9 



1. Weigh an imperial half -pint of the soil in its natural condition. The result multiplied by 



150 will be the weight of a cubic foot of that soil within a fraction. 



2. Dry the soil in the sun. The loss is the water with which it will part under atmospheric 



conditions. 



3. Expose the soil to 300° F. until it ceases to lose weight. The loss on its original weight 



indicates the total amount of water it contains under ordinary conditions. 



4. Burn whatever remains. The loss is mostly organic matter. 



5. Add to some of the soil strong hydrochloric acid. The presence of lime is indicated by an 



effervescence. If peroxide of iron (that is, iron in its beneficial form) is 'present, the acid 

 will quickly become brown ; and if bluck oxide of manganese is present,, chlorine will be 

 evolved, and its peculiar smell readily recognized. 



6. Wash your sample of soil under a very gentle tap in a shallow dish or in a running stream, 



so as to get all the clay out of it. This requires some time, care and patience. What ia 

 left is insoluble siliceous sand. 



7. Dissolve common soda in a small enamelled saucepan of water. Powder some of your soil; put 



into the water and well boil. Pour the solution into a tumbler and allow to settle, then 

 pour off into another glass without sediment. It will be of a clear brown colour Add 

 vinegar or dilute hydrochloric acid, and if humic acid be present in the earth brown flakes 

 will fall in the solution. Poor soils possess little or no humic acid, rich soils contain 

 much. 



8. To test presence of phosphates of lime, weigh 200 grains of soil into a glass, pour half-an- 



ounce of dilute hydrochloric acid over it. Stir with a glass rod. Lst stanl for thirty 

 hours, then add half-an-cunce of distilled water. t*tir again and filter through a filter 

 paper. To the clear solution add a little liquid ammonia, and if phosphate of lime be> 

 present an aniber liquid will rise to the top and float on the water. 



9. Saltpetre may be determined by boiling 5U0 grains of powdered soil in two ounces of distilled 



water. Cool and filter. Evaporate the solution to a teaspoonful, and then dip in it a bit 

 of the margin of a newspaper or other unglazed paper, and sun-dry it. When dry, if nitre 

 is present in the soil the piece of paper will burn like touch paper." 



THE MANGOSTEEN. 



There are two trees of the celebrated Mangosteen in Castleton Garden, but they have only occa- 

 sionally produced one or two fruits, and these were very inferior to the description given by those who 

 have eaten the fruit in the Malay Islands. This year however one tree has borne several fruits and of 

 a better quality. 



Firminger states that " the cultivation of the Mangosteen in the open air, at least as high north 

 as any part of Bengal, seem3 now pretty well decided to be impracticable. Plants have been repeat- 

 edly introduced into the gardens about Calcutta, but have never been known to yield fruit." I think, 

 however, from this year's experience that although it has not been successfully grown outside its 

 native country, except perhaps, in a few spots in southern India, we need not despair of its cultivation 

 in Jamaica. 



The tree grows to a height of 20 to 30 feet, with simple elliptical, pointed leaves, and dull red 

 flowers, about the size of u wild ro^o. 



|!t&;' Dr. Abel, writing of the fruit of Baiavia, says : " First in beauty and flavour was the celebrated 

 Mangosteen. This, so often eulogised by travellers, certainly, deserves much of the praise bestowed 

 upon it. It is of a spherical form, of the sizo of a small orange, when ripe, reddish brown, and when 

 old of a chestnut brown colour. Its succulent rind is nearly the fourth of an inch in thickness. It 

 contains a very powerful astringent juice, and in w^t weather exudes a yellow gum which is a variety 

 of ghinbcge. On removing the rind, its esculent substance appears in the form of a juicy pulp, having 

 the whiteness and solubility of snow, and of a refreshing, delicate, delicious flavour. 



We were - all anxious to carry away with us some precise expression of its qualities : but after 

 satisfying ourselves that it partook of the compound taste of the pine-apple and peach, we were obliged 

 to confess it had many other equally good but utterly inexpressible qualities." 



It is said that to taste the fruit iu perfection it must be eaten us it i3 gathered from the tree. 



THE JAMAICA FORGET-ME-NOT. 



The following note from the " Gardeners Chronicle" will interest those who arc familiar with the 

 pretty blue Jamaica Forget-me-not (Broicallia demissa.) 



"1 he gnat botanist, Linnaous, had amoug his numerous acquaintances a certain friend named 

 John Browall, who was veiy humble in his relations with Linnaeus, and, having adopted his new 

 sexual system of botany, wiote an article against Seigesbeck defending that system. Linnaeus, in ac- 

 knowledgment of his friend's services, dedicated to him a genus of a single species, naming it Broicallia 

 demissa. Shortly afterwards Browall, having been mado Bishop of Abo, assumed the pomp and dig- 

 nity of a great magnate, and Linnaeus having discovered a second species of this genus named it Broio- 

 allia exaltata. 



Th is excited the wrath of Browall, und he proceeded to write pamphlets against Linnaeus, de- 

 nouncing him in the most severe language. Later on, Linnaeus discovered a third species differing 

 slightly from the original outline of the genus, which he named, Broicallia alienata. The two men 

 wcie never afterwards reconciled to each other, and thus we have, preserved in the nomenclature at 

 this genus, a historical incident to which future g3nerations of botanists will look back with consider- 

 able interest." 



