Burning Lime.- Mr. Wallace, of Wigton, has shown that when coals are scarce, lime may be burnt with wood or peat placed in layers in a conical form, covered with clay, and of 5 or 6 yards in diameter, with a funnel of dry furze and peat in the centre, of 2 ft. in diameter. The pile is set fire to by the top of this funnel, which will burn down to the bottom and set the whole into combustion.

Nitre as Manure. - Thomas Bruce, Esq., of Grangemuir, applied nitre to "wheat after a crop of potatoes, upon a strong loam; and to grass, intended for hay, upon a stiff clay. Upon both, the effect has been wonderful." The nitre was obtained from Messrs. Forman and Haddow, 51. Lime Street, London. William Hawkins, Esq., of Hitchin, Herts, gives the experience of twelve of his neighbours of this salt. They all agree that it should be sown in damp weather, that it improves chalky soils, and that its effects are particularly striking on the pasture grasses and on clover. It was first used in the neighbourhood of Hitchin, about fifteen years ago, at the suggestion of an ingenious gentleman, Mr. Bessanier. From 1 to 2 cwt. is sown per acre in March or April. One gentleman has used it fifteen, another twelve, another ten, another six years, &c. We hope some gardeners will try it with culinary crops.

Of Plants cultivated for their Roots. - This is a most complete detail of the ridgelet system of cultivating turnips, admirably illustrated by wood-cuts. The only thing which surprises us in it is how a writer, apparently so well acquainted with the subject, should state that the turnip "as is well known, was first cultivated in rows on the great scale in Norfolk, to which circumstance this celebrated county owes the distinguishing character of its agriculture." Every Scotchman who has been in Norfolk knows that turnips are not even now cultivated on the ridgelet, or even the drill, system there except at Mr. Coke's and a few other places. (See Encyc. of Agr., p. 1118.)

On a remarkable Law of Vegetable Life, and its Influence on several Operations in Horticulture and Agriculture. By the Rev. Dr. Fleming, of Flisk.— In the animal kingdom abundance of nutriment accelerates the period of puberty; but in the vegetable kingdom it is, or appears to be, the reverse, and the scantier the supply of nourishment the sooner will the plant produce blossoms. Old and consequently more or less injured seeds produce plants, which, being scantily supplied with nourishment from the cotyledons, sooner produce flowers, than plants from fresh seeds, the cotyledons of which are in greater vigour. Hence the custom of carrying melon seeds in the breeches pocket, like most other customs that have stood the test of ages, is founded in utility. But while plants, the object of cultivating which is speedily to produce fruit, should mostly be raised from old seeds, those where the leaf or root are the object, should be raised from young seeds, e. g. turnips, carrots, cabbages. The same law will hold as to cuttings whether of herbaceous or ligneous shoots, tubers, or other roots. Grafting a rapidgrowing tree or plant upon a slow-growing stock, transplanting them from a rich to a poor soil, from a wet to a dry soil, or, after keeping a plant for a long time very moist, suddenly keeping it very dry, will have the same effect. An error has crept into a part of this valuable paper, which we are rather surprised at. It is stated (p. 293.) that the ascent of the sap is indirectly diminished, by having portions of the bark removed by the knife, or wires twisted round the stem or the branches. The sap, it is well known, ascends by the wood, and descends by the bark, and the effect of twisting wires round the stem is to obstruct its descent, and if this be done in old trees at any time, or in young trees at or after midsummer, the tree not having strength, or time to employ the sap in forming leaf buds, employs it in turning the leaf buds already formed in embryo into flower blossoms. It may be said, therefore, that in such cases it is not the want of nourishment which throws a plant into a fruiting state, but the direction of the nourish

ment to one part of the plant instead of to the whole; to the parts above ground to the exclusion of the parts under it. Hence it is that by ringing or wiring plants on rich soils, the same effects are produced as if they grew on poor ones. "Though plants differ from animals, in reference to this singular law, which we have here ventured to establish from an extensive induction of particulars, they agree, in other respects, in the influence which an abundant supply of nourishment exercises in the increase of the number and size of the progeny."

