870 
THE TF^OPIOAL AGRIOULTU RlSTf 
[June i, 1891 
for the cli-coverers, however, the patent was not tahen 
out simultiuieonsly in different countries, and to a low- 
suit IS the result. 
The two bard-working French ehcmiftp, Messieurs 
Berthelot and Andre, bave read a jjaper before the 
Paris Academy on the presence and iuliuence of 
sulphur in vegetation. This paper is the result of a 
series of expeiiraents, all of which indicate, among 
other things, that the proportion of su'phur increns-s 
in plants up to the time of their flowering, after which 
it decreases. 
One of the most retrarkable orders of flowering plants 
in the world is the Podostemacse, confined to South 
America, and especially abundant in the rivers of British 
Guiana. These plams grows on the submerged rocks 
in the falls and rocky beds of the rivers, where they | 
break out into dense and beautiful sheets of pink 
blossoms when the wafers subside during the dry 
seasons. The order comprises several gene-'a and many 
species. The plants adhere to the rocks like sea-weeds 
by a disc-like base of the slem, which bolds them 
with such tenacity during the stress and strain of 
the rushing waters that iu removing them by main 
force a portion of the rock is oiten carried away 
with the plant. During a greater part of the year 
the plants are submerged, and they then float like 
sea- weeds do at the bottom of the sea. They take 
advantage of the dry seasons to flower and fruit. 
Dr. Goebel has been specially studying this remark- 
able group of flowering plants, and will shortly publish 
his researches. — Australasian. 
— 
SCIENCE OF THE DAY. 
BY A B. Sc. 
The amount of agricultural experimenting carried 
on in the United Slates is really surpns ng, and if the 
American farmers are intelligent enough _ to take 
systematic advantage of it great mitiocal .-aving ought 
to result. As samples of the sort of work being done 
a couple cf recert investigations may te described. 
The rearing cf pigs is more largely undertaken in 
parts of the United States than in any other count: y 
in the world, and the problem with farmers has been 
how best to fatten pigs at the cheapest rate. Maize- 
meal has been a favorite teed, but experience has 
shown that after a certain point pigs cease to gain 
weight on maizemeal, although they can still put on 
a good deal more flesh on richer and more expensive 
diet. It had been mticod that ihe bones of hogs 
fed oil maizemeal were smaller and weaker than usual, 
and it was inferred ibat probably the maiz' meil-fed 
hog put on as much flesh as his bones would carry, 
and that ifonly enough bone-making food were supplied 
the fattening on maizemeal could be carried much 
farther. Farmers had tried mixing wood ashes in the 
maizemeal with some success. At this stage the 
Agricultural Staliou of tlie University of AYisconsin 
took up the enquiry ; it was proved fi;st by breaking 
tests that the bones of maize-fed hogs were much 
weaker than they ought to he, aud meanwhile several 
lots of hogs were reared on different diets, some on 
maize, some on maizo and wood ashes, aud si'me on 
maize wood ashes and bone meal or ground bones. 
The uce of bonemeal reduced the cost of putting 
1(10 lb. weight into a hog by 28 per cent. It is evident 
how important .such a result must be to thousands of 
farmers in the United States, who for years have 
practically been watthig a quarter of the feed given 
to pigB. 
At another experimental farming station a senes of 
1 rials wore made as to whether it could ho mado lo 
jmy to plant special fields of hoiiey--h(!ariiig llower.s 
for bees. The conditions iiro hard lo lali.sfy, the plants 
must ho mch as will grow in wosto ground that 
cannot he i/ut to better uses, the seed must bo easy 
to gather, and easy to sow, ned tlicplnnts bavdy. Three 
jdants of most promisowero tried, hutthc results were 
pretty clear that so far as these experiments went it 
eonid not ho made to pay to grow feed for boos. 
How'iver, the thing is to bo still further tried in the 
iuUiroBta cf the many scienlifio beekeepers who are 
kept anxious by the strange fluctuations in the honey 
yield cf wild flowers. — Adelaide Ohseiver. 
