127 
Experiments on Staining Wood . 
But if this composition answers the purpose, as I flat- 
ter myself it will, a very short time will see almost 
every weed destroyed, which supposing to be the case, 
I have made my calculations with clover, grown for the 
purpose ; for instance, I will take one acre of clover, 
which at one cutting will produce from fourteen to 
eighteen tons of green vegetable matter, and about three 
tons of lime : this, when decomposed by the above pro- 
cess, will yield ashes sufficient to manure four acres, the 
value of which I estimate at something under four 
pounds ; the clover, according to the value of land here, 
I will say two pounds, which, take the average of the 
kingdom, is too much. The lime I will also say two 
pounds; but that will vary, according to the distance it 
is to be fetched. Take them together, I think will be 
about the average value. Now if this is the case, and 
as far as I have been able to try it I find so, how va- 
luable must it be to the community in general! If 
it answers the purpose, I shall feel myself much obli- 
ged by the Society making it as public as they possi- 
bly can. 
The vegetables should be used as soon after they are 
cut as possible, and lime as fresh from the kiln as the dis- 
tance will allow of; as on those two circumstances de- 
pends the goodness of the composition. 
NO. 25. 
Observations and Experiments on Staining Wood . By 
Professor Beckmann.* 
THE oldest inlaid works now extant are preserved in 
Italy, and the most highly esteemed of these are those 
* Tilloch, vol. 3, p. 54 FrOjp New Transactions of the Royal Society of Got - 
tingen, vol 6, 
