71845 THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 109 
SEFIA eho ey ae the i + Nat 
nd a ssimilate its ‘carbon 
P ehit 1 that I 
cid, a : 8 a a vessel, and write iA. 
“be Hs mare to act; they no mit | | her lang the plai i fF avint Folda 
‘the car carbon 
‘ee at sisit, 
mi 
id, but in fact are found to emit it s oft that f ¢ isk bei J y 
of 
1 poor ccarpHon Baars was mae aa taid to be land 
emote analogies, of which I have +} o. ly 
wo he hd etka on Si draining and m 
i o mischievous—Saussure com- soraa in her soils this hats seid of US Suc 
to 
als, ue its scien at night to rs 3 bat iti which never 
ent, and wen mar enough | be the nutritious matter of roel = must renee dly 
being $ å h 
i Sat carbonic acid during the da the chemist’ s la pon: 
i f anim 
xpiration. The hunters a eign nalogy saw a splen- | adopted by E kista e in her own a laboratory. If the humus 
krias t 
fessor Burnet soon saw a ige estion ang | reach them i in solu tio on in water it has been sho own 
wi ro npon l 
Oats per ise ona feld 0 of that 
-|desription 10 nores of beautiful Turaips. ae this was 
land on which ne would have ever thought of 
growing Turnips before i was drained. Not twichinsndien 
this, he was now on one of his farms, near Horn 
. Pro 
in plants; they are always: respiring, accord- | by pong 
f 
Castle, draining from 2 2, to 23 feet deep, hoping that ro 
rpose. The Sec 
tf 
: the waste matter r of the di igestion is oxygen, and is|sion in water. Now. „if y eat good garden mould 
t, when diges- | with water it rembins “petty colourless, taking u 
ur: 
ing to Burnet, but only digesting their food during the | to t kemp the finest Jer, if it be merely in sus pen- 
a still better pu 
tary pe that” a cb deal of difference in opinion pies 
vailed w to the prop rie ety of admitting the 
throw: p 
irme carbonic acid alone is Teapired and expired. some earthy atter e, e, if trace in deed | 
water directly i s. Some parties 
were in the habit of putting broken stones vpon the 
in fact, saw in this inspirati fv sentabic ae ur 
m equilibrium, and denied that the atmosphere was water, both of which are for med by the rains which per. 
f proved by vegetation, for that as much carbonic acid d black if the RAGE 
igh is d 
tiles in order to admit the water from above; others 
used furze, underwood, stubble, or rie w for the same 
Berne ¢ 5 whilst, o n the contrary, s me parties rammed 
the 
night as is decom aroari aide the aga A ? be soluble i in water; but we well know that they c conta ain 
t 
n this he was undoubtedly wrong, as shown by Dau traces of 
beny, who proved that he acted upon Poni pas» and and cellars formed by the passage of rain 
hat healthy plants always decompose m arbonic wane a vegetable soil 
Sora fee water having acct from above. The 
question in this, espect at present more particularly 
id during the day than AT give out ate iir it But | enables it to diss olv e the lime-stone which it ets in 
D: pee was too la ate to est the current of opinion. | its course; and, umus is in alee Braise in 
tonade and away went one | lime, we ought to find areedanes of humate of lime in 
ilosoph er Face another dela in most unphilo- | stalactites; but we do not. ‘Then, if humus be not 
phic fashion, after thi f the nutrition | soluble in water, it cannot gain admission inato paw 
vegetal that of It was a steeple prier “ But,” say the advocates of humus, “although our m 
nd absurdities were the ure. The fir ie x re terial is not soluble in water, it is so in water contia 
arbonic acid ; so t lime or ammonia. es; it is in he lab boratory, when 
lant into pure carbonic “id, and the plant died im t strong solutions of these substances are boiled with ireal 
hen Saussure ad shown that oxygen is necessary to mould; but u bot 
f the srs hands of this dis tric t; 
and, alaram that it will i 
expense, it is AREAN whethe er it is desirable in 
any case, in order that the drains may more re adily be- 
| come effectual, that an ld be le id 
on the tiles that would admit the water og i tious 
above; or whether it is deciable to endeavo o pre- 
| vent the water from having any access fro teh toa a and 
by that means prevent any argo of =y sand or 
sediment hn carried down into the drains with the 
w vater discussi on on tis s ‘ations prvi arose, -~ 
en m 
mixed with carbonic acid before it can be absorbed | saturated fades alkalie l 
