it will be found that the sal-ammoniac must be 
in excess of the other salts. A Mr.Roucou of 
Birmingham has recently stepped so far out of 
the closed circle of the manufactory as to apply 
for a patent for a liquid compound for bronzing 
copper, brass, zinc, aud other metals, and for 
preventing the discoloration of gold, silver, and 
other metals. Unfortunately, Mr. Boncou did 
not go beyond the provisional stage, and the in¬ 
formation he gives is accordingly rather meager. 
He take? about six parts of sulphide of potas¬ 
sium, six parts of “ Balt of lead," twelve of am¬ 
monia, three of acetic acid, six of hydrochloric 
acid, and by dissolving and mixing them obtains 
a liquid which gives to copper, brass, zinc, or 
other metals the "bronze tint" desired. The 
proportions of the various ingredients are varied 
to suit the requirements of the work, and by a 
special change in the proportions Mr. Boncou 
obtains a liquid which, when applied to the sur¬ 
face of articles of gold, silver, and other metals, 
will preserve the original color by preventing oxi¬ 
dation. 
The fine copper deposited in the galvanic bat¬ 
tery is also utilized in the manufacture of a cop¬ 
per paint. A benzine varnish its the most 
suitable vehicle, and the paint when properly 
ground, is easily applied to surfaces of plaster, 
wood, iron, and other metals. If it be mixed 
with oils, the copper is stated to acquire an an¬ 
tique appearance. The copper thus obtained 
from tho battery is very pure, and when laid on 
with care, will, it is said, withstand the action of 
the burnisher, and is thus capable of taking a 
high polish. The copper paint is necessarily 
very expensive, but there are many purjiosos for 
which it will be very valuable. 
entertained that it is also assimilated. It will 
naturally be considered that if in addition to the 
facts of solution and absorption (held to be 
proved) a ferment be also found, that the full 
process of digestion is also as a consequence 
proved. This will l>e still further established if 
by the withholding this ferment the digestive 
process be stopped, and if by adding it digestion 
Well the ferment has been 
and alum strong enough to boar an egg; then 
put the skin into this blood - warm, and let 
it lio and soak twenty-four hours; then take it 
out, and having tacked it upon a board, (the fur 
inward,) scrape the skin, and a thin membrane 
will come off; then, having warmed up the 
pickle again, put the skin into it a second time 
and let it remain five hours more, after which 
take it out aud nail it upon a board to dry, (fur 
inward,) and then rub it with pumice stone and 
whiting. Haro and other skins may be prepared 
in the samo way. They aro always in best con¬ 
dition for preparing in winter. 
PROFITS OF FARMING IN ENGLAND 
Our farmers 
aro complaining of the unprofit¬ 
ableness of farming, and while tho same causes 
may not bo at work here as iu England, still the 
following sketch from tho Agricultural Gazette* 
may throw some light upon the subject, as it is 
apparently a very truthful picture, drawn by an 
artist who seems to know whereof ho speaks: 
Having studied farming from a hoy of 15 
years up to the present time (I am not SO yet), I 
am rather surprised to see it so often put down 
as a very poor paying game. I am willing to ad¬ 
mit; (hat farmers, as a rulo, are not making so 
much profit as they were some years ago, and 
what is the reason? Well there aro a groat 
many things to cause this falling off in the 
profits; ono thing is, rents have risen consider¬ 
ably ; another, labor has risen. But tho wages I 
consider ft mcro nothing ; the only thing I find 
fault with is, laborers aro not so obliging as 
formerly. 
Now I am coming to the third reason, and I 
think tho most important one—where are tho 
farmers and their wives half of their time? 
Thero is not tho least doubt I am asking a 
question which can goon bo answered. Tho 
farmer is most likely gone to boo how tho men 
aro getting on, for an hour or so. “ But stop,” 
says tho farmer, “tho hounds meet at half-past 
10; I must go aud have a spin with thorn to-day.” 
Of course they say it don't cost much to koep 
onohorso; hut with keeping the horse, a man to 
look after if is needed—and thou what aro tho men 
doing wbilo our hunting farmer is away after 
the hounds? Why, ctulod up under somo 
hedge having their dinners, of course. How 
long they stay there it is impossible to say; and 
then, of course, ho must go to market ono day a 
Week, aud as soon as his time arrives to depart, 
off go tho men and Jiavo another fire. Somo, 
when reading these remarks, may ask, how do 
yon know this? My answer is, I worked for a 
gentleman iu Oxfordshire who farmed nearly 
1,000 acres of good land, and hud many oppor¬ 
tunities of seeing how they managed it. I 
won’t say I havo not done tho Kamo myself ; of 
course, when tho others went I was compelled to 
go, otherwise I should have been disliked by all 
tho men, and probably soon should have been 
compelled to leave. Now, the hunting horse 
was the cause of all this, so that thero would bo 
a largo hill for him to pay. 
