82 
CULTIVATING AND EMBELLISHING RAILROAD EMBANKMENTS AND GROUNDS. 
thereby, phosphoric acid for bones, muscles, 
and organs of the body, fluoric acid for the 
formation of the teeth, sulphur for the protein 
compounds—and if you add the alkali, we may 
easily prepare a compound suitable to meet 
the wants of animals and vegetables, so far as 
inorganic matter is concerned. It is an impor¬ 
tant discovery for agriculture, as it gives us a 
source for this expensive fertiliser, phosphoric 
acid, a substance which enters into the compo¬ 
sition of all living things, and is second in im¬ 
portance to oxygen, only. 
This phosphate may be furnished to a great 
extent, though I may not say that it is inex¬ 
haustible, yet, it win i aa t ci long time, i would 
obligate myself to furnish 100,000 tons. For 
Long-Island farmers and for the south, it may 
be made to take the place of guano and bone 
dust. It must be used as a super-phosphate, 
although the simple use as plaster, would sup¬ 
ply the waste of fields of the phosphates; yet, 
it would be dissolved slowly in its present state. 
In the long run, it would benefit lands equally 
well; yet, people now-a-days like to feel and 
see the immediate effects of the labor of their 
hands. 
In addition to the vein of phosphate of lime, 
there is a trap dyke beside it, which contains, 
also, 40 to 50 per cent, of the phosphates. I 
have engaged Professor Norton to make a criti¬ 
cal examination of the substances connected 
with these veins. I have made only one exper¬ 
iment with the phosphate. I find that, for wheat, 
on a sandy soil, it works admirably ; it produces 
a dark-green, stout blade, and bears the absence 
of rain much better than when the ordinary fer¬ 
tilisers are employed. 
In a geological point of view, this locality of 
phosphorite, is exceedingly interesting, and I 
think it will lead to other discoveries of the 
same kind; and I think, too,that it will be found 
that many of our trap dykes and igneous rocks 
abound in this mineral, and that this will ex¬ 
plain the fact, that soils derived from them are 
often very fertile, and produce excellent grass. 
The condition of the Crown-Point phosphorite is 
the same as that which is contained in the soil. 
Carbonic acid is the solvent in nature. Those, 
who are engaged in the manufacture of artifi¬ 
cial fertilisers, will find it a valuable addition 
to their compounds. E. Emmons. 
Albany , Jan. 12 Ih, 1851. 
Teach Children to love everything that is 
beautiful and you will teach them to be useful 
and good. 
CULTIVATING- AND EMBELLISHING RAILROAD 
EMBANKMENTS AND GROUNDS. 
The following sensible article from the 
North-British Agriculturist is particularly applb 
cable to this country, not only as regards rail¬ 
roads, but all other thoroughfares. These re¬ 
marks of Mr. Copperfield, however, apply only 
to the railroads of Scotland. In England, they 
are generally beautifully turfed, cultivated, or 
planted with trees :— 
Those who are in the habit of passing along 
the various railways which now intersect the 
country in all directions, cannot fail to h*™ 
observed the giound on either 
side of them, lying in a useless state, produc¬ 
ing nothing but plentiful crops of weeds, which 
ripen their seed in perfection, and which is 
scattered over the neighboring fields by every 
gust of wind, to the great annoyance of the 
farmer and others, who hold land in close prox¬ 
imity to them. It appears strange that in these 
speculative, times, no one has ventured to sug¬ 
gest any scheme, whereby the railway embank¬ 
ments may be turned to profitable account. It 
is only here and there we find small patches laid 
down in grass, for the purpose of making it 
into hay, which, after all, is but a scanty crop. 
And it is not only the embankments themselves, 
but considerable breadths of ground, that have 
been taken by the railway companies, which 
might be rendered useful, instead of as now, 
supplying the whole country side with what it 
can very well dispense with weeds. Perhaps 
some of our correspondents, who have more ex¬ 
perience in such matters than I can boast of, 
may suggest some plan for turning such waste 
ground into profitable account, that can be 
carried into effect. 
David Copperfield, Sen. 
[By calculation, it has been estimated that 
every mile in length of railway occupies eight 
imperial acres of land, the loss of which to the 
community, is, no doubt, far more than compen¬ 
sated for, by the vast advantages afforded by 
them, both to the agriculturist and commercial- 
ist; yet there is little doubt but that many 
hundred acres of their sloping banks might be 
profitably cultivated. The first step, however, 
in the improvement of railway banks, should 
commence in the decoration of the grounds im¬ 
mediately in connection with the various sta¬ 
tions ; for, strange to say, although thousands 
of pounds have been next to thrown away in 
the erection of almost palaces, small attention 
has been paid to the dressing of the ground 