y the plant ; so the next philosopher Jape ed over the car rbon sA a s could "receive, supposing all the rain an 
fiv f, 
dered b feag members, that as 
there. is very ‘little <i ets ‘dang of sand washing 
urdle Where it was a little lower, and mix at out 
ry fi 
rough ai pease or ee 
lime—an ext reme, in an impossible case d 
e drains ; ; and ‘considering at the e time 
that i 1 in 
hey shook their heads i in Ahi at t fee yet, admitting its Possibility, the crop growing on 
is 
Ə 
onger 
t be advantageous to use means to 
facilitate the effect 7 the degre Ot her ers, however, 
nd t 1 ug 
their career of error. But what was this boasted ex- | acid, which ld quivalent to the carbon exist 
} ment wo rth? IfI finda man benumbed with cold, | ing on the rooi hig leaves alone, all 
where a large fire diffuses its | the stem. alder, a —— of great eminence 
oe mth, and see the numbing effects of the cold and acknowledged accuracy, has j blis} 
field to the rays of heat from the re, have I not aright of the 
ay that warmth i is favourable to animal life? “ Oh !” | There are eleven t i "asi four of 
ays my opponent, “‘ I can soon test "the trath of your whic h only succeeded. In two of press in which he 
ory ;’’ and he lifts up the benumbed man, and y or black matter alone, the plants grew 
m actually u pon the top of the blazing fire, brihi he Saoerna indifferent—not much better es teeta 
ood w 
a that in al lands that are pedicel hg aria 
drained, the Jand should be laid perfectly level, high 
ridges belag n no longer necessary. Tis vakalmors apnea 
aleo was th at efficient thorough-draining a Dee 
f Pani andl 
ashes ; and then he turns to me, and and and ashe es; ; but in the two in which humate of a 
8 a o 
ys, “Are you still of opinion that heat is Bat I 
b A he experiment with carbonic ita is gone say, that these grew, on account of the ammonia, Thee ex- 
e allegation is not that plants can 
efficiently atea He were 
certain af ging ‘enefted by his outlay. A question 
"betwee 
iThe 
i f wholly on carbonic acid, if the other conditions f r dition for pl 
n using 
E 
i pe- tiles; 3 and Mr. Pease re- 
ferred to a tab «ge Mr. Dei in the Journal of the 
o 5 
itio aR absent ; for Saussure kas shown, that, as | I do not de eny that hamus, or is favour: 
5 
gas the amount of ee seig is not more than ble to vegetation : contrary I recognise its im- 
mount of the 
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Royal Agimi Society of Eng lan d, showing that the 
about 3/. Mr. Parrington stated that ‘be had 
‘ k gued for is, 
feater luxuriance than in octets air it be humus, but that its action co 
i yond that quantity, it is Finely retetei nigina for carbonic acid, to a ingra ay the rast 
when 
d be 
been g nies with No. 1 tiles, the. tote oe ee of 
Mr. 
mp over such a high hurdie of absurdity as Saus ure showed th ate. 
EAIA aid that his mn genera 
ut once ju 
t Just described, and the phantom-chasing phil it absorbs 
ers find all ae rest ratte Plants, according to them, It is by being a source eye carbonic acid that he aca is 
m a complex food, such as animals do. vegetation, This isa much more eee 
a black vatmee “whic h th 5 ge dignified | view than the idea that it is saeir absorbed into plants 
ier the various titles of humus, humin, humic acid, quasi humus. Since ne mentioned, in 1 th t 
a 
à, ulmic acid, geio, geic acid, crenic acid, apocrenic | charcoal increases the eth and mente of plants, the 
A ohne rey &c. &c. This black sub-| experiment has been tried ; and indeed it is greatly 
ice dissolves in alkalies, in lime, or in ammonia; | used by gardeners all over the patsy The charcoal 
d, when thus dissolved, enters the plant, a and Sees does not act by gi ving one atom n of it its own to he plant, 
¥ ‘bon. No ow, sa g the ai w, admit 
1 All fertile soils oor ain abundance of this it that the action of I i to th 
lly ge re ost up- 
ae of il. per acre. The subject fixed for Aee 
at the March Monthly Fence is, The best Rotation of 
nd tL [Ti i 
above the drains i is very interesting ; the accuracy o of the 
paa onit, » must 
depe of course, on the ‘circumstances of soil, &e., 
which “arate bgt neighbourhood, of whi ch they 
alone a competent judges ; 
may be ederin from the above Report, we 
Vegetable mould is in fact this humus Eoari } d th halati oe ens by plants 
are inclined to ga ee e with them. The abs olute and un. 