The fanners’ wives years ago used to make 
cheese, and at tho same time superintend tho 
rearing of the calves; but., O, dear mo! where 
is there a farmer’s wire that makes cheese now ? 
Why, of course tbey must, have a dairymaid- 
yes, and pay from £30 to £40 per year for a 
trustworthy person to come and do what they 
ought to bo able to do themselves; and then 
thero aro tho boardiug and lodging, ami perhaps, 
after all, make a bad lot of cheese. Now, these 
two last tilings are the principal causes of the 
farmer's downfall. Thero is too much expense 
incurred. I do not mean to say that there is too 
much labor employed; I moan to say there is 
not enough work done for tho money, aud that 
if the farmer will stick to his business and look 
round his men, he will have enough done; 
and then, again, if tho good housewife will 
mako tho cheese herself, and be up in the 
morning and see that the calves aro seen after 
propurly, her husband won’t be going into liqui¬ 
dation. 
Somo may ask, Why not tho mastor seo after 
tho calves ? Well, 1 consider ho haa sufficient to 
do to look after tho wagoner aud shepherd, and 
setting his men off to work, and seeing that 
they get at it quickly, for sometimes they won’t 
be off so soon as they ought, pretending they 
can’t find tho tool tbey want. Now. Mr. Editor, 
I havo only a few words to say more, aud they 
are simply these. Even with wet seasons, bad 
is again set. going, 
found, and the results of adding or withholding 
it are as we have stated. 
An English chemist of high repute, Dr. Frank- 
land, has found “ pepsin ” in the glands of 
Drosera. This pepsin in the animal kingdom iB 
known to be the ferment concerned in the solu¬ 
tion or nitrogenous matters, especially of fibrine. 
] Mr. Lawson Tait, of Birmingham, made experi¬ 
ments giving the same general result. Two 
German chemists, Max Rees and Will, have con¬ 
firmed the statement. Another German chemist, 
Gorup-Besanez, has shown its existence iu the 
germinating seeds of Vicia, whore the stored-up 
nutriment, starchy and nitrogenous, is rendered 
by the agency of this ferment available for the 
nutrition of the growing seeding plant. Still 
more recently the same chemist ha» detected 
pepsin in the pitchers of Nepenthes, and his ob¬ 
servations havo been confirmed by Mr. Vines, 
the results of whoso experiments aro given in 
the just issued number of the Journal of tho 
Linnman Society. Wo cannot go into further 
detail here. 
Our object, is, not to give a precise scientific 
statement, but rather a general idea, which may 
be filled in by any one who will rofor to original 
sources. Suffice it to say, that it is now proved 
that in the plant there is a digestion—a fermen¬ 
tation—of starchy, of sugary, of fatty, and of 
albuminoid matters, exactly as happens iu ani¬ 
mals. Tho object, in all oases is to transform 
relatively inert substances into others which are 
readily capable of diffusion; transport them hero, 
or there, wherever growth may bo going on, bo 
that they may at that place enter into tho com¬ 
position of tho new growths. Iu fact, a plant— 
Wheat, for example—stores up a quantity of 
nourishment in the grains or seed around the 
embryo. Now, whether tho grain of Wheat 
servo to feed an animal, or to nourish tho em¬ 
bryo plant which it surrounds, the process is 
exactly tho samo. If an animal cats the Wheats 
graiu, this, reduced to a pulp, is subjected to 
the influence of tlie saliva and of tho pancreatic 
juice, by means of which the starch is converted 
into cane-sugar, and the “gluten” into “pop- 
stones," which are absorbed and assimilated. 
If it is the seedling Wheat plant which feeds upon 
the grain, the seedling acts upon the storcH of 
starch and gluten, transforming them into Bub- 
Btances capable of absorption and of assimila¬ 
tion. That this is so is showu by some extremely 
curious experiments already mentioned in those 
columns, and wherein M. Van Tieghem actually 
fed embryo plants extracted from their own al¬ 
bumen, by means of a paste of Potato starch and 
Buckwheat. 
