382 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE 
[Serremmer 21, 1495, 
EDITORIAL NOTICES. 
Advertisements should be sent to the PUBLISHER. 
Ilustrations.—T7Ae Editor will thankfully receive and select 
— of gardens, or of remar 
; but he cannot be responsible for loss or inj 
APPOINTMENTS FOR.THE ENSUING WEEK. 
SHOW. 
Royal Horticultural Society: ane 
Show of British- — Fruits a 
THURSDAY, SEPT. в) 
the Crystal Ра1ас 
MONDAY, SEPT. 23 1 Bulbs, at eee & Morris’ 
tch Bulbs, Fe Protheroe & 
Morris’ Rooms. 
Highly important Sale of the cele- 
brated Beech Lawn Collection of 
CA P". Orchids, by order of 
R. Lee, Esq., xi Protheroe & 
TUESDAY, SEPT. ч 
Dutch , Bills a даде & 
Morris’ Rooms, 
Айй: Unreserved Clearance — 
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 25 m Gr 
THURSDAY, SEPT. 26 { Dutch ачаа аё Protheroe & Moriis’ 
* кае аё Protheroe & Morris’ 
FRIDAY, SEPT. 27 orchids, “at Protheroe & Morris’ 
Roo: 
SATURDAY, SEPT. 28 — Bulls, at Prothero» & Morris' 
CORRECTED AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE ENSU- 
ING WEEK, DEDUCED FROM THE OBSERVATIONS 
OF FORTY-THREE YEARS, AT CHISWICK.— 55.9, 
Fon many zers of its 
tified with agriculture ; ; and the 
Agricultural Gazette was recognised as one of the 
farmer’s staunchest friends and ablest advocates 
of his best interests. The man above most other 
men who was noted as the best friend of agricul- 
turists was the Editor of the Gazette—Mr. Јонм 
C. dece ; and his writings of repe tnn 
о vo-day as 
enia were | when: first this journal saw the light, 
Mr. Morton has gone to his rest, but the good 
he essayed to do, and did, has not been “interred 
with his bones,” and of this we have daily evi- 
dence ; amongst other bodies the British Asso- 
ciation has taken up the subject of agriculture, 
and in the endeavour to forward its interests 
has achieved some amount of success, and here it 
may not be out of place to remind our readers 
that the e Agricultural Gazette's remedy for agri- 
was summed up in the words, 
ziv land, freedom of 
rested in peces ut the tions were 
not warranted by the result, Men of high autho- 
rity in various departments of scienoe spoke on 
the subject of Government aid to education, and 
the endowment of experiment; on the extension 
of the work of the Board of Agriculture; to the 
publication of results obtained by experimenters, 
. the duty of County and Distriot Councils in the 
matter of ag education; but not a 
d that wo an discover on th the means 
to 
the vilas стага 
uu E т experiment is ¢ 
and it being admitted that r apicis ie ы 
industry like weaving or iron-working, some 
notice might have been taken of the rela- 
tive position of all in the matter of freedom 
of action, of the chances of profit in investment 
of capital іп one, as compared with the other. It 
was gratifying to note appreciation of the fact 
that whilst the area devoted to Wheat-growing 
is decreasing, that set apart for Oats and Barley 
as steadily inoreasing—furthermore that the 
increase in the number of breeding swine was 
something like 25 per cent Я 
And so it comes to pass that, however 
interesting were the papers read and the conse- 
quent discussion thereon at Monday’s meeting of 
ihe British Association — and п an 
said -— their value in these separate 
respects— forced to the conclusion that 
the old wien of the Agricultural Gazette 
above recorded are as unimpeachable as ever— 
free land for the farmer, freedom of contract, 
sufficiency of capital, and of brain power. Given 
all these, and this one industry must prove as 
successful as any other in the land. 
