240 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 26, 1859. 
that thirty-five years ago he was learning his profession, and he 
wanted to see horticulture properly protected in any terms that 
might be finally concluded (hear, hear). Seeing the feeling of 
tho meeting was against an adjournment, he would withdraw 
his amendment, and submit the following as a substantive 
motion:—• 
“ That the Council be instructed not to accept the clause about 
re-entering, in case of failing to pay interest for five years, and 
that in the event of the Commissioners cancelling the lease an 
equitable adjustment of mutual interests be made.” 
Mr. Clutton seconded; and the motion was agreed to. 
On the motion of the Duke of Leinster, seconded by Mr. 
W. W. Saunders, the Treasurer, the thanks of the meeting 
were voted to the noble Earl for presiding, and the meeting 
separated; several additional debentures being taken up and 
donations announced. 
THE SCIENCE OE GARDENING. 
{Continued from page 227.) 
The quantity of soluble matter obtainable from a soil at any 
one time is very small, seldom exceeding a one-thousandth part 
of its weight; and even pui'e vegetable mould, the debris of 
entirely putrefied plants, was found by Saussure to yield only one- 
eleventh of soluble matter. This mould was too rich for horti¬ 
cultural purposes, Peas and Beans grown in it being too luxuriant, 
and. they were more productive in a soil containing only one- 
twentieth of organic constituents dissolvable by water. Small 
in amount, however, as arc the soluble constituents of the most 
fertile soils, they are necessary for tho vigorous vegetation of 
plants; for when a soil is deprived of those constituents by 
frequent washings with boiling water, it is much less fertile than 
before. Liebig and others have most illogically concluded, from 
the smallness of the soluble extract contained in a soil, that, there¬ 
fore, it is of trivial importance ; but they forget that, as fast as 
this extract i3 removed from a soil by the roots of the crop, it is 
generated again by the decomposition of the animal and vegetable 
remains contained by the soil. This is one reason why fallowing 
is beneficial, the moro easily decomposing matters have been 
exhausted by successive crops; and by a year’s rest, and exposure 
to the putrefactive agency of tho air, the more stubborn and 
more slowly decomposing organic remains have time to resolve 
into and accumulate soluble compounds in the soil. 
The mucilaginous and saccharine matters formed by manures 
during their decomposition in the soil are unquestionably ab¬ 
sorbed by the roots along with its moisture; for if the wholo of 
the branches of a Vine or Maple be cut away close to the surface 
of the ground, it will continue to bleed for many days, and to 
the last its sap will continue to afford the same amount of those 
matters. But their saps, and that of all plants as yet subjected 
to analysis, abound with carbonic acid gas ; and there is no doubt 
that decomposing organic manures are very largely beneficial to 
plants by affording that gas to their roots, a subject which will 
be further considered when we are examining the phenomena 
attendant upon vegetable decomposition. 
Of the less general manures, which benefit plants by entering 
into their composition, a few words will suffice. Sulphate of 
lime (gypsum) is a component of Clover, Lucerne, Turnips, &c. ; 
hence it has been applied with benefit to these crops on such 
soils as did not already contain it. Bones, broken small, have 
lately become a very general manure; their benefit, which is 
very permanent, is easily ac<*mntcd for. The bones of oxen con¬ 
tain about fifty per cent, of gelatine, which is soluble in water, 
and rapidly becomes putrescent; the remainder is chiefly phos¬ 
phate and carbonate of lime, salts which are components of Wheat, 
Rye, Barley, Oats, Peas, Beans, Vines, Cucumbers, Potatoes, 
Garlic, Onions, Truffles, &c. Common salt, also, is employed as 
a manure, and is beneficial, partly in consequence of entering into 
the constitution of plants. 
