324 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 30, 1850. 
Produce per imp. acre. 
With dung alone ..16 a tons. 
Dressed with nitrate of soda . . . 20 „ 
With sulphate and nitrate mixed . . . 26J „ 
“ Again, in 1842, he obtained on another field of Potatoes 
top dressed on the 1st of June— 
Produce per imp. acre. 
1. Dung alone gave . . . . . 12J tons. 
2. Dressed with 2 cwt. sulphate . . . 12| „ 
3. Dressed with l.j cwt. nitrate . . . 16 „ 
4. Dressed with \ cwt. nitrate and lj cwt. of 
dry sulphate of soda . . . . 18 „ 
“ Still such results are not constant. It is only where the 
soil is deficient in the constituents of both salts, that the appli¬ 
cation of the mixture of the two is likely to be more useful than 
cither of them put on alone. It may even happen, as in the 
ease of the sulphate in this experiment, that one substance when 
applied alone may produce no increase of crop, and yet may in¬ 
crease the good effect of another which is applied along with it. 
“ 2°. Sulphate of soda with sulphate of ammonia. —The same 
mutually-increasing effect of two substances was seen by other 
experiments in the same field. Thus— 
Per imp. acre. 
Dung alone gave . . . . . . 12f tons. 
2 cwt. sulphate of soda in addition . . 12f „ 
1| cwt. sulphate of ammonia . . . . 12| „ 
“The produce being sensibly equal in the three cases, and the 
top dressings apparently thrown away. But a mixture of 
Is cwt. sulphate of soda, with } 1Q3 , 
n , 1 1 , p • I fifclVG lo.j. toils* 
J cwt. sulphate of ammonia S 
“ 3°. Sulphate of m agnesia with nitrate of soda. —In the same 
field also— 
11 cwt. of nitrate of soda gave. . . .16 tons. 
11 cwt. of sulphate of magnesia . . . 131 „ 
“ While a mixture of 
1 cwt. of each of the two gave . . . 221 tons. 
“4°. Sulphate of lime (gypsum) toith common salt. —Gypsum 
and common salt are known to have been often used with ad¬ 
vantage alone. Mixed and applied at the rate of 2 cwt. of 
gypsum to 1 cwt. of common salt, Mr. Alexander, of Bal- 
lochmyle, found it to invigorate an apparently worthless Bean 
crop to such degree that it became the admiration of the dis¬ 
trict.” — ( Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry , by Professor 
Johnston.) 
Every cultivator of the soil, by certain empirical signs, may be 
able to determine that certain appliances are required to render 1 
his land productive. Eor example, he knows when chalk may 
be applied to advantage; but no lengthened practice has yet '• 
enabled any one to judge of the quality of a chalk by its exterior 1 
appearance. Chemistry alone can do this. The farmers of a j 
district in Yorkshire having experienced the benefit of lime, 
procured some from a neighbouring kiln, and were astonished 
to behold the injury it caused to their crops; and it remained 
an anomaly of their experience, until chemistry demonstrated 
that the lime near home contained a very large proportion of 
magnesia, which, absorbing carbonic acid very slowly, remained | 
in a caustic state, to the injury of the roots of the plants, and 
the diminution of benefit from the carbonic acid evolved by the 
decomposing constituents of the soil. 
The experiments of Saussure demonstrate the benefit accruing 
to cultivated plants from animal and vegetable manures decom¬ 
posing in the soil; but they do more, for they afford additional 
evidence to that already given how en-oneously those persons argue 
who recommend the seed to be soaked in powerfully stimulating 
manures, for no other reason than because they are grateful to 
the adult plant. Carbonic acid gas, though an efficient-promoter j 
of a plant’s growth when mature, is a check to its progress whilst 
the root is forming. Saussure placed Peas so that their just- 
developed radicles were immersed, some in distilled water, and 
others in water impregnated with carbonic acid. The radicles 
when the experiments commenced were two lines and a half in 
length, and in ten days those in distilled water were five inches 
longer than those in the acidulated water, and the stalks and 
leaves were equally superior. But when a month had passed, 
the relative superiority was reversed, and in six weeks the plants 
fed with carbonic acid were in every respect most vigorous. 
Ruckert obtained nearly the same result when Beans were grown 
in earth, some being watered with distilled water, and the others 
with water impregnated with carbonic acid. 
