Tlie Prize Farms of France. 
37 
mind as well as saw the towns of men, and thereby became one 
of the most ready-witted of mankind, the farmer, amongst others, 
will visit foreign countries irith an object, and he will reap both 
pleasure and profit from so doing. He will then have a cordial 
M elcome from French agriculturists ; because, to quote the 
language of the leading French agricultural journal,* when 
recording the death of our late eminent breeder, Mr. Jonas 
Webb, " in the ranks of those who labour for the advancement of 
agriculture, th3 divisions and jealousies which part nation from 
nation and race from race are unknown." Topics of common 
interest will abound ; some deference, some precedence, even, 
will be allowed to the English cultivator. He will have but one 
regret, viz., that he cannot express himself with ease and fluency, 
on technical points at least, in the French language. If he would 
remove this disability from himself or his sons, he cannot do 
better than become a subscriber to the ' Journal d' Agriculture 
Pratique,' a number of which journal will be delivered to him by 
post every fortnight, as easily and regularly as an English news- 
paper. He will find it, on the whole, the most readable of all 
modern publications which combine agricultural intelligence 
with scientific research. To its pages the writer of this paper is 
indebted for his materials. 
III. — On the Absorption of Soluble Phosphate of Lime by dif- 
ferent Soils of knoicn composition ; and Remarhs on the Applica- 
tion of Superphosphate and other Phosphatic Manures to Root- 
crops. By Dr. Augustus Voelcker. 
Of all artificial manures none is more largelv employed in agri- 
culture than superphosphate of lime, which probably constitutes 
fully three-quarters of all our chemically-prepared fertilizers. 
Its manufacture, commenced and at present carried on in Eng- 
land on a gigantic scale, is now rapidly extending on the Con- 
tinent. At first, bone-dust was the only phosphatic raw material 
which, by means of sulphuric acid, was converted into super- 
phosphate ; but the insufficiency of the supply of bone-dust soon 
compelled the manufacturer to resort to such other materials as 
animal charcoal. South American bone-ash, coprolites, apatite, 
Sombrero phosphate, Kooria Mooria guano, and various other 
semi-fossilized phosphatic guanos, until, as a rule, bone-dust is 
either altogether excluded or but sparingly employed in the 
manufacture of superphosphate. 
• Journal d' Agriculture Pratique, Dec. 5, 1862. 
