~ WASTE LAND. 
burnt, limed, or marled, or covered with chalk, 
clay, earth, &c. will pay the expense of the im- 
provement, and rendered so fertile, that it can 
afterwards be preserved, in a good condition, 
from its own resources. 7. To lay down any 
land, improved from waste, in high and bleak 
situations, as soon as possible into grass, and to 
retain it in that state as long as it is tolerably 
productive. For though grain and roots may be 
cultivated on waste lands, when properly im- 
proved, and favourably situated, yet grass pas- 
tured, particularly by sheep, is principally to be 
depended on for improving weak soils, in barren 
districts, and remunerating the improver.”’ 
“Tt has been thought,” says the same distin- 
guished writer, “that greater profit may be de- 
rived from the improvement of wastes, or of 
lands not hitherto completely cultivated, than of 
similar soils that have been long under the 
plough. The rent is necessarily lower, they are 
freer from weeds, and if once brought into good 
order, and properly managed afterwards, will 
give lucrative returns. Instances might be stat- 
ed in support of the above doctrine, but unfor- 
tunately it has not in every case been sanctioned 
by experience. The real cause is, that a great 
expense must be incurred in the first instance, 
while the subsequent advantages are uncertain. 
—Among the various modes of improving wastes, 
that of bringing them into a state of cultivation, 
by establishing colonies of labourers, fishermen, 
tradesmen, &c. in advantageous situations, has 
been found beneficial to the proprietor and to 
the public,—to the first, because his land is im- 
proved, perhaps without any expense being in- 
curred by him,—and to the second, because, as a 
distinguished character has well observed, when 
land is given to a cottager for a number of years, 
under a small reserved rent, he and his family 
will exert in its cultivation, a quantity of labour, 
which would not otherwise be called into action ; 
and by which, many thousand acres of land may 
be cultivated, which would not, in any other 
mode, pay the expense of improvement.— Whether 
exertions for the improvement of wastes are be- 
neficial or injurious to the undertaker, there can 
be no doubt, that they are advantageous to the 
public. By these means, thousands of acres have 
been already added to the national stock of ara- 
ble land, which, in proportion to their extent, 
will continue to yield food for our increased po- 
pulation. Besides the multitudes employed in 
reclaiming these wastes, occupation is provided 
for as many persons as are requisite for their sub- 
sequent cultivation; and the surplus food, be- 
yond what the actual cultivators may require, 
increases the fund of provisions for maintaining 
those who are employed in manufactures and 
commerce. In all these respects, the improve- 
ment of waste and unproductive land is an ob- 
ject of very high national importance, and well 
deserves the attention, and indeed the encour- 
agement, of the legislature.” 
WATER. 
619 
WATER. Water, in a perfectly pure state, 
consists of 88°89 per cent. of oxygen and 11°11 of 
hydrogen. These two elements, in their separate 
or gaseous state, will not combine except by 
electrical agency; and though confined in one 
vessel, they will only diffuse themselves through 
each other, and will not make any attempt to 
unite till so attacked by either a voltaic spark, 
a red heat, or a strong pressure as to excite elec- 
trical action. A mixture of oxygen and hydro- 
gen in a close vessel when electrically acted on, 
explodes and forms water; astream of hydrogen 
escaping into the air, if ignited, will combine 
with the oxygen of the atmosphere in a process 
of regular combustion, and form water; and the 
free hydrogen which arises from many a pro- 
cess of decomposition on the surface of the earth, 
and ascends to the higher regions of the atmo- 
sphere, combines under the action of free elec- 
tricity with the oxygen of the air, and forms 
much of the rain which falls in torrents during 
thunderstorms. The amount of electrical power 
necessary to maintain the union of oxygen and 
hydrogen in every grain weight of water is equal 
to a heavy flash of lightning. Water is, how- 
ever, decomposed by electricity in excess, and 
its specific electricity liberated; and this fact 
may account for the formation of nitrous acid 
gas in the air during thunderstorms. The elec- 
tricity compels the union of atmospheric nitro- 
gen with oxygen yielded by either the decom- 
posed water in the atmosphere or by the atmo- 
sphere itself. This formation of nitrous acid is 
a wise provision by nature for the purification of 
the air we breathe; every one knows that the 
air is always pure and ‘more healthy after a 
thunderstorm; the nitrous acid acts upon and 
decomposes the miasms with which it was pre- 
viously impregnated. 
Water is a transparent, colourless liquid, well 
known to all, and, therefore, requiring no fur- 
ther description of its form and appearance. It 
is a universal solvent of soluble matter, acting 
slowly upon some inorganic substances, and not 
at all upon others, unless assisted by another 
chemical agent. It is said by Canton to possess 
considerable electricity,—yielding, as he affirms, 
in a perceptible degree, to the pressure of air 
in the condensing machine. But may not this 
philosopher be mistaken? May not the effect of 
the pressure result from atmospheric air and 
carbonic acid contained in the water with which 
he experimented? Nothing appears to show 
that he employed distilled water; and all other 
waters, whether from rain, springs, or rivers, 
contain both of these gases. The action of some 
metals upon water is to decompose it rapidly, of 
others to decompose it slowly; and of others not 
to decompose it all. Thus, iron decomposes it 
rapidly and seizes its oxygen; copper and zinc 
decompose it more slowly, whilst gold does not 
act upon it at all. The activity of water in its 
action upon organic substances is moderate, pro- 