Such being the general state of the question, 
it is not difficult to assent to the proposition laid 
down in a recent address to the Royal Academy 
of Belgium by Professor Morren, to tho effect 
that the digestion of plants and animals is one 
and tho samo process, and that the phenomena 
presented by the so-called carnivorous plants 
are merely special modifications of a general 
process. This conclusion is substantiated by 
the experiments of Mr. Vines, to which we havo 
already made allusion, who fnrther shows that 
the ferment in the glands of the Pitcher-plant 
(Nepenthes) exists in combination with some 
other body just as it does in the glands of the 
stomach and of the pancreas, and that the effect 
of the addition of weak acid is in the vegetable, 
as in the animal, to liberate the ferment power¬ 
less till decomposed by the acid. 
A Brown Dye.—T he green outer husks of 
walnuts contain a yellow brown and remarkably 
fast dye, which is well suited for dyeing woolen 
or cotton materials, staining wood, etc. Wool 
thus dyed requires no mordant, is very soft to 
hai:dle. and not like that dyed with vitriol. 
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES AND PROS¬ 
PECTS OF CALIFORNIA. 
RAIN AT LAST. AND "NOW IS THE WINTER OF OUR 
DISCONTENT MADE GLORIOUS SUMMER." 
As it has been my wont, off-and-on, for the past 
twenty years or more, to communo with the 
readers of your useful paper, at tho commence¬ 
ment of the New Year, from whatsoever portion 
of the globe I might ehauce to bo sojourning in 
at tho time the Bpoll came over mo, accordingly 
I now assume tho agrooablo task of lotting you 
and your readers know what our Golden State 
has been doing during tho past, Centennial year. 
Despite the oroaltings and lamentations of 
tho grumblers and malcontents, cheering rains 
Lave come at last, giving assurance of a bounti¬ 
ful harvest the coming season. Our first show¬ 
ers were earlier than nsual, and although suffi¬ 
ciently heavy to give abundant water then, yet 
so long an interval had elapsed since they fell 
that in many portions of our State tho crops 
were sorely in need of a little more moisture. 
This has appeared during tho past week, in the 
form of gentle showers, falling so moderately as 
to allow the thirsty earth to absorb it all as it 
fell. As a result, tho landscape, far and near, 
is crowned with verdure, and our valleys and 
hills prosont almost limitless vistas of fruitful 
graiu fields, from San Diego to Mount, Shasta. 
PRODUCTS FOR THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 
The productions of our State for 1876 may be 
summarized thus: 
Wheat., 33,00X000 centals .*.|i non 000 
wool, .v,/oi.ooo ib.i.. i.VooSooo 
Wtno.lO.OOanO 0 K allon*.; *8.0® 
Hay, 1.000,000 ton*. 10,1,10 0(10 
Miscellaneous products. 10,000,000 
Total. Agricultural 
(jo Id or our mines.. 
$ 100 , 000,000 
In addition to theBo hundred million of dol¬ 
lars, in round numbers, as the products of tho 
earth in the Golden State, tho manufactures of 
San Francisco alone are estimated at $45,000,000 ; 
coinage at tho San Franciseo Mint, $42,704.500; 
exports of merchandize, by sea, $81,315,000 ; 
deposits in the savings banks, $72,500,000; 
banking capital of the State, $200,000,000 ; lum¬ 
ber produced in California, 450,000,000 feet; 
imported over 300,000.000 feet, valuod at the mills 
at $2,000,000. 
The population of tho State has increased, by 
immigration, 35,320 during tho year, and is now 
but little, if any, less than 1,000,000. Tho tota l 
product of tho mines of tho Pacific elope, is esti¬ 
mated at $100,000,000. Our export of wheat is 
put at from 600,000 to 750,000 tons, or over 303^ 
millions of bushels. Our commercial emporium 
THE DIGESTIONS OF PLANTS AND ANI 
MALS THE SAME. 
The following editorial, condensed from the 
Gardeners’ Chronicle, will doubtless prove ex¬ 
tremely interesting to our readers whether they 
believe or disbelieve in its conolmlons: 
It is a singular and an interesting retrospect 
to notice bow the barriers and limitations once 
thought to hedge in the animal and vogetablo 
kingdoms, and to separate them ono from the 
other, havo boon, one by one, broken down. 
