



experiments 



. , most soils, and in 

 ^ey potscwd these power" 



are • ■ * 



A aghthey, anot as vet be-JZS teT&ii } n S> «*en 

 explained ; they show tL 1 P^ er * ct ' J rily 



*hsch the«©il"has- 



the 

 th* 



great al>sorptive power k 



portance to plants • mS" wT ♦i' 1 - C ? MlderabIfl im " 

 that they £ $ £*£»* ^hardly probable 



ammonia, and not at all by lime , 



^^^%^st^r rt that iime 



ammonia i* ; aJaCf? beal thy vegetation as 



salts of lime mav 1 * ™ 1 P ° SSlble that othe r 



alphateasTouSof lil 0, v a ^ anta f° US than the 



generally meSl L ' yet there does D °t appear, 



f sulphL P pre3' n ll^T aVailable «>™ 



■icid o P f g v ( ^ e \v e co^idi flf ? e Su1 P huric 



hat M. Mt^ s e XD erin ^n d f ' *?*"& ~t only 



[M 



gypsum on plants, and 



AR. 1 



o 



which it is decomposed by carbonat « mo< «« 

 he observes, that the fact must alwLI ^"^ 

 mind, that even when ammonia is Z I boi *» 



ammonia is thm 



not yet brought into a fit state to serve T* M > *» 

 ment of plants, but that the salt thii, 7 ^ 







be acted on by some substances capable?^ 

 its decomposition, and of slowly Jwi ^ 

 liberating the ammonia which it contains 8 nH 

 siders that the plant itself cannot possibW e fe 

 decomposition of such a salt; but this in t * 

 mere matter of conjecture, as we have noeS 1 " 

 whatever as to what changes may or mZ r* 

 place in the organs of a living plant an?!* 

 some chemists believe, the sulphur of T f * 

 derived from the decomposition of sulnhnn •* 

 itself, it is hardly too much to suppose that nl2 

 are also able to effect the decomposition of salii 

 taining that acid. The oxidation of ammonkS 

 the formation of nitric acid in the organs of ny, 

 an effect which is very frequently observed u! 

 in any way a more surprising result. ' 



There are a great many ehemical transfonnatj. 



constantly going on in the soil, and sometime, i 

 direct opposition to all known chemical facts aij 



plants themselves, which at first appear to k 



I 



therefore to depend on some new or little knots 

 *—*--— some of the most 





interfering cause; some or the most singular « 

 these are observed in connection with the fixing 

 ammonia. Chemists say that the carbonate { 

 ammonia, which exists in manure, decompo© 

 gypsum or sulphate of lime ; a certain intercha* 

 of acids takes place between the two salts, towSJ 

 they give the name of double decomposition 

 the result is, that sulphate of ammonia and car- 

 bonate of lime are formed. This is perfectly in 

 ligible, and the more so when we are told that it i 

 caused by the fact that ammonia has a more power- 

 ful attraction for sulphuric than it has for carbon* 

 acid. It appears, however, that there are ce: 

 exceptions to this rule, because in some cases 

 seems that just the contrary effect is produced ; Joi 

 when sulphate of ammonia and carbonate of liv 

 are mixed together, a partial decomposition occun 

 and more or less of the volatile carbonate of ammob 

 is produced. The fact is, that in many of tte 

 cases of double decomposition, the affinity of 4 

 several substances for each other is so nicA 



balanced, and so nearly equal, that it depends almot 

 entirely upon external circumstances whether tk 

 salts are decomposed or not ; thus, for exampfc, 

 there are many salts which will not decomposed 

 other if they are mixed together dissolved in » 

 quantity of water, but which nevertheless will & 

 on each other if they are merely added to a porta 

 of moist earth, and then left undisturbed in a dfflf 

 place for sometime. Boussingault, in his "to 

 Economy," has stated several remarkable instan» 

 of this sort of action. Thus he observes that wta 

 dry chalk and sulphate of ammonia are mi» 

 together, they exert little or no influence npone* 

 other, neither do they decompose each other 

 considerable quantity of water is added ; bat in 

 quantity of moist sand or soil is added to the mix* 

 of the two salts, they immediately begin to deco* 

 pose each other, and carbonate of ammonal 

 given off. Now the practical conclusion whicH* 

 must draw from these facts is, that mere laborattj 

 results, or those which chemists deduce from m 

 experiments, should be received with considers 

 caution; and we must always bear in mind » 

 unless all the conditions and circumstances ar 



actly the same, it will not do to ^P are JJ 

 results with what occurs in nature. Thewj^ 

 Mr. Way's experiments shows that the sou v» 

 merely the power of absorbing ammonia » 

 carbonate from water, but also that it is able to 

 ammonia when the latter is already combinea 



sulphuric acid 



and this very remarkable f^# 



observed, that when a solution containing sup^ 

 of ammonia was filtered through a V°]ff n L » 

 the ammonia was arrested and retained "7},^ 

 whilst the water which passed through camea- 

 with it the sulphuric acid. The same curious ein* . 



and comb 



mode in which thi,™" 6 U8 80me evidence »* I 



C& thl3 *** Practically operates \ 



■nat M Mk* e 's experiments do not a Si T ^ 

 assertion, but furrW ♦», ♦ a11 bear out 



ghly improbable. 



InDxunENY's lectures (184l\ n ff o ;"- ■ 



account of L IEBt G's views r-sni'rf- ,! IVin *. 8ome 



8 res Pectmg the action of 



lphuncacia. ±ne same *-«"■-•- 



also observed with nitrate and muriate ot a» ^ 

 the ammonia being stopped by the S01 V. ^ 

 acid in each case passed through dissolved i 4 



ined with lime. No chemist *>_ 

 could have predicted these very curious - ^ 

 which appear to be in opposition to the usu . ^ 

 ceived views of chemists respecting the n ^ 

 chemical affinity ; they are illustrations ot * ^ 

 ner in which chemical affinity is soxa f l Z. n fc 

 come or set aside by the mere physical w 



of the soil, and they teach us to » eS f ; lar #* 

 venture to assert that this or that V* Tt }?* t , 

 cannot possibly be true, because it is m an ?^if 

 sition to known chemical facts. We do not -^ 

 a moment to question the value of soun £, ve a 

 knowledge, every lover of truth must n* . e $ 

 respect for chemical facts : but we m« st "* 