Soils of America conten little else ; every wich eS t Th 
point, contains abundance of it.” “ Ad- | abs br it ur ae day, əs ares det Aug Ken night ; 
e€, who advocate the opposite theory. | but, being carried up by the as into the leaves, it is | w 
ca Ola 
of re ndering the top of the drains i impervious to water, 
ould lead to the belief that such a process is thought to 
E an a aran ETa? absolute “aid tot he efficiency of the 
d el, 
water ‘fr rom any mediu um, is the better for gt one of 
—the oxyg ir acts upon the ed, ved 
and leaves this brown mass, consisting night the carboni pic acid, penteig by the thats is carried 
te as the it J the combustion.” | up into the leav o lon PRSE. 
he sun, andi 
so 
s humus be esult of the decay 
nothing can 
evil— 
: at Ath did the Ain plants in the oR This r erri of carbonic Ret at aa is a mere 
con D, for bumus S co uld n then hav - | mechanical, and not a vital action, and has not the most 
E TEP t 1 +, + eee f ; 1 
od w" 
pe 
e other yay > London, ae that i is the uestion 
Races eked, or Ce i FARMERS’ CLUB 
he s 
where h ith vegetation, under circumstan- vantageous Method of Draining Strong oy "I r 
on th umus never could gete existed; Lichens | Walton, the Vice-Chairman, introduced the subject by 
re huo Tels of our houses and on desert rocks, | reading an essay from the pen of Mr. Davidson, illus- 
$ never been 3 ; we can grow plants trate d by plans and sections of the drainage of some 
SEE l e cenny drained by him whilst farming i 
: Immense crops are every ro taken Northumberlan Mr. A nal = tha t he believed 
with ashes with gyps um l vith ti ti r with bo oth, that is 
t fer. 
p 
lad 
p 
z 
effic 
' i ime etal pheromens.” “But,” I replied, Bahet gust on the late Monthly Meeting « ik ter 
more obviously AHARIA The practice is an 
te can be no doubt of it; 
arise is, whether or not it i a necessary evil, and this, 
we apprehend, is what in the majority of cases it m tbe 
bri 
thers no other way of hinderin g the entrance of thi 
sand? We cannot but think there i w me oy MEd expe- 
rience can alone determine this point. ] 
Miscellan 
Management of Farm-yard Maat oe is 
that the resinous | and aromatic juices co contained i 
i ne o 
SA clayey lands grow larger erops after iy inde should not aa reap than from 2} to 3 
ite hes all the ae ust be dee Mr. _ Pearson. thoug he that in strong lands the 
e necessit 
ition; but what ESES are not to b 
reason and vigilance, seconded by indu: 
ge by subm 
y fo uy 
The mmen: nse marine ten s of giant S 
zal Darwin in his voyage int the Bazie. ps water was more a ag to gary. tint a shallow 
of which, according to Cook, are | drain than a deep o ser Spat Parrington seid he „had 
Kliy bed subdued ti = J 
SABIN, grow in the sea, where certainly drained a goo 
d deal a 
deat psi aed plant. on reach a length unat- | 2 feet; he thought tbat 18 to be inches, where it was 
sands 
utt 
y 
il, was sufficient. He had AN pine 
| bi 
ace = e tropics Sasa to the “aid st Ter aS she aye mies x nd cequaintanaty Thof 10 6 in vi ct, ise agai 
i zE = ae te Orests of the western continent, | th i myself: 
re, contain such an amount of car- Mr. Johnson fo ear t he EA for ani years | me 
it could have been deiseal} been i in the habit of draining considerable quaker of Kliyogg 
such Fa these, by allow- | land, and had dese! found it to answer his thanked 
tio 
expecta 
clr wane are to my mind a hun- | tig had gene y drai ned from about 2 inches to TA 
ng than the attempts to crush | deep, and ee 43 feet between the A great por- 
and vi, 
