ture. 



170 ANALYSIS OF SOME STEATITES, 



that is poor and lig^ht, especially if sandy, suits it, where it 

 seldom exceeds the size of one's thumb or middle finger; in 

 rich manured earth it grows much larger, but is not so sweet 



Modeofcul- or good in quality. The season for sowing the principal 

 crop is any time from the middle of July to the end of Au- 

 guft, or even later in this country, where our frost seldom 

 sets in before Christmas. If the season should prove dry, 

 it will be necessary to water the beds regularly, till the plants 

 have got three or four leaves, otherwise they will be deftroyed 

 by the fly; and this crop will supply the table till April, 

 If wanted during the whole year, a little seed may be sown 

 the latter end of October, and these plants, if they do not 

 miscarry, will be fit for use in April or May. The last crop 

 maybe sown from the middle of January to the middle of 

 February, which will also come in the end of May and 

 June, but in July and August they will not be very good, 

 and as at that season of the year there is an abundance of 

 other vegetables, it is of less consequence; upon a north 

 border, however, and in a sandy moist soil, it is possible to 

 have them sweet and tender during the whole summer. 



Saving the To save good seeds, you should, in February, or the be- 



ginning of March, transplant some of *the finest roots, 

 placing them two feet asunder, and keeping the ground re-- 

 peatedly hoed : when the seed pods are formed, they should 

 be guarded from the birds, either with nets, or shooting 

 some, and hanging them up upon sticks. As soon as they 

 change colour, cut the heads, and spread them to dry in the 

 sun, after which beat out the seed, and lay it up for use. 



III. 



Comparative AnmJi/sis of some Varieties of Steatitet or Tak I 

 by Mr. Vauquelin*. 



rnctuosiiy of JlT has commonly been supposed, that the smoothness and 

 ste-adte^suppo- unctuosity of the stones called steatites were owin^ to the pre- 

 yed owin;; to x- • i i • i 

 jnagne?U. sence ot magnesia, because this earth had been found in every 



one analysed, V>d in consequence all the stones that had these 



♦ Annales de Chimie, vol. XUX, p. 74. • 



external 



seed, 