On the Insect which attacks the Ear of Wheat. This is a beautiful paper, evidently by the editor. "Every one knows that there are beasts and birds of prey, which man, generally speaking, hates very much, because of his own innocent nature, and because he considers them as destructive. He calls them vermin, a name which is meant to imply something mean or bad. But the truth is, that the reason why he destroys them, and calls them vermin, is just because he cannot eat them. If foxes were as good as turkeys, and ravens as delicate as lambs, the fox, with all his cunning, instead of being called vermin, would be called venison, and the croak of the raven would be no longer regarded as a funeral note which it learned at the time of the deluge. All our views of creation are tinged and distorted by our regarding it only in relation to our own artificial and often vitiated demands. No doubt ours is a very noble species, compared with others on the earth, but it is extremely insignificant considered in relation to the universe; and to suppose that all nature is conformed to our convenience alone is too much. We have a goodly share of the riches of the treasury of Providence, but we must not perplex ourselves by supposing that every arrangement in creation is made exclusively for ourselves. A material creation probably exists chiefly for the contemplation and accommodation which it affords to intelligent and sentient beings; but as to ourselves, especially when we consider our terrestrial circumstances, we ought to be very humble, and observe the glorious creation around us as it is, and not try to twist every thing into our own convenience, or stand perplexed as to the goodness of the Deity, when we discover some arrangement which does not appear to minister to our happiness." The means which Nature employs to restrain the diminutive wheat-ear fly within due bounds, are the very same as she employs to keep within bounds whales of 60 ft. long, viz. providing other species to prey upon them. The law of mutual destruction pervades the whole animal, and is found in the vegetable, creation. There are three other flies which seem to depend upon the wheat flies for their subsistence. One of these, the Típula, or Cecidomyia, trítici (fig. 42. a), hovers around the ear in the evening; while another very minute fly, the Ichneumon insèrens (b), is found round the ear all the day. These last flies appear of great self-denial and curious fancy; for they only lay an egg beside an egg of the wheat fly, which is hatched along with it, devours it, and saves the wheat. The most abundant species of these ichneumons, or flies of prey, "positively lays its egg in the very body of the yellow maggot, while it is feeding busily. It has a long hollow rod, projected at pleasure from its tail, which it thrusts into the body of the worm, and down which it then sends one egg from its body, which egg is hatched within the body of the maggot, and consumes it."

Soil poisoned by Coal.

a

42

A Northumberland farmer finds a soil which had been injured by coal, a seam being near the surface, and the land undermined for it, restored to its fertility by quicklime, at the rate of from 20 to 30 loads per acre.

VOL. V.-No. 19.

N

On the Value of Agricultural Societies.-The writer says that "they have been the means of diffusing much knowledge, and of calling forth the practical application of much that existed. They have been instrumental in generating a kindlier and more confidential feeling between landlord and tenant. They have raised his general standard in the management of a farm, by bestowing due honour and commendation on the active, industrious, economical, and neat-handed farmer. They have been the means of introducing better stock, better seed, better implements of husbandry, and better modes of culture. And they have contributed not a little to rub off that rusticity which might leave us fit for a market or farm, or for bearing a prominently ridiculous place in the picture of The Rent Day;' but which completely unfitted us for general society." Their decay he attributes to the depressed state of agriculture during the last thirteen years, and he calls on the editor to use his exertions to revive them, because “we are, of all men, most in danger of getting into a lifeless, unprofitable routine in the management of our work; and of adopting (unless we are affronted out of it by the example of our neighbours) Mrs. Macelarty's excuse for all our slovenliness, — “It will just do well enough."

A few Hints on ornamenting with suitable Plants the Grounds about a Country Residence. By Mr. Steuart Menteath, younger, of Closeburn. Mr. Menteath humanely directs attention to the ornamenting of cottages by evergreens and creepers, and the planting not only of fruit trees, but of flowering shrubs in their gardens. "From such improvements in their gardens, it may reasonably be expected that the inmates of the cottages would gain not a little in point of taste and good feeling; order and cleanliness would supplant disorder and filthiness; and, above all, if the cottage child, during his hours of leisure and relaxation, were trained to look after, and take an interest in, a few flowers and evergreens, he would, from such salutary and healthful occupations, form a kind attachment to the vegetable kingdom, and, instead of wantonly impairing, cutting, or destroying the trees, of which we have so many disgraceful proofs, he would feel a disinclination to offer them any injury.

