222 
GLEANINGS — DOMESTIC  AND  FOREIGN. 
Vahie  of  the  Black  Currant — The  Druggists*  Circular,  for 
April,  quoting  from  a  French  Journal,  informs  us  that  since  1841, 
at  Dijon  in  France,  about  two  millions  of  bushes  of  the  Black 
Currant  have  been  planted  with  a  view  to  wine  making.  In  some 
places  the  grape  has  given  way  to  this  current.  Each  bush 
yields  about  2  to  5  lbs.  of  fruity  and  the  profits  of  an  acre  vary  from 
§100  to  $200.  The  bushes  are  planted  in  trenches  four  feet  three 
inches  apart,  and  fifteen  inches  deep,  the  plants  being  placed 
some  distance  asunder. 
Gun  Cotton. — A  writer  in  the  Archiv.  der  Pharm.  Dec.  1861, 
says  that  it  is  more  difficult  to  prepare  good  Gun  Cotton  for 
either  collodion  or  explosive  purposes,  in  proportion  as  the  quan- 
tity operated  upon  exceeds  an  ounce,  it  being  conditional  of  suc- 
cess that  the  evolution  of  red  nitrous  vapors  be  prevented, 
which  he  finds  almost  impossible  on  a  large  scale. 
The  proportion  found  best  by  the  waiter  was  16  ounces  of 
nitre  and  24  ounces  of  oil  of  vitriol  for  each  ounce  of  cotton. 
He  also  approves  of  the  temperature  of  from  150°  to  160°  F. 
with  five  minutes  contact,  and  thorouojh  washino:  with  hot  water. 
— Druggists  Circular,  April,  1861. 
Lithium  infertile  soil. — Prince  Salm-Horstmar,  {Pogg.  An- 
nalen,)  in  studying  the  effects  of  various  salts  in  contributing  to  fer- 
tility, finds  a  salt  of  lithia  the  most  successful.  As  lithia  is  now 
believed  to  be  of  almost  universal  occurrence  in  soils  and  ashes, 
this  fact  has  considerable  interest. — Druggists'  Circular,  April, 
1861. 
Ozone  in  the  Mineral  Kingdom. — Prof.  Schroetter  of  Vienna, 
[Pogg,  AnnaJen,  1860,  p.  561,)  says  that  the  odor  o£  certain 
varieties  of  minerals  when  scratched  is  due  to  this  substance. — 
Druggists  Circular. 
The  inflammability  of  the  flowers  of  Dictamnus  albus,  al- 
leged by  the  daughter  of  Linnj3eus,  and  so  frequently  doubted 
since  by  other  observers,  has  been  corroborated  by  Dr.  Hahn,  of 
Hannover, (Archiv.  der  Pharm.  1861,)  who  found  that  in  a  dry  sea- 
son, when  a  lighted  match  was  held  to  the  stalk  below  a  bunch  of 
flowers,  a  small  reddish  strongly  smoking  flame  ran  up  which  did 
