46 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Feb. 
of last summer, going still farther to explain the value 
of this kind of soil for the growth of grains. It is the 
presence of •phosphate of alumina in vastly greater pro¬ 
fusion than was formerly supposed, or revealed by analy¬ 
sis. It is as yet unpublished. Soluble silica, which 
gives to the straw its strength, more or less in quantity, 
is also a characteristic of this soil. 
The clays owe their origin to the decomposition of 
feldspathic rocks. How this decomposition was effect¬ 
ed, was, until within a short time, altogether in the 
dark. Light has been shed upon it by the labors of 
analysis, in porcelain manufactories, and ere long no 
doubt will rest upon the whole natural process. 
The feldspars are silicate of alumina and alkalies. A 
certain per centage of the silicate of potash or soda 
is first dissolved in water or carbonated water, and 
flows out, leaving behind a mineral richer in alumi¬ 
na, and also in silica, in proportion to the potash, 
than before. Mere carbonated water removes more 
potash and silica, leaving even a purer and purer alumi¬ 
na behind. This is the clay. The degree of purity, 
and its quality for pottery and other purposes, depend 
upon the meteorological character of its situation. 
We are still at the commencement of the solution 
•of many great questions deeply interesting to the far¬ 
mer ; our supplies of potash, bye-and-bye, are to come 
from where ?—and of soluble silica, from where ?—and 
of phosphates, from where ? These questions, chemistry, 
with the aid of a generous agricultural people, will an¬ 
swer in time—and she will answer simply and satisfac¬ 
torily too, the perhaps equally difficult ones presenting 
themselves on every side—of our people engaged in 
mining and manufactures. I trust American chemists 
will be given to share in the labor. 
In my departure from Europe, I leave one American 
in Berlin, one in Freiberg, one in Utrecht, and three in 
Giessen, all devoted to chemistry. The Berlin and Frei¬ 
burg students will come to Giessen after a time, to close 
their course with the great master. When all these shall 
have completed their studies and returned to the new 
world, to co-operate with those already in the field, I 
see no reason why we should doubt America’s future 
instrumentality in the advancement of this department 
-of science. 
There has never been a year of the Giessen school so 
fruitful in the development of new and weighty truths 
in chemistry as that now drawing to a close; and the 
next edition of Liebig’s Animal Chemistry, will, if I do 
not greatly mistake, startle the scientific world more 
profoundly even than the first. 
There are now between sixty and seventy students 
with Liebig and his assistant, Prof. Will, and among 
them not a few whose names are destined to figure in 
the annals of science. 
In parting from my alma mater, and reflecting upon 
• the mighty influence exerted by this school, I can not 
-help feeling deeply the force of that remark of Bacon’s, 
•which, with a little introduction characteristic of its 
source, Liebig so often repeats to his pupils—“ Work! 
work!! work !!!—and see that your labors have always 
something useful in prospect.” 
Very respectfully, yours, E. N. Horsford. 
BUBAL NOTICES ABROAD—No. II,— By Caitts. 
Rome ant> Its Envirorts. —The Campagna is a 
.great rolling plain, sweeping around the city of Rome. 
'The Tiber, a swift and turbid river, rolls through it, and 
washes the feet of those seven hills upon which the city 
was’built. The hills are not high, and are now scarce 
^discernible, amid the groups of houses and churches. 
Villas have been built around the city, and tracts of the 
Campagna have been walled in, and planted and culti¬ 
vated. Some of these are ornamented with long ave¬ 
nues of trees—pines, and lindens, and beeches, and the 
walks are bordered with the richest hedges of box, that, 
are, perhaps, to be seen in the world. Others are laid 
out in the English style, with sheets of water, and 
clumps of foliage, and irregular groups of trees. The 
gardens within these villa grounds, are in the highest 
state of cultivation, and supply not only the wants of 
their princely owners, but much of the produce finds its 
way into the ordinary markets of Rome. Vegetables 
of nearly every kind, grow luxuriantly in these gardens; 
the fruits, saving a few of a tropical character, such as 
figs and lemons, are neither so good nor so various as 
ours. Around the villas, and even within the old walls 
of the city, are fields devoted to public gardening, high¬ 
ly enriched, and yielding most abundantly. Straggling 
hedges are to be seen in the neighborhood of the city, 
but in general, the enclosures are of brick or stone. 
Vineyards are upon the sunny slopes of the elevations 
about Rome, but no wine of extraordinary flavor is 
made in its vicinity, nor are the grapes in any way re¬ 
markable. They are cultivated as in France, upon 
stakes, of from three to four feet in height, and are set 
at about the same number of feet from each other. The 
stiff formal tops of the olive orchards appear here and 
there, but are mostly to be seen upon the slopes of tho 
mountains beyond the Campagna. 
The spade is the almost universal implement of 
culture in the neighborhood of Rome, and I remember 
seeing a company of forty laborers engaged in spading 
a ten acre field of tough green sward, just outside tho 
walls. The work was necessarily slow, but most ef¬ 
fectively performed. The implement itself is clumsy, 
as are all of Roman handicraft. The heavy duties pre¬ 
vent the importation of .foreign improvements, and the 
Roman cultivators are nearly a half century behind the 
age. Even the chairs at Rome are all made by hand, 
and there is a street in the city, where, on a sunny day, 
may be seen the workers upon chairs, seated on the 
pavements, shaving out the rounds, one by one. The 
common wheelrights are as unprovided; and a little wood 
and iron, with an axe and auger, make up their stock in 
trade. Laborers may be found for all ordinary -work, 
at from fifteen to twenty cents a day, and they will hire, 
even in the city, for ten cents a day. The commoner 
sorts of wine, from the mountains, may be bought for 
two cents the pint, and a laborer wishes only beside, a 
bouillon, (soup.) and a plate of maccaroni. with per¬ 
haps a sour orange. In the morning, he gets his caffe 
lotto , (coffee with milk,) and a roll of brown bread , for 
two cents: sometimes he will take a fried supper in the 
open air at one of the stalls which are scattered over 
the city, but oftener he goes to his straw without it. 
The markets are well supplied with mutton, from 
the plains and mountains, and with beef that fed upon 
Campagna, in winter, and upon the slopes of the Alba¬ 
nian hills in summer. No where is more economy ob¬ 
served in meat-cutting, and it would puzzle a naturalist 
to detect a portion which does not come sooner or later 
to the fry-pan. Lambs’ brains are among the delica¬ 
cies of a Roman epicure. There is little offal to a Ro¬ 
man butchery. Large herds of swine feed over tho 
morasses, in the forests stretching down by the coasts, 
twenty or thirty miles from Rome; and among them 
troop along the heavy moulded, scraggy-looking buffa¬ 
loes. These have rough, curling, coarse hair, their 
horns droop like those of some of the Scotch breeds; 
their color varies from brown to black; they have a wild, 
red eye, yet not unfrequently are seen broken in to the 
yoke, and lying beside their clumsy carts in the Roman 
forum. The oxen, however, which are relied upon for 
the market, are a large, deep-chested, well-formed, 
light grey beast, with enormous horns, (spreading from 
three to four feet,) and are said to have sprung from 
that famous breed of white cattle, which history and 
