284 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Sept. 
of animal matters, the phosphates and carbonates of 
lime which they contain must also perform an import¬ 
ant part in the assimilation of vegetables. Certain 
species of these latter require for their perfect develop¬ 
ment, certain mineral substances which decomposing 
animal matters can supply, and which the plants ob¬ 
tain from them by assorting them in a state of solution. 
In relation to the above, the translator adds the fol¬ 
lowing: 
There is one very important conclusion to be drawn 
from this experiment which the author has overlooked. 
It was not to be wondered that the plants watered by 
earbonic acid refused or were unable to come to perfec¬ 
tion, but the fact that even bones were not able to ma¬ 
ture the plants of wheat is rather startling, and we re¬ 
fer to it here as another corroboration of the view ad¬ 
vocated by one of the parties in a recent discussion 
(< on the composition of manures,” which has been car¬ 
ried on in this magazine for some time past. Notwith¬ 
standing the acknowledged importance of phosphate of 
lime, it would seem, both from the above discussion and 
these experiments by Lassaigne, that it is not sufficient 
of itself to bring the plant to maturity. If this be es¬ 
tablished as a fact, it ought to influence farmers in the 
purchase of their manures, of which it would appear 
that those only can be of permanent benefit to his farm 
which contain many other ingredients equally essential 
to vegetation. 
Analyses of Manures. 
At a late meeting of the Highland Agricultural So¬ 
ciety, Mr. Finnie spoke of the great advantage which 
had been derived by farmers in Scotland from the analy¬ 
ses of portable manures, upon which, he estimated, near¬ 
ly one-half of the green crop of that country is depend¬ 
ent. The amount of guano, for instance, imported in 
1837, was upwards of 220,000 tons. Great adultera¬ 
tion had been practiced with guano; and bone-dust had 
been mixed with ground oyster-shells. Various manu¬ 
factured manures, of the constituents of which the far¬ 
mer could not be acquainted, were offered for sale. In 
illustration he related the following: Some years ago 
I joined with two or three farmers in the purchase of 
some tons of nitrate of soda. None of us derived any 
benefit from the application of it. Most fortunately I 
had some left—got it analysed by Mr. Kemp at the Col¬ 
lege; and when the secret was explained, it was to a 
great extent mixed with common salt. I heard of a 
cargo shipped to a party in London; a chemist was or¬ 
dered to examine it before taking it from the ship. The 
adulteration was detected, and immediately the ship 
was ordered off to Scotland, and sold amongst the far¬ 
mers. I once purchased a quantity of guano from a 
party in Leith. Professor Johnston had given an analy¬ 
sis of it, but the sample sent to him had been very dif¬ 
ferent from the stock. I found upon taking delivery 
that all was not right. I then had a sample from the 
stock analysed, and had no difficulty in procuring an 
abatement of 10 per cent, from difference of value. I 
cannot conceive how any agriculturist who expends his 
hundreds a-year upon portable manures is justified in 
applying them before being tested, and would grudge 
a few shillings per annum to obtain a chemist of skill 
who could satisfy him as to the purity of the article 
upon which he is not only expending a large sum of 
money, but upon the genuineness of which his green 
crop, and every succeeding crop in the rotation, is de¬ 
pendent; for, without a knowledge of the nature and 
properties of the materials employed by the agricultu¬ 
rist, it is evident that the result of many of the labo¬ 
rious and extensive processes incident to his daily oc¬ 
cupation must be a matter of mere chance—thus con¬ 
tributing more than any thing else to the precarious¬ 
ness of the profits upon which his prosperity depends. 
I may be told this is a tenant’s question, and let him 
look after his own interest and he will fare the better; 
but I hold whatever is necessary for the tenant cannot 
be dispensed with by the landlord; and if from not 
having a ready and cheap way of having his manures 
analysed, the loss of a crop is the consequence, is not 
the landlord’s rent endangered ? But I would respect¬ 
fully submit that these portable manures, now so im¬ 
portant an element in good farming, and for which I 
would say a chemist’s services are required, leaving 
every other consideration, have done much already for 
the proprietors of land. 
West-Highland Cattle. 
In several of the last volumes of The Cultivator , we 
have given cuts and brief descriptions of the West- 
Highland cattle of Scotland; and we have more than 
once expressed our desire that some measures might be 
taken for the introduction of this valuable breed into 
this country. The following notice of them occurs in 
an account of the Falkirk Tryst, a celebrated Scottish 
fair for the sale of cattle and sheep. The account from 
which our extract is taken, appeared in the Edinburgh 
Quarterly Review. 
Every isle and holm which opposes it rugged crags 
to the fury of the Western Ocean between Islay and the 
Orkneys; every mainland glen from the mull of Can- 
tyre to Cape Wrath, pours in its pigmy droves, shaggy 
and black, or relieved only, as to color, by a sprinkling 
of reds, and of duns graduating from mouse to cream- 
color. From Northern and Eastern Sutherland, Caith¬ 
ness, Ross, and Inverness they come in longer on the leg, 
smooth [short-haired] and vulgar. From central Ar- 
gyle, Perth, and from some of the islands, come the 
carefully bred West-Highlanders; these are the flower 
of the show, engage every one’s talk, and attract eve¬ 
ry one’s attention; every individual of them is a delight 
to the eye of a connoisseur. Aberdeen and Forfar send 
in droves of large and bony, but useful bullocks. A few 
Ayrshire cows and heifers for the dairy, some miscella¬ 
neous lots and a few Irish, make up the account.. We do 
not know the numbers; we have heard of 30,000, and 
again of 60,000. The October show is the most impo¬ 
sing. The almost universal color is black; the moor is 
in appearance, one black mass. You may be accom¬ 
modated with every size, from that of a Newfoundland 
dog, to a bullock of one hundred stones. The cattle 
are mostly in the hands of dealers, having been bought 
up at the northern and western markets; many, howev¬ 
er, of the best West-Highlanders are brought to the 
Tryst by their breeders, and you may see a kilted laird 
from the Hebrides standing, like Rob Roy, at the tails 
of his own bonny stots and queys. A few small lots of a 
score each may be found, but they generally run from 
50 to 300 and upwards. A purchaser of less than the 
whole of one of these large lots gets his number, not by 
selection, but by a cut: a drover passes through the 
black mass and cuts off by estimation the number; they 
are then counted and made up to the required figure by 
alternate selections on the part of the buyer and seller. 
No trading class can furnish more intelligent men than 
the Scotch stock-farmers—perhaps, indeed than the 
Scotch agriculturists generally; men well educated, of 
courteous and simple manners, of great intelligence and 
much general information, enterprising, and keenly 
alive to every reported improvement. 
jTop-Hressmgs for the Potato. 
Eds. Cultivator —If, as Professor Johnston thinks, 
11 the benefit to be derived from a skilful treatment of 
the potato plant, does not terminate with the greater 
immediate crop we reap, but extends also, into future 
years, improving' the seed, and rendering its after eul. 