"The mutilating of statues, even in our churchyards; the destruction of the cope-stones of walls and bridges, and of the very milestones on our public highways, are instances of wanton mischief, which we believe to be more often seen in Scotland than elsewhere, and it is a disgrace to the most enlightened and virtuous peasantry in the world. Means ought to be employed to counteract this tendency, and that which we have suggested may not be altogether devoid of use in this respect.”

Mr. Menteath thinks with many people, and, we believe, with most of his countrymen, that the laborious classes of Scotland, are the "most enlightened and virtuous in the world," and we thought so too, till we had been in Wurtemberg and Baden. He adds, "it is well known how much a regard for the lower animals is cherished in youth, by having some favourite to look after and fondle, and how indifferent to the brute creation, and how reckless of human life, those are who have never been accustomed to take an interest in it. On the same principle, those who have been brought up in heaths and districts bare of wood, are generally observed to do the most wanton mischief to trees. With a view to such objects, it might be advisable to attach to every parochial school, indeed to all schools, a small plot of garden-ground, ornamented with flowers, evergreens, and most of the plants used for domestic purposes. Such a garden, but upon a larger scale than would be adopted in ordinary schools, is to be seen at the Academy of Dollan, to which the youth have constant access. It should also be made a part of the master's duty, to direct the attention of his scholars to the plants of the garden, -to teach them their history,— describe their uses, and point out their culture. All this might be easily done, as any master could soon learn all that is useful to know of such

plants, and take pleasure in communicating this knowledge to his youthful charge; and it might be so conducted as to cause little or no interruption to the other laborious exercises of the school. The instruction given as a recreation in the play hours, would not be the least valuable, as knowledge is always more readily acquired by the young, when it is possible to combine pleasure with mental exertion. As the parochial clergy are now so attentive to this taste for adorning their own dwellings, they would no doubt readily take an interest in such a plan, and encourage the love of it in the schoolmaster and his pupils. Such gardens, small in extent, might be laid out at little expense. They should be kept in order by the master, with the assistance of his scholars, who would soon take much interest and delight in such occupations. Any trifling expense the proprietor might be at in ornamenting these small gardens around the parochial schoolhouse, would be principally repaid in the security of his woods from the mischievous schoolboy's knife." We entirely concur with him, and it is singular that he should have hit upon what has been already done in Bavaria. We may add that for cherishing a regard for the lower animals, and humanising youth generally, few pursuits are more effectual than that of natural history, and with this view we hope to live to see much real good done to the rising generation by our Magazine of Natural History. At Rouen, Paris, Strasburg, Frankfort, Carlsruhe, Nuremberg, and other towns in France and Germany, the public squares, which, unlike those in Britain, are open to every body, and are unprotected by iron railings or fences of any kind, are stocked with the finest American trees and shrubs, magnolias, rhododendrons, azaleas, &c., and with the rarest flowers of the country, which bud, leaf, flower, and fruit untouched by the populace. Such is the humanised state of the laborious classes in these countries; very different indeed from what it is either in Scotland or England, but not from what it might and will be.

On the Propagation of genuine Agricultural Seeds. By Mr. Shirreff of Mungoswells, East Lothian. A very important paper. The propagation of vegetables exceeds that of animals in importance, because the vegetable produce of the country surpasses that of animals, and because our most valuable domestic animals live on vegetables. Selection is the principle for procuring abundance of genuine seeds, and the process even with the dif ferent sorts of corn is not, as might be supposed, tedious. In 1823, Mr. Shirreff marked a vigorous wheat plant, near the centre of a field, which produced him 2473 grains. These were dibbled in the autumn of the same year, the produce sown broadcast the second and third years, and the fourth harvest produced 40 quarters of sound grain. A fine purple-topped Swedish turnip produced 100,296 grains, which was seed enough for five imperial acres; and thus, in three years, one turnip would produce seed enough for Great Britain for a year.

