107 
fence, faced with stone, often constructed in parks, or where it is 
desired that the view shall not be obstructed. 
Fig. 35. 
Fig. 35. 
_ , agricultural MUSEUMS. 
I he Scotch, who we have often commended for their agricultu¬ 
ral societies, and agricultural improvements, are addino- to their 
means of information, the important advantages of agricultural mu¬ 
seums. Three of these museums have been established by indivi¬ 
dual enterprise, since 1830, at Stirling, Edinburgh and Perth. The 
third report of the Messrs. Drummonds, at Stirling has just reach- 
" JuS ' t contains 160 pages, 50 of which are occupied with com¬ 
munications from the most eminent practical men. We avail our¬ 
selves of the language of Mr. Archibald Gorrie, to make known to 
our readers the nature of these collections, and some of the advan. 
tages which are likely to result from them. 
these mu f e “ ms - which are open to' the public, specimens of 
F oductl ° ns °f the garden, the field, and the forest, with 
models and improved implements of husbandry, are here exhibited. 
straw anX ^ 86611 th ® dltferent varieties of grain and pulse, in 
f d c sa . m P le > now m general cultivation, or recently intro- 
du e Ced / ro ! n forei g n P a >; ts » with explanations respecting soil, culture, 
weight, climate, acreable produce, &c., by which means the farmer 
may easily avail himself of the collected experience of his brethren! 
roller lnd T/ to £2? tnbute in return. In another place appears a 
collection of the different species and varieties of roots now under 
cultivation, affording the same advantages. Ample collections of 
living and dried specimens of grasses, in scientific arrangement, 
fa!mpr n ° th i er mterestm 8' foatur e m the exhibition, pointing to the 
farmer in language as strong as it is in the collective power of 
grass to express, a proffer of service, whereby he can improve its 
condition, and, with much anvantage to himself, convert it into flesh. 
And the various improved and rare productions of the garden that 
appear at, and give additional interest to these museums! shew that 
nothing shall be wanting on the part of horticulturists in promoting 
i mprovements m the held. To the intelligent and enterprising 
young man, desirous of pursuing the important art of agriculture as 
a profession, or of becoming a gentleman’s land-steward or over¬ 
seer, such schools of instruction must be of immense value, as there 
he can have, for days weeks, or months together, opportunities of 
minutely examining the specimens, labels, and appropriate books— 
of coming in constant contact witli the most scientific and practical 
hfsTnd 1 d ay—thus affording him the means of storing 
Ms mind with the most valuable facts, in a mode not more invitinf 
than it is novel and expeditious. ° 
The first section of the report is descriptive of soils, of which nu¬ 
merous specimens are deposited, gives their classification, their 
qualities as indicated by the natural growth of plants upon them, and 
thmr constituent parts. It describes a geologico-agricultura] cabi 
net of hand specimens of the principal rocks and other strata that 
constitute the crust of the earth. It gives also a copious explana¬ 
tion of scientific terms employed in agricultural science. We P close 
this article, for the present, with a further extract, and one of deep 
interest, from this branch of the report ^ 
“Elementary Sub stances.-The great mass of the earth’s crust 
however variously combined, is found to consist of but few simple 
substances, viz. silica, or the matter of quartz, alumina, or pure clay 
lime, magnesia potash, and oxide of iron, of which specimens are 
here given, the five preceding as well as the last beino- oxides or 
rusts, tie state in which they exist at the surface; but reduced by 
the chemist to their most simple state, their metallic base they b I 
come the combustible elements, silicon, aluminum, cah^mmlgne'. 
sium, potassium, and iron , in which statp thpv am , , 
;r„r in the ,ntenot ° f w 
found on coming into contact with water or moist air, to cause fir! 
and explosion, from thence have been deduced the phenomena 0 f 
earthquakes and volcanic action. P nomena of 
*• Simple Minerals. —These elementary substances are found com ■ 
r™ d ilT»,W ,her i0 forming 
' ’. , so . ca |. ed or > account of their homogenous or uniform as 
? 6 ’■> 16 SIX wl) ’ch specimens are given, with the nronnrtmno _/ 
forded by analysis marked on them, o!currinleither Klf or a J* 
gregated into the compound tocks, compose the principal’bulk of 
i ss a great part ° f the 
strata % o S t mto beds or 
“ Unslratified, or Rocks of igneous origin _Occurrinn- in »— 
havung been protruded in a melted state from below ° masses, 
f he arrangement into these two classes is here'adonted a<= 
K&S? fS11d th r1 s eSs Pr ° babili,y ' fr ° m thS! 
the different elementary metals and gases havino- been nermitted to 
come into act on at the surface, the primitive stfata appeal have 
been arranged by the agency of water, according to their gravitfos 
n concentric layers, forming the first hard envelope or crusfbetwixt 
the superincumbent water and atmosphere, and the interior ■ thS 
crystalline structure is considered to have been pnncirX Xd 
by the heat of the fused masses of o-ranite whicf/afterwi/l aused 
m contact with them. Their period of formarion foXsldS "bp 6 
remains. hG Cr6atl ° n ° f or £ amc bem gs, as they contain no petrified 
“ The Primitive Unslratified.—’The combustible elements beino- 
J? 6nt U P’ as 11 were > under the first envelope, and havino- but 
partia access to water, perhaps through the still porous strata vet 
enough for ignition and expansion, and hence, in melted masses’ 
heaving, twisting, and protruding through the primitive s“ata shT 
ed them in many cases from the horizontal to their present nea£ 
vertical posit on; and thus elevating a great part of the eartl ^ 
mountainchains circurnduent watcr ’ caused the first dryland and 
!2r iV \ many fragments of which are imbedded in the !arlier 
formations; these strata are of partial extent onlv „ 6 earIler 
have been formed in the beds of sLs and oceans now lafodre^The 
“Sr P 6trifacti0 -’ aad - more earthy 
“ The Secondary Unstralified, are those rocks the results of 
«ye eruptions which have taken place since the creation n/ 
beings till the present time. Anextend^projecS of 
[time of intense volcanic action is considered to have been th! X * 
. mate cause of the deluge, by elevating the bed of ti> e P roxi - 
(pressing of the primeval land They^often^tcur S vfonT X 6 ' 
masses, which gives them the appearance of beds but X T® 0 a f 
outthey are foupd soon ,o p^p or doJiS ££?££ 
r e X?nmXlf*t StratUn l in ‘l TlediateIy under neath the soil is either 
soil freely, thus the red calcareous or limy sand, is very like the red 
siliceous sand ; and farmers removing from a district where they had 
taken up the former to their great profit, have, in another dfitrfot 
taken up the latter to their great loss. tnct * 
“ Earths alone, according to most physiologists, are of little other 
use to plants than as affording a medium for fixino- themselves hv 
JresXth for distributing their proper nourishment. The Jl 
tures of these earths are various, as the rocks and minerals bv 
I whose decomposition and crumbling down, they have been produce/ 
