THE 
HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 
♦ 
January 1st, 1835. 
Article I.—HORTICULTURE. 
ON CHEMISTRY, AS CONNECTED WITH THE DEVELOPEMENT 
AND GROWTH OF PLANTS. 
BY THE AUTHOR OF THE DOMESTIC GARDENER’S MANUAL. 
(Sixth Article.) 
My fifth paper (in No. 40) on the Chemistry of Nature, concludes 
the series, as refers to the operations of the natural agents.* I am 
now arrived at a point at which chemistry, in the common accepta¬ 
tion of the term, may be called into action, and exert a legitimate 
sway over inanimate objects; for, wherever the vital principle pre¬ 
vails, there, I conceive, we are scarcely justified in attempting to as¬ 
cribe the phenomena produced, to the work of chemical agency. 
The chief subject of this article will be to describe— 
The Analysis of Soils .—The most comprehensive directions for ef¬ 
fecting the important processes of analysis, are to be found in the last 
edition of Sir Humphrey Davy’s Lectures upon Agricultural Che¬ 
mistry. Drs. Thompson and Henry have written on the subject; 
br£ for common purposes, I consider a very simple process to be 
more suitable. No writer that I have met with, has entered into a 
refined, philosophical enquiry, on every point of the analysis ; and, 
without great space, it would be impossible to go into minute detail. 
I prefer, therefore, to simplify the routine, but to elucidate, as far as 
may be, the chemical principles which refer to each individual pro¬ 
cess. 
The varieties of soils are almost innumerable, but the constituents 
are very few. Divest a soil of vegetable and animal, decomposable 
* In that paper, I observe an error which requires correction. The word printed infringes 
—p. 419 last line, ought to be impinges, implying the action of light stiiking the eartlVs sur^ 
face. 
VOL. IV, NO. 43. 
B 