The day has long passed when it was disputed whether saline 
bodies are promotive of vegetable growth. It is now deter¬ 
mined that some plants will not even live without the means of 
procuring certain salts. Borage, the Nettle, and Parietaria will 
not exist except where nitrate of potash is in the soil; Turnips, 
Lucerne, and some other plants will not succeed where there is 
no sulphate of lime. These are facts that have silenced disputa¬ 
tion. Still there are found persons who maintain that salts are 
not essential parts of a plant’s structure : they assert that such 
bodies are beneficial to a plant by absorbing moisture to the 
vicinity of its roots ; or by improving tho staple of the soil; or 
by some other secondary mode. This, however, is refuted by the 
fact that salts enter as intimately into the constitution of plants as 
do phosphate of lime into that of bones and carbonate of lime into 
that of egg-shells. They are part of their very fabric, universally 
present, remaining after the longest washing, and to be found in 
the ashes of all and any of their parts, when subjected to incine¬ 
ration. Thus Saussure observes, that the phosphate of lime is 
universally present in plants.— (Sur la Veget., c. 8, s. 4.) The 
sap of all trees contains acetate of potash; Beetroot contains 
malate and oxalate of potash, ammonia, and lime ; Rhubarb, 
oxalate of potash and lime ; Horseradish, sulphur ; Asparagus, 
super-malates, chlorides, acetates, and phosphates of potash and 
lime; Potatoes, magnesia, citrates, and phosphates of potash and 
lime; Jerusalem Artichoke, citrate, malate, sulphate, chloride, 
and phosphate of potash; Garlic, sulphate of potash, magnesia, 
and phosphate of lime; Geraniums , tartrate of lime, phosphates 
of lime, and magnesia ; Peas, phosphate of lime ; Kidney Beans, 
phosphate of lime and potash ; Oranges, carbonate, sulphate, and 
muriate of potash ; Apples aud Pears, malate of potash ; Grapes, 
tartrate of lime; Capsicums, citrate, muriate, and phosphate of 
potash; Oak, carbonate of potash ; and the Lilac , nitrate of 
potash. Let no one fancy that the salts are a very trivial portion 
of the fabric of plants. In the Capsicum, they constitute onc- 
tentli of its fruit; of Carrot juice, one-liundredtli; of Rhubarb, 
one-eleventh ; of Potatoes, one-twentieth ; whilst of tho seed of 
the Lithospermum officinale they actually form more than one- 
half. Their constituents being as follows :— 
Carbonate of lime ..43.7 
Silica . . . . . . . 16.5 
Vegetable matter, phosphate of lime, &c. . . 39.8 
100.0 
These amounts of earthy saline matters arc nearly as much as 
exist in human bones; but if we turn to the marrow, it only 
contains one-twentietli of saline matters; the blood only one- 
hundredth ; muscle only one-thirty-fourth ; yet no one will argue 
that these saline constituents, though smaller than those in 
vegetables, are trivial and unimportant. 
Having shown that saline compounds enter universally into 
the composition of plants, let us next examine more in detail 
some of the salts which have been proved to be most beneficial as 
manures. 
Foremost among these is stiperphosphate of lime, prepared 
by the addition of sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) to crushed bones. 
It is more useful as a manure than bones, because it is more 
soluble in water. If we bury a bone it will remain almost un¬ 
altered for years ; but if we break it into small pieces it decays 
much sooner ; and if put round the roots of Cabbages, will soon 
make them grow more fine and vigorously. Cabbages, however, 
are not the only garden vegetables benefited by bone manure; 
for, as we have just said, phosphate of lime is oue of the most 
constant constituents of all plants. Of this phosphate, therefore, 
the soil is deprived by evory crop it bears; and to restore this 
phosphate to the Boil is- an object with every cultivator. It was 
long since shown by chemists that phosphate of lime is the chief 
ingredient in all bones, aud, consequently, these by degrees have 
become one of the most extensively used manures. 
In every 100 lbs. of sheeps’ bones there are 70 lbs. of phos¬ 
phate of lime; in 100 lbs. of horses’ bones, sixty eight of that 
phosphate; and in the same quantity of ox bones, 55 lbs. 
Now, as phosphate of lime is insoluble in water, and even 
bone dust is slow in decaying, it was suggested that by dissolving 
it in a strong acid, superphosphate of lime, a substance soluble 
in water, would be formed, and also all the other constituents of 
the bone be presented to the roots of the crop in a most available 
form. This process is said to have been first adopted by Mr. 
Fleming, of Borrochan, N.B., in the year 1841. He employed 
muriatic acid (spirit of salt) to dissolve the bones, and the result 
of his experiments, per acre, on Turnips and Potatoes, was as 
follows:— 
Swede Turnips. Potatoes, 
ton. cwt. ton. cwt. 
Bones (16 tons, no acid) . . 14 17 ... 9 15 
Bones (10 tons, with acid) . 18 11 .,. 12 15 
Subsequent experiments have demonstrated that oil of vitriol 
(sulphuric acid) can be used much more advantageously for dis¬ 
solving bones than the muriatic acid, and for reasons thus epito¬ 
mised by Mr. W. C. Spooner, in his “ Treatise on Manures 
—“Sulphuric acid is stronger, cheaper, has a greater specific 
