'294 



T>£E SOUTHEEN PLANTEK. 



recipe for destroying vermin on animals, and also 

 on plants and trees — important at least, if true. 

 The process he recommends is to make a solution 

 of aloes — one gramme of that gum to a litre of wa- 

 ter — French measure — and, by means of a large 

 brush, to wash over the trunks and branches of 

 trees with this solution. This simple process, says 

 Kaspial, will speedily destroy all the vermin on the 

 trees, and will efiectually prevent others from ap- 

 proaching. In order to clear sheep and animals 

 %vith long hair, they must be bathed with the solu- 

 tion, or be well washed with it. Raspial mentions 

 several trials he has made with this mixture, all of 

 which have been attended with the most complete 

 success, and he recommends it very strongly to 

 general use. I can only say that if a simple solu- 

 tion of aloes and water will kill or drive away ants 

 from peach and other trees in Texas and other 

 parts of the South, the discovery will be hailed 

 with pleasure. At all events there is no harm in 

 trying the experiment. A French litre is a little 

 less than three of our pints — gramme is the five- 

 hundredth part of a French pound. A little aloes, 

 if useful at all, will thus go a great way. Were I 

 troubled with ants or other vermin, in Texas, I 

 should certainly try Raspial's solution." 



; !' ■ ' ■ From the Marlborough Gazette. 



SUPER PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



Laboratory of State Chemist, ) 

 No. 26, Exchange Building, Aug. 20, 1854. j 



Dear Sir, — I regret to inform you that I 

 have not been able to make any analyses of the 

 artificial manures new offered for sale in our 

 market; having net more time at my disposal 

 than is necessary to analyze the soils, marls, 

 &c., of the particular counties in which I have 

 been engaged. The office of my assistant ex- 

 pired on the 10th of last March, and, according 

 to the decision of the Comptroller of the Trea- 

 sury the A2:)propriation Bill did not per se. 

 continue his scdary. The law was not enacted 

 to continue to the State the services of this 

 eminently skilful and industrious gentleman, 

 though several of the largest counties in the 

 State have yet to be examined. The informa- 

 tion which I shall give you must, therefore, be 

 derived from what these manures say for them- 

 selves by their interpreted analyses. 



The only manure which has recently been 

 brought prominently before the public is one 

 called "C. B. BeBurg's Stqoer PJiosphate of 

 Lime.'''' This manure has been extensively ad- 

 vertised in the public papers, and also by means 

 of printed sheets containing its analysis, and a 

 recommendation by Dr. David Stewart, a che- 

 mist of this city. From an attentive examina- 

 tion of the report on this manure, one of two 

 conclusions must be formed: first, either the 

 analysis must be incorrect ; or, that this manure 

 is sold under a false name, it being no " super 

 phosphate." 



" Super phosphate of lime," as we know, and 



as is particularly stated to us in the Baltimore 

 Weekly " Sun" of May 20th, should be nothing 

 else but bones (or other phosphates) dissolved 

 in sulphuric acid; and theory shows the mix- 

 ture of both to be: for every 100 lbs. bf raw 

 bones 29 lbs. of oil of vitriol. Such a mixture 

 would then contain about 21 lbs. of real sul- 

 phuric acid, without water, and its composition 

 would be pretty well represented by the follow- 



ing numbers : 



Moisture 10 



Animal matter ^ 27 



Containing of nitrogen 1.25=^to ammonia 1.5. 

 Hydrated sulphate of lime (vilaster of Paris) ... 39 

 Containing of real sulphuric acid, 18, 



Bi-phosphate of linxe, soluble 24 



Containing of -phosphoric acid 17. 



T. Thomas Way, Consulting Chemist to the 

 Royal Agricultural Society of England, re- 



marks that no neutral or insoluble phosphate is 

 mentioned, because it is supposed to be entirely 

 converted into bi-phosphate (super-phosphate;) 

 with it must be said, however, that it is practi- 

 cally impossible to do this. The manufacturer 

 will either fall somewhat short of the entire 

 decomposition of the phosphate, or he will go 

 beyond it, setting phosphoric acid free; which, 

 to the consumer, is by no means an objection. 

 But it is certainly an object to exceed rather 

 than fall short of the mark, so as to leave none 

 of the insoluble phosphate unacted on. 



The above statement gives us the composi- 

 tion for the best article of "super phosphate 

 of lime," and though it cannot be practically 

 made in such a perfect manner as it is repre- 

 sented by the above numbers, it will, neverthe- 

 less, be the surest and most natural standard 

 by which the quality of all fertilizers belonging 

 to this class should be estimated. 



Let us now see what Dr. Stewart says in his 

 "Report of Analysis of a sample of C, B. 

 DeBurg's Super Phosphate of Lime." The 

 following is a true copy of the published ana- 

 lysis, with an annexed recapitulation as given 

 by him : 



Report of Analysis of a Sample of "C, B. DeBurg's 

 Super Phosphate of Lime." — February, 1854. 



PROXIMATE ANALYSIS. 



Water 16.40 



Organic matter — 



Containing ammonia 25.50 



Ash *58.10 



PROXIMATE ANALYSIS OF ABOVE ASH. 



Phosphoric acid 18.63 



Lime 21.33 



Magnesia 02.79 



Insoluble residue 09.80 



Salt, potash and soda, sulphuric acid, &c. . . .05.55 



*58.10 



Total proportion of manure soluble in fresh cold 



