51 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Apeil 20, 1859. 
the lands of Mr. 
gallon) see post., 
Paine, there were 
p. 54)— 
obtained (grains 
in imper 
Soluble organic 
matter. 
Nitric 
acid. 
A m mon in, 
1 . 
. 700 . 
7.17 .... 
0.018 
2 
. 7.40 .. 
14.74 
0.018 
o . 
. 12.50 . 
... 12.72 . 
. 0.018 
4 . 
1.95 
0.012 
5 . 
. 5.70 ... 
.. 3.45 
0.018 
6 . 
. 5.80 
8.05 _ 
. 0.018 
7 . 
. 7.40 . 
... 11.45 . 
. 0.006 
Tho ammonia and nitric acid contained in the rain water which 
supplies this drainage water, varies considerably in different 
months. That falling at Rothamsted, in Hertfordshire, twenty 
miles from London, has been examined by Professor Way (Ibid, 
vol. xvii., p. 14 j). He found (grains) in an imperial gallon in— 
Ammonia. Acid. 
January . . 0.092 ... 0.017 
February . 0.104 ... 0.042 
March . . 0.08G ... 0.021 
April . . 0.123 ... 0.035 
May . . O.OSO ... 0.035 
June . . 0.135 ... 0.080 
July 
August . 
September 
October 
November 
December . 
Ammonia. Acid. 
. 0.0G1 ... 0.017 
. O.OSO ... 0.060 
. 0.095 ... 0.021 
. 0.061 ... 0.03G 
. 0.054 ... 0.018 
. 0.0G7 ... 0.017 
The advantages to the soil of removing the land water, which 
prevents the free circulation of the atmosphere, is self-evident. 
“ Every acre of ground,” adds the Professor, “ which allows water 
to percolate freely, benefits equally by the nitric acid and ammonia 
of rain. But whence comes the additional luxuriance which 
vegetation puts on when the land is abundantly worked ? whence 
the Lois M codon crops ? Obviously Mr. Smith cannot be satis¬ 
fied with the ammonia of rain, he must have some from the air 
also ; and he gets it from the air in a far greater quantity than 
the rain could furnish. In fact (adds Mr. Hoskyns), he habitu¬ 
ally expresses his obligations to the dew, as a more steady bene¬ 
factor than the rain, in much the same terms as might express 
the relation of ‘ daily bread ! to an occasional feast. 
Liebig calculates (Ibid, p. 287) that the soil of an acre twelve 
inches deep can take up (lbs.) of ammonia, in addition to that 
contained in it from long exposure to the air— 
Thin land of Dorsetshire .... 20.SS0 
Light red soil, Berkshire . . . . . 9.420 
Stiff white clay ...... 17.040 
Secondly. The vegetable decomposing matters in a soil, where 
water is superabundant, gives out earburetted hydrogen, acetic, 
gallic and other acids, instead of carbonic acid gas and ammonia 
—products essential to healthy vegetation. Palliatives are the 
application of lime, or its carbonate (chalk), to the soils in which 
these acids have been generated; and, indeed, after those acids 
have been formed, such an application is essential, though the 
radical cure and preventive of recurrence—thorough draining—be 
adopted.— (Fanner's Almanac, 1853.) 
Thirdly. A soil filled with stagnant water cannot be penetrated 
by tho rain, and this flows off from the surface. “ If it be 
asked,” says Mr. Cuthbert Johnson, “What difference is there 
between rain water and the water in the land which was once 
rain water too ? Why should we covet an abundant supply 
of the first, and be anxious for the removal of the last ? ” 
The chemists of our time have given a ready answer. They 
have shown, amongst oilier causes of difference in their value, 
that rain water contains ammonia, of which land water is 
commonly destitute. This presence of ammonia in rain water 
has been placed, as Liebig remarks, beyond all doubt; it n\ay 
also bo detected in snow water. And it is worthy of observa¬ 
tion, that the ammonia obtained by tiro chemical philosopher 
from these sources possesses an offensive smell of perspiration 
and animal excrements, a fact which leaves no doubt respecting 
its origin. And again, llunefeld, and other German chemists, 
have proved t he existence of carbonate and nitrate of ammonia 
in the water of many springs; in minute quantities it is, most 
probably, to bo found in that of most springs, and this may 
tend to account for one of the observations of the skilful 
owners ol tho water meads of the great English chalk formation. 