On the Plough. A geometrical demonstration of its construction and action, and, as far as we can judge, the best essay that has appeared on the subject, since the time of Small.

On the Agriculture of Ireland. By Edward Johnston, Esq. M.R. I.A. &c.. Absenteeism, middlemen, "absence of tranquillity and of personal security" (an objection now, we trust, removed), want of capital, the great bulk of the tilled land in farms of from 15 to 50 acres, "indolence and slow, slovenly, dawdling habits of working," and general ignorance of agriculture, are the evils to be overcome.

On Maize or Indian Corn, which not ripening its seeds in the neighbourhood of London till the middle or end of November, can never come generally into culture in England; but that it may be worth culture, in favourable situations, for feeding poultry is probable.

The Miscellaneous Notices are various; one of the most valuable is the following from the Bulletin des Sciences Agricoles, which we extract, because

though we do not think it necessary that gardeners should possess the practical knowledge of farmers, we should wish them to be masters of the science of agriculture. "The male parent is the preserver and creator of a race. The first changes in crossing are always exhibited in those parts that possess the power of being reproduced, as the hair, horns, hooves, &c. Tbe fleshy parts change slowly, in proportion as the mother has much of the blood of the original race. The first changes take place in the head, and are gradually developed towards the hinder quarters of the animal. To produce a new race, as many generations are necessary, as years are for perfecting their teeth.""

In the body of the work an extract is given from the Annales de l'Agriculture Française, the object of which is to show that in breeding a greater number of one sex than of the other, may be obtained at the option of the breeder. The principle is, when most males are wanted, strengthen the power of the male parents relatively to the strength of the females; and when most females are wanted the contrary. The application to a flock of sheep is thus given. The farmer wishing a greater number of female lambs, is recommended to put very young rams to the ewes; and also, that during the season that the rams are with the ewes, the ewes should have more abundant pasture than the rams. When male lambs are chiefly to be obtained, strong and vigorous rams four or five years old are to be put to the ewes. The Prize Essays and Transactions of the Highland Society of Scotland, form a separate part of each number, and we shall defer their examination for the present.

We have passed unnoticed several valuable essays, among the original communications, but have done enough to show that this is one of the first agricultural journals in Europe. Our opinion is, that it is the very first; being in fact what the present state of science and taste for reading among the more intellectual agriculturists, might have been expected to call forth. We would recommend it to Farmer John Bull, but it would be of no use, for he has already got his Weekly Farmer's Journal, which is to the Quarterly Journal what the agriculture of Hertfordshire or Essex, or any of the midland counties, is to that of East Lothian, Berwickshire, or Northumberland. We have recommended it, however, to several distinguished individuals and societies in France and Germany, and we hope, for the credit of the young and reading agriculturists of Britain, that they will profit according to the opportunity offered to them by this work.

One fault in the arrangement of the articles in this journal needs only to be pointed out to the editor. The articles are mixed, probably by chance, or possibly with the idea of giving variety. Mixture, however, is not variety. No two articles or objects of any kind, composing part of a whole series, ought to be placed together without a particular reason. A connected series or train of ideas, ought to be excited in the mind, even in looking over the contents of a book. In No. IV. for example, instead of the arrangement given, we should have placed the articles thus: I. II. XI. IV. V. X. VII. IX. XIII. III. XII. VI. VIII. and xiv. At present they put us in mind of Regent Street; a great many good parts, but not a good whole.

M'Intosh, Charles, C.M.H.S., late Gardener to the Right Honourable the Earl of Breadalbane, and Sir Thomas Baring, Bart. M.P. &c. &c.: the Practical Gardener and Modern Horticulturist; containing the latest and most approved Methods for the Management of the Kitchen, Fruit, and Flower Garden, the Green-house, Hot-house, &c. &c., for every Month in the Year; each Department being distinctly and separately arranged; illustrated by numerous Designs of the most eligible Plans for the Formation of Kitchen and Pleasure Gardens, the Erection of Hothouses, Hot-beds, Green-houses, Conservatories, Walls, Fences, &c. &c., including the new Method of heating Forcing-houses with Hot-water