The microscope led the way. It was not long 
before microacopists announced that there was 
no constant perceptible difference between the 
two divisons, not long before it was shown that, 
however great the ultimate difference, the start¬ 
ing-point was the same. 
Ab the subject, of insectivorous plants lias fre¬ 
quently been mentioned in these columns of late, 
we need say now no more than this, that the 
process of nutrition consists in solution, diges¬ 
tion, and assimilation of matters fit for food. 
A fly entrapped in a Nepenthes pitcher, or caught 
on a Drosera leaf, is gradually dissolved, ab¬ 
sorbed, digested, and assimilated. Solution and 
absorption need no explanation in this place. 
Digestion, however, requires a word of explana¬ 
tion, as though in a general sense, it is well 
enough understood, the details are not familiar 
to the majority. 
Before any article of food, oven when duly 
dissolved, and the solution absorbed, can bo 
applied to the formation of new tissue, as in 
growth, or to tho repair of the losses entailed by 
the wear and tear of life, before it can be “as¬ 
similated” in fact, it must bo digested. This 
process of digestion is really one of fermentation, 
analogous to the conversion of the grain of Bar¬ 
ley, first into the sugary malt, and then into al¬ 
cohol. In the animal body there are various 
kinds of fermentations or digestive processes 
adapted to tb6 starchy, the fatty or oily, or the 
fleshy articles respectively which form our diet. 
The process of digestion or fermentation is thus, 
to put the case familiarly, different in the case 
of the bread, the butter, or tho meat that we eat. 
In each case the digestive or fermenting process 
is essentially dependent upon the presence of a 
“ferment”—a something essential to tho pro¬ 
cess, and in the absence of whiob no digestion 
takes place. What this “ ferment ” is, aud what 
its nature, variee in different cases. The result 
of the prooess is to transform a substance unfit 
for circulation and assimilation into a diffusible 
matter fit for the formation of new substance. 
We have so far sketched in broad, general out¬ 
lines some of the more essential features of 
animal digestion, and we have done so because 
we are desirous of showing that among plants 
similar processes of fermentation and digestion 
take place. It is premature to say that they 
take place in all plants, but they have already 
been proved to occur in some, and the presump¬ 
tion is that in the end they will be found to occur 
in alL To go back to the earuivoroiiB plants. 
We know that it is now established beyond a 
doubt that organic matter, flesh of insect, or 
what not, which comes into contact with certain 
portions of these plants having a special organ¬ 
ization, is dissolved and absorbed. So much is 
admitted on all sides, and is no longer open to 
question. Then comes the inquiry, is this mat¬ 
ter “ digested ” iu the sense in which we have 
explained that term? If so, no doubt can be 
$80 00U.0U0 
. 30.000,000 
SHEEP IN FRANCE 
The importance of Sheep to France it appears 
does not consist entirely in the value of the wool 
and mutton produced, but the scourings secured 
from careful washing of tho sheep are used not 
only for fertilizing the soil but also for the manu¬ 
facture of Baltpeter an important constituent of 
gunpowder. 
The latter process is new and ingenious. Tho 
chemists carry the scourings to their factory and 
there boil them down to a dry, carbonaceous 
residuum. The alkaline salts remain in the 
charred residuum and are extracted by lixiviation 
with water. The most important of the alkalies 
obtained is potash, which is recovered in a state 
of great purity. It is computed that if the 
fleeces of all the sheep of France, were subjected 
to the new treatment, the nation would derive 
from this source alone all the potash she requires 
iu the arts—enough to make about 12,000 tons 
of commercial carbonate of potash convertible 
into 17,500 tons of saltpeter. 
UTILIZATION OF PARIS SEWAGE. 
Since 1868, tho Paris sewage has been em¬ 
ployed to irrigate the large plain of Gennevil- 
liers, which is enclosed by t he windings of the 
Seine. This irrigation has converted the arid 
soil of this plain into a market garden of extra¬ 
ordinary fertility. No ono disputes this; but it 
Las been alleged that tho sewage has acted in¬ 
juriously upon the population of the district. 
An investigation, instituted by Dr. Bergeron, 
has proved the groundlessness of this statement; 
for, with an increased population tho longevity 
has also augmented, and the mortality declined. 
Tho water from the wells which has filtered 
throngh tho soil is found quite free of organic 
matters. 
PRESERVING THE SKIN OF ANIMALS, 
So soon as the skin is removed from the 
carcass, and while fresh make a brine of salt 