БЕ 
From the earliest period to the 
present day adequate tillage of 
he soil has been counselled and 
practised, but so slow are the processes of the 
uman mind that although the operation has 
been practised from time immemorial, it is only 
now, thanks to the labours of a few chemists 
and gdh that we are I. to realise 
in what the advantages consist, In the course 
of а decade or two the еси have lighted 
upon truths of the utmost practical importance, 
which successive ere of praotitioners, 
from the time of th е expulsion from Eden ti 
now, have failed to recognize. The ас зан has 
‘been suggested to us by a paper published in 
the Revue Scientifique for June 22, by M. P.-P. 
DxenfnarN, on the Effects of Tillage in Pro- 
moting Nitrification in the Soil" The oon- 
clusions arrived > dapes in brief, as follows :— 
We know now e advantage of the 
phosphates and of ae of potash ; and if we knew 
at the right time how to convert the nitrogen 
contained in the humus of the soil into nitrates, 
eee produce would be proportionately 
Tillage and 
Nitrification, 
"To ensure such results the soil has, from 
remote ages, bee 
the conditions under whioh alone it is beneficial. 
However thoroughly ploughing and digging be 
done, meme value is but little unless the soil be 
condition. 1f the ferments in the 
iti to exoite are 
not pees their 
work in early spring, ds t tillage is 
+ 
The whole question of nitrification is - 
nated by the slowness of the evolution of the 
nitrio ferments. red inert by the frosts 
of winter, it is but slowly that they begin their 
work of nitrification, and produce only in April 
May insufficient quantities of nitrates, 
Hence the necessity for the employment of 
nitrate of soda; henoe the necessity for having 
a fleet constantly at sea, conveying these nitrates 
"t the coast of the Paci 
Now w the ground is damp, well aérated, 
and the ferments are active, there are produced, 
without any addition, many more nitrates than 
trogen per 
100 grammes, or 390 milligrammes per kilo., or 
grammes; per tonne, or, lastly, 890 kilos. to 
1000 tons—that is to say, infinitely more than 
is necessary for the heaviest harvest, In 
the same calculations to the soil - 2 el 
Loir there were found 8 the insufficient 
amount of 25 kilos. of nitroge 
* What then is lacking?“ d M.D 
Replying to e own question he repeats, “ Active 
ferments." e go further, that is to say, 
can we iak eas formants and pass their 
е M from one soil to another? 
Can we, spring, sow nitric ferments in full 
activity ' eni A supply the place of thos 
paralysed by t rosts of winter? Is this ар 
impossible аа I know not, ec 
plants owe their property of fixing atmospheriy 
nitrogen to the presence on their roots of nodules 
filled with bacteria; now, already, 
place to another, 
do these soils contain? 
problems which are now to be attacked, 
but without discounting future possibility and 
limiting ourselves to present knowledge, we now 
know that if we put the ferments of the soil into 
working order, we can obtain from it more 
nitrates than the heaviest crops require, and, if 
we remember that it is not only under the 
influence of micro-organisms that the nitrogen 
becomes assimilable, but that it is 
also d their png that atmospheric nitrogen 
es fixed, that to the cycle of 
anion’ beings, we recognize te true and 
Ан profound was the saying of M. BERTHELOT 
e earth is a living thing !" 
The paper concluded with an eloquent tribute 
ose labours 
to the genius of PASTEUR, by W 
the nature e Mire and the 1 
on which t 
e of wine, beer, and 
vinegar rie have been n eod PASTEUR 
has investigated the parasitio cp osusing - 
which surrounded so many of the diseases M 
mankind is gradually being are 
PasrEUR teaches us how to with b. | 
phobia; опе of his peas A the 72 
of diphtheria. But to ou mankind is n 
sufficient. The healthy mus ^ fed, and 
we see more clearly how this is to be acoom- 
that the fertility 
the єр 
plished, and we recognize to-day 
of the soil is due to the action of 
which it contains. 
r 28, Pian on 
Анне of Hardy 1 
hers are particularly re 
EHERAIN, | 
1 
9 
.. — ЗАННАН. 
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