They have remarked that the water of this stratum, as it issues, 
cold and bright as crystal, from the ground, is much better 
adapted for their purpose than when, in its course towards the 
sea, it lias gradually acquired an increase of temperature, and a 
portion of finely-divided and other organic matters. They 
remark, too, that if the spring water is thus employed for the 
purpose of irrigation, that alter it has passed over one meadow, 
it is almost useless to employ it a second time for a similar pur¬ 
pose. “ Something is taken out of it by the first Grass,” once 
remarked to me, an excellent owner of one of these, great wafer 
meadows, “ which the second meadow cannot find in it.” The same 
able farmer who had noted these things in the case of tho chalk 
springs of the upper portion of the valley of the lichen, had also 
remarked, that tho copious waters of that river, although de¬ 
teriorated for the purposes of irrigation, by their employment in 
the meads above tho city of Winchester, w ere nearly as valuable 
as ever after they had passed that city, and been mixed with tho 
contents of its sewers. 
It is to the presence of ammonia, then, in such waters, that 
one source of this effect may bo attributed. It is true t hat the 
ammonia contained in rain water is in very minute proportions, 
and in spring water the proportion is, probably, still less; but 
then it must be remembered, what is not commonly very clearly 
understood, that the weight of water which annually fulls upon 
the farmer’s fields is very great. “If,” remarks Liebig (Organic 
Chem., p. 75), “ a pound of rain water contains only one-fourth 
of a grain of ammonia, then a field of 40,000 square feet must 
receive annually upwards of SO lbs. of ammonia, or G5 lbs. of 
nitrogen (ammonia is composed of nitrogen and hydrogen) ; for, 
by the observations of Sclmbler (made in Germany), about 
700,000 lbs. of rain fall over this surfaco in four months, and, 
consequently, the annual fall must be 2,500 fits. 'I bis is much 
more nitrogen than is contained in the form of vegetable albumen 
and gluten, in 2,650 lbs. of wood, 2,800 lbs. of hay, or twenty 
tons of Beet-root, which are the yearly produce of such a field ; 
but it is less than the straw, roots, and grain of corn which might 
grow on the same surface would contain.” 
It is not an extravagant assertion, that there is scarcely a garden 
existing that would not be benefited by under-draining. Every 
gardener knows the absolute necessity for a good drainage under 
his wall-trees and Vines ; but few gardeners ever think, for a 
moment, whether there is any escape, any outfall for the water he 
has drained from immediate contact with the roots of the above- 
named favoured trees. Every garden should have drains cut, 
varying in depth from two to three feet, according to the depth 
of tho soil, with an interval of from twelve to eighteen feet be¬ 
tween the drains. At the bottom of the drains should be placed 
one-inch pipes: these should be well puddled ov.er, six inches 
deep, with clay, and then the earth returned. If the subsoil is 
clayey, the drains should be only twelve feet apart, and the drain¬ 
ing tiles covered with stones. They should have an outfall into 
a ditch, at the least elevated side of the garden. By having tho 
pipes with a bore no larger than an inch, moles cannot creep in, 
and they are large enough to carry off all the water, after even 
the heaviest rains. 
The expense is, comparatively, nothing, varying from £3 to 
£~) per acre ; and we shall not stop to argue with any' one who 
doubts for an instant the advantage consequent upon removing 
all water from a soil not retainable by its own absorbent pow'ers ; 
and we will only state one other relative fact—viz., that at Lord 
Hatherton’s residence, Teddcsley Hay, in Staffordshire, 4G7 acres, 
! formerly letting for an average rental of 12s. per acre, were all 
drained for an outlay of £3 4s. 7 d. per acre, and their rental now 
I averages more than 31s. per acre!— J. 
I (To be continued .) 
NEW BOOKS. 
The Dictionaby of Useful Infobjiation.* — We have 
j been much pleased with the first six parts of this work which arc i 
now before us; and if the remaining portion be carried out in the ] 
same comprehensive and painstaking manner, it cannot fail, when 
; completed, to be a most valuable volume of reference. It is too 
frequently tho case, that works of this nature are pitchforked , 
together, without care and discrimination, and hence we have been < 
brought to associate worthlessness with cheapness ; but, in this in¬ 
stance, the Editors have bestowed as much pains on their labour , 
as if the work were to be sold for three times its actual price. We j 
have examined the first six parts most minutely, and there is no i 
subject on geography, history, biography, mythology, or biblical, 
knowledge, for which we have sought, but what we have sue- 1 
cccded in finding; and on looking over the pages cursorily, we 
have been surprised to meet with subjects which we should ncvci 
have dreamed of seeing there. As an evidence of the earnest- 1 
Dictionary of Cnieersa! Information. Edited and compiled by IS. O. . 
Bceton, and John Slierer. London : S. O. Bceton. 