Every cultivator in districts were marl is to be obtained is aware 
that it is highly beneficial when applied to the land; few of 
them, however, know that this various-coloured compound of 
earths contains always chalk, often to the amount of 50 per cent. 
They learn from experience that the marl of one district is most 
beneficial to their heavy soils; that of a second district is pro¬ 
ductive of most benefit upon light land : yet they they are igno¬ 
rant, in the first instance, that the first marl contains silica, or 
sand ; that the second has alumina, or clay, as a component; 
and if a new pit of marl is opened, they have to wait the result 
of some years’ practice before they can ascertain its quality-. The 
chemist cau'inform them in an hour.—J. 
(To be continued.) 
PUTTERIDGE GARDENS. 
(Extractedfrom the “Luton Times.") ■ 
It is once more our pleasing duty to acknowledge, on behalf of 
ourselves and the public, the liberality of Colonel Sowerby, the 
worthy proprietor of Putteridge Bury, in allowing to the in¬ 
habitants of Luton and the neighbourhood free admission to his 
enchanting grounds on three successive "Wednesdays. During 
our late visit, we were forcibly reminded of a remark of Ebenezer 
Elliott. lie was one day walking with a friend by a house, in 
front of which was a garden separated from the main road by a 
bank, the outside of which had been planted by the owner with a 
variety of beautiful and fragrant flowers for the delectation of 
passers-by-. After gazing awhile at the unwonted spectacle, the 
“rhymer” exclaimed, “ Now that is a gentleman !” We feel sure 
that this title, so difficult to define, yet so dear to an English¬ 
man—the highest, indeed, which he can bestow or receive, will 
be unanimously accorded to the gallant Colonel. Not that he 
has exactly imitated the gentleman alluded to above ; but, “ nation 
of shopkeepers ” as we are, there is not one among us to whom 
a highly cultivated farm is not an object of pleasure ; and where 
can we be favoured with finer specimens of farming than meet 
our view between Stopsley and Lilley ? And where arc there 
lovelier cottage gardens than adorn the latter village? And who 
knows not how much such matters are dependent on the foster¬ 
ing care of the landlord ? 
But not only does the gallant gentleman give the public plea¬ 
sant views on what may be called the outside of his domain, he 
admits them to an inner paradise of beauty that does far more 
than realise the highest expectations, affording to many what we 
know to be one of the greatest gratifications in the year. We 
trust that the pleasure experienced is reciprocal; and that the 
heart of Colonel Sowerby is gladdened when he sees around him 
so many happy beings flitting about in an ecstasy of delight, the 
result of his kind arrangement, and finds himself helping on the 
solution of the problem, “How shall the upper and lower classes 
be animated with mutual respect and esteem?” May he long 
live to exhibit his kindness, and may he have many imitators; 
for such individuals exercise a far more beneficial influence on 
society than even law and police. 
For the sake of those who cannot embrace the privilege of a 
visit, we wish that by some happy effort of photographic art, 
with the addition of suitable colouring, the public could be pre¬ 
sented with a picture of these gardens on an admission-day, that 
they might obtain the extended celebrity they so well deserve. 
Placed on high ground, (hey command, on the north, views of 
Lilley Wood, and peeps of the beautiful village beneath, with the 
gilded vane of the church; and on the north-west, the miniature 
plateau of Lilley Hoo, so famed in the history of Luton pic-nics. 
From the terrace on the east side of the mansion, (here are fine 
peeps through the trees of the diversified ground, terminating in 
the heights of Offley; and from the same terrace, and other 
parts of the ground, rich views to the south-west, terminating in 
the romantic, ivy-covered, wood-embosomed church of Xing’s 
Walden. On the south, the farm-house and the village of Man¬ 
grove attract the eye, with cattle and sheep grazing on the 
intermediate slopes. The ten-ace, extending along the east sido 
and the north and south ends of the mansion, is bounded by a 
ribbon-border some five hundred feet in length, planted with 
scarlet Geraniums, orange Calceolarias, and blue Lobelia, with 
variegated Alyssum next to the grass terrace. Below the terrace 
arc Roses and Thorns. In front of the drawing-room and 
dining-room windows are thirty beds, separated by narrow stone 
panels ; c-ach of these being filled chiefly with fancy Geraniums, 
raised into the pyramidal form by other contrasting plants, such 
