may be fairly hazarded, that this energetic fluid is the prime, if not the entire source of all the vegetable developements; I mean in as much as nutrition is concerned. A difficulty remains in respect to carbon, for the chemical destructive analysis of vegetable bodies, seems to prove that, the bulk of their substance is resolvable into carbonaceous matter. The inquiry must be pursued when carbon becomes the subject of investigation. However, as water is incapable of dissolving charcoal, at least in any appreciable quantity; and as it is certain that not a particle of solid carbon, however impalpable it may be, can enter the absorbent processes of the roots; it can scarcely be supposed that the carbon of the plant is derived from introsusception by the roots. But the physiological chemist may say, that it is in the germ of carbonic acid that carbon is introduced! Others of a more modern school will refer the process of nutritive absorption to the formation of a substance said to be recently discovered, termed humine! Carbonic acid, doubtless may be detected in the juices of plants, but it is in all probability a result of electric vital action within the cells, and not one of simple absorption from the ground. The fact is, that carbon does not exist in the living plant; it is never detected but by destructive chemical action; or by fermentation after the extinction of the vital principle. Water therefore may be considered the pabulum of vegetable developement and growth without difficulty, and I deem it to be such, not perhaps in its crude native form, but modified by the agency of the substances within the soil, which become decomposed in the immediate vicinity of the roots. To produce the food of plants, all the great natural agents are of necessity employed, and water is the medium through which they act. It may indeed be itself decomposed, and by its elements produce new compounds with the decomposable substances it meets with; but whatever be its agency in the soil, the exciting cause appears to be the vital principle, which, stimulating the otherwise dead and effete matters in the soil, causes the plant to attract, or at least to receive from them, a simple, bland, colourless sap, that is modified and changed by other agencies within appropriate vascular organs, till at length it becomes assimilated into the substance of the organised being which has excited and perfected these astonishing mutations. The reader, the more deeply he reflects, the more pertinaciously he investigates, will, in proportion, be inevitably convinced, that our knowledge is but perfect ignorance; and that however deeply read we may be in what concern effects of causes we are still in the dark; and that search how we may, they elude our utmost vigilance.

October 17th, 1833.

ARTICLE II.

ON BURNING WEEDS AND OTHER RUBBISH, AND THE BENEFIT THENCE DERIVED TO STRONG CLAYEY GARDENS.

BY MR. T. H. BAILEY.

CONSIDERING it the duty of every man, in whatever station providence may have placed him, to render himself useful, I am induced to offer the following remarks. In the situation in which I am placed, and which I have held for some years, the site of the garden being a clay, and that of the strongest nature, is a very great disadvantage to the gardener, supposing that even after much labour it should produce a fair crop of common vegetables, as is the case. But it is a very unpleasant thing to have a man digging a whole day at a small plot of ground, which, were it any thing like what it ought to be, might have occupied but a few hours. Besides, should the gardener want to put it into immediate use, it becomes very difficult and almost impossible to rake it, until it has been exposed sometime to the weather. I have endeavoured to render it more pliable by putting in enormous quantities of decayed leaves, bog, &c., but it was to no purpose, without removing the site altogether. The best method I have practiced for sometime is to burn all the weeds and refuse I can get together. I never pay any particular attention to a favourable season for clearing of such things, but hoe them up, and rake or scrape them together, wheeling them to the back premises till it is convenient to burn them. As in most gardens, whether large or small, there is always, generally speaking, some portion of brush wood or cuttings of shrubs and trees fit for nothing but the flames. These being too frequently left up and down in the plantations, become very unsightly, and retard their progress. In many situations, supposing them to be collected together, they are suffered to remain in heaps from year to year, till they are decayed, and they do little or no good to any one. But being converted to the purpose I allude, they would promote neatness, and be of great advantage to the gardener as an improvement. I have used them chiefly in correcting the borders by the south walls, commonly called Peach borders. The top spit, being improved from time to time, is of course good in nature, though not at all pliable. I get out a space, as if for double digging or trenching; take away the sub-spit, (clay) and replace it with the top, making good the deficiencies with the ashes produced From the weeds, &c. Some people may object, why not mix at portion of the top soil with the ashes? When I first commenced, in