Manufacture of Salt in China.— In tCbina, salt 
which is a government monopoly, is obtained by the 
evaporation of the water cf the brine wells which 
abound in certain district.s < f Sz-chuen. The wells are 
found about 175 miles from Chung-king, on the bank 
of an affluent of the Yang-tze R ver, near the flourish- 
ing city of Tzu-lin-tsin. The manufacture of salt, 
which ba.s been carried on here for sixteen hundred 
to two thousand years, is conducted somewhat as 
follows, according to a recent Consular Report: By 
means of a rnde iron drill, holes C inches in diameter 
and varying from a few score of feet to 5,000 or 
6,000 feet in depth are bored iu the rock. The boring 
sometimes lasts for forty years before brine is reached, 
aud is carried on from generation to generation. 
When brine is finally found it is diawn up by bullocks 
in long bamboo tubes by means of a rope working 
over a huge chum. In the vicinity of the salt wells 
natural-ges wells ere al-o found, from which gas is 
supplied to evaporate the brine in large iron c aldrons 
leaving the puce salt as a deposit. The product of 
salt in the district is enormous. There are twenty - 
four gas wells and about a thousand brine we is now 
in operation, producing amni’illy 2(X),O0fl tons of salt, 
valued at S5,000,000. — Engineering and Mining Journal. 
Barometric Plants. — The Petit Traite de Meteoro- 
logie Agricole, by Mr. Cana, contains a list of prognoitics 
apropos of the a.spect” that cerlain plants present 
according to the state of the atmosphere. The following 
are a few examples: — If the head of the gith (Nigalla 
sativa) droops, it will be warm ; if the head of the 
same plant stands upright, it wi.l be cool ; if the stalks 
cf clover and ether leguminous plants stand upright, 
there will be rain ; if the leaf of the wood sorrel 
turns up, it is a sign of a storm ; if the leaf of the 
whitlow grass slowly bends up, there will he a storm; 
if the flower of the convoivolns closes, it will rain; it 
the flower cf the irimpernel closes, it will rain; if the 
flower of the hibiscus closes, it will rain ; if the flower 
of the sorrel opens it will be fine weaUier; if theflower 
of the same plant closes, it will rain; it the flowers of 
oarline thistle close, there will he a storm ; if the flower 
of the Rtiuoe expands, it will rain; if the flower of 
the small bindweed closes, look out fir rain; if the 
flower of the pitcher plant turns upside down, it will 
rain; hut, if it stands ere ct, it wilt be fine weather; 
if the flower cf the ciuquefoil expands, there will be 
rain ; but, if it closes, the weather will be fair ; if the 
flowers of the African marigold close, it will rain ; if 
the scales of the tea.sel become close pressed against 
each other, it will rain. — Melbourne Leader, 

SWEET-SCENTED FLOWERS. 
One of the greatest charms of old-fashioned gardens 
used lo he the number of sweet-scented, flowering and 
other plants they contained, and the fragrant atmos- 
phere they consequently afforded at almost ail seasons 
of the year. IVe have few if any roses so sweet as 
the old cabbage, monthly, and other varieties, and 
wall-flowers or gilly-flowers, stocks, violets, carnations, 
lilies, lilacs, and a score of others, as well as Sweetbriar, 
and other, frag rant foliaged plants, were among the chief 
occupants, and always held an honoured place. We 
have greatly the extended list of subjects to choose from 
in these days, but though our gardens may he gayer 
than of old, Urey are decidedly not so sweet. 
Roses, are favourites everywhere. For fragrance the 
old cabbage rose is unequalled ; then come the monthly 
Maiden’s Bluth, aud many old-fashioned sorts : the 
more modern tea-scented varieties, and General 
Jacqueminot, La France, Bessie Johnson, and 
otlurs among the hybrid-perpetuals ; Celine Foresticr 
(Noisette) is also very sweet. 
Wallflowers are simply delicious, and a favourite 
flower on aoconnt of their perfume alone. The single 
dark crimson variety is the most fragrant, though all 
possess a more or less pronounced scent. Old plants 
may often be seen in gardens, but the best way to 
have good wallflowers is to treat them as bieeniala 