the year 1826, I made the site about one sixth burnt soil, and this gave me every satisfaction as to improvement, from its producing a crop. But by way of correcting, I could not perceive the least symptoms, nor was there scarcely a particle of the ashes to be found in it at the end of twelve months. I afterwards reversed the two matters, but still found the original to be troublesome, which induced me to leave it out altogether. But this part must be left to the judgment of the gardener or person employed, according to the nature of his soil, I wish to be understood, not only as treating upon it for correcting, but as one of the best improvements that can be used, and hence the practice of it is of more importance. I have tried it in many instances instead of dung, and never found it to fail. The advantage in quality over our clay, when burned, so far as I am able to judge from my own experience, is in a six fold degree. I have some that has borne several good crops of vegetables without any improvement, and it seems little exhausted. I made one plot eighteen months back, and immediately sowed it with onions which did well. In autumn, after I had got them off, I planted it with cauliflowers, cabbage and lettuce, to stand through the winter, all of which I think were as early and as good as could be produced in a similar situation. The cabbage I commenced cutting in the beginning of April, and the cauliflowers in the middle of the same month, not having the least protection during any part of winter; whereas had I planted the latter on the original soil in the same situation, though the winter was so favourable, they would have perished completely from cold and wet. Any kind of roots such as potatoes, turnips, &c, particularly radishes, grown in the vegetable ashes, will be found superior in flavour to what are grown in most other sorts of soil. Health being one of the greatest blessings bestowed upon us in this world, it should be carefully preserved. Now I scarcely know any thing more noxious about premises than a heap of vegetable matter, lying for months in a state of fermentation; it impregnates the atmosphere, and the air in a certain degree becomes impure all round. I object to the fermentation of vegetable matter for two reasons. First, that before it becomes thoroughly decayed, and fit for use, it is one of the finest nurseries for the breed of all kinds of insects, which ought to be guarded against. And Secondly, when thoroughly decayed, (they may be an improvement) but they only tend to fill the gardens with weeds which are completely obviated by my system. With regard to the burning of clay, as a corrector, it is certainly the best method that can be recommended. Its good or bad qualities, in a great measure, depend on its nature before it is burned, and as I am a com

out manure.

plete stranger to chemistry, I cannot pretend in the least to say of what our's is composed. If the top spit be laid aside, as for embankments, with the intention of being mixed with the two spits burned below, in a few years it will be a little more pliable than it was in its original state; whereas burning altogether answers well, but I can never afterwards obtain more than one good crop of vegetables withIn wet seasons, it will be found rather a troublesome matter to burn, but the best method is to get a tolerable quantity of wood together, in a manner similar to that of Mr. Stafford for burning clay, and then to cover it up about eighteen inches thick with the vegetable matter. Then I always light it the first thing in the morning, as it will require regular attention during the day, to prevent the fuel from burning away more in some parts than in others. The next morning, though the heap will be considerably sunk, the matter will be little wasted. The steam and vapour arising from it, will, in a great measure, have subsided, and the matter being raked together must be opened with a dung hook, and thrown together again; after which it will begin to waste, and will require little attention, except putting on a little fuel and more matter till the whole is reduced to ashes. Sometimes the heap is on fire for two months, when there is much rubbish to be cleared away, and burns better at first than when it is fomented. When I am deficient of wood, I use a little slack, but it must be used with discretion, or more may be used than is necessary. Where wood cannot be readily obtained, slack may be applied with advantage, in burning clay, as it will not materially alter its nature if used with moderation; being used too much it becomes brick dust.

P. S. The great advantage derived from clay burnt by Mr. Stafford depends, as I have observed, upon its quality before it is burnt, his clay, containing a larger portion of lime than that of these gardens, which naturally have little or none, requires for its improvement very different treatment.

Allestree Gardens, December 1, 1833.

ARTICLE III.-ON GROWING CUCUMBERS.

BY MR. J. BROWN, JUN.

THE culture of the cucumber has for years been a stimulant to practical gardeners, to excel each other in producing the fruit at an early season, yet always grown in dung pits and boxes; but of late years a more simple method has been devised, owing to the necessity of

growing them all the year; that is, growing them in the pine-stoves. This system, though not so congenial to the growth of the cucumber, may, in the depth of winter, be found more successful than the usual method, and it has been practised for many years, though I believe but to a very limited extent. It was the prevailing opinion, that they could not be brought to perfection, owing to the dry and heat they were subject to in the stoves.

Then it is desirable to have cucumbers for table throughout the winter, the pine-stoves are the most proper places to grow them in, as the labour and expense are nothing comparatively speaking to what attends the pits or boxes, I mean to say in the months of December, January, February, for it is striving hard against the steam at that untimely season of the year.

The best sort of cucumber is undoubtedly the Syon-free bearer, for it so soon produces fruit, which is of great importance; as to those sorts which are longer coming into bearing, their vital energies are exhausted before they can produce fruit, owing to the dry ungenial heat in which they grow, and those kinds which fruit the quickest are the best adapted for the purpose, provided they are handsome fruit, and not of the very short prickly kinds.

The seed should be sown in August, and the plants will come into bearing in November. The pots should be placed on a shelf, about eighteen inches from the glass in the stove, as there is no necessity for making a seed bed at this time of the year. When the seedleaves are nearly full grown, they should be potted, two plants in a forty-eight sized pot, and kept in the shade a couple of days, and then placed again on the shelf where they may remain till finally planted. They ought to be supplied freely with water, the shelf also ought to be placed under one of the moveable lights, if any, to admit air in fine weather. They may either be grown in boxes made for the purpose, or large pots. Boxes are the best when made about three feet long, eighteen inches deep, and twelve inches wide. In the low Calcutta houses, they should stand along the back curb of the pit. When the young plants have nearly filled the pots with roots, they should be planted out; the soil should not be so light as is generally used. To four barrowsful of fresh loam, add two of rotten dung, and one of vegetable mould, which should have been well mixed, and for some time exposed to the air. It should be sifted moderately fine, putting the sifting about three inches at the bottom of the boxes. The boxes should be brought into the house, filled with the compost, and remain till the soil is warmed before planting. If pots are used, two plants will be sufficient to be turned out with