quartz sand, and usually where the soil was wet. Its cultivation is simple. It should be potted in sandy loam and peat, and kept well watered in summer: in winter, place it on a warm shelf, near the glass. It is increased by dividing

its large and fleshy roots. (Bot. Reg., April.)

Marantàceæ.

CALATHE'A

villosa Lindl. Shaggy Calathea. A stove plant; growing a foot high; with yellow flower; appearing in July; a native of Demarara; increased by offsets; grown in sandy loam and peat. Bot. Reg. 1845, t. 14.

A pretty stove plant, having very shaggy leaves, from whence its name; and spikes of yellow flowers. It is a stove species, from Demarara, requiring to be potted in sandy loam. and peat, and to be kept rather dry during winter. In the summer, give an abundant supply of water, and shade from the hot sun. It is propagated from offsets. (Bot. Reg. March.)

Iridacea.

Gladiolus insignis.-One of the most brilliant gladioluses we have ever seen, is the G. insígnis. It grows to nearly the height of psittacinus, and produces one or two spikes of large, splendid scarlet, flowers, with a deep shade of violet purple in the centre of each petal. It is one of the finest that has been produced, and should be found in every good collection of this new magnificent family.

New Varieties of the Iris.-Among the most interesting new things in flower, we may name several varieties of the English Iris, which have been greatly improved by the skill of the German and French florists. We have eight or ten already in bloom, which for the depth of their blue or ultramarine tints, or their delicate shades of porcelain, excel any thing we have seen. They are all easy of cultivation, potting the bulbs in November, and placing them in a pit until February, when they may be brought into the greenhouse to bloom.

REVIEWS.

ART. I. European Agriculture and Rural Economy from Personal Observation. By HENRY COLMAN. Vol. I. Part III. pp. 189 to 284. Boston. 1845.

The contents of this third part are as follows:-XXV. Agricultural Education; XXVI. General Views of Agricultural Education; XXVII. Influence of Knowledge upon Agricultural Improvement; XXVIII. Sciences to be taught; XXIX. Chemical Science; XXX. Analysis of Soils; XXXI. Natural Science; XXXII. Model Farm; XXXIII. Experimental Farm; XXXIV. Economical arrangement of the Agricultural College; XXXV. Plan of an Agricultural Institution for the United States; XXXVI. Elevation of Agriculture as a pursuit and a profession; XXXVII. Rural Manners in England; XXXVIII. A Pencil sketch; XXXIX. Life in the Country; XL. Veterinary College; XLI. Museum of Economical Geology; XLII. Chemical Agricultural Association in Scotland; XLIII. Chemical Agricultural Lectures; XLIV. Employment of Agriculturists; XLV. Guano.

These subjects are of so general a nature, that with the exception of the last, we shall refer the reader to the book itself. Information on the use and application of guano being sought after by those who are trying this excellent fertilizer, we make the following extracts relative thereto :

"The secret of the extraordinary success of this manure is not yet solved, however nearly a solution may have been approximated. This is evident from the fact that, after the most exact and minute analysis of this manure, conducted with all the skill and science which can be brought to bear upon it, no one has been able to form an artificial guano with any degree of its efficacy. Chemistry determines with wonderful accuracy its inorganic properties; but fifty per cent. of it is organic matter, and this being dissipated or lost in the process of analysis, nothing is known of it but its absolute quantity. Every common farmer knows that horse manure, cow hog manure, sheep manure, are all specifically different, and their effects and uses are different; and I believe this depends not more upon a difference in their inorganic elements, than upon some specific effects of their organic elements; and though horses, and cows, and sheep, should be fed upon precisely the same food, their excrementitious matter would be

manure,

specifically different, and the effects upon vegetation different. I pretend not to say in what this difference consists; this, chemistry has not yet reached, though I can but hope the goal will presently be attained. I am not therefore entirely satisfied with any account which chemistry has given of guano, so far as its operation is concerned. It has done much, and is clearly able to determine the different specific values of different samples. This is of great importance to the farmer, and not less so to the honest dealer. But the specific qualities of this extraordinary manure, as proved by its effects, are, I presume to believe, with all possible respect for science, yet to be discovered. I know the consequence of questioning the infallibility of the pope, but I am no Catholic.

One, indeed, may well speak of its effects as extraordinary, from what I myself have seen. In Scotland, last autumn, two shrubs were shown to me, sweet-briers, growing in front of a two-story house, and trained upon its sides; one at one, the other at the other end. The soil in which they grew, the aspect, and other circumstances, were the same. One, in the season, had grown six or seven feet; the other, nearly thirty feet! It had actually climbed to the roof of the house, and turned and hung down, reaching half the distance down from the roof to the ground. I judged this could not have been less than thirty feet. This had been repeatedly watered with liquid guano, by the hands of its fair cultivator; for this was another experiment by a lady, (which I hope my American friends will bear in mind.) The other had received no special care or manuring. This charming woman, surrounded by her lovely children, was equally engaged in teaching the young idea as the sweet-brier how to shoot, and they too showed the beautiful results of devoted and assiduous culture.

I have seen the extraordinary effects of the application of guano all over the country, and I have met with very few instances of disappointment. I have been favored with a great many reports of its application; but my readers will, I think, be better satisfied with general results, than with a long list of particular examples.

When I speak of its extraordinary effects, I yet do not consider them as so surprising as the effects of gypsum in many parts of the United States, whose operation, I venture to say, remains wholly unexplained. I do not, of course, mean to imply that one can be substituted for the other. The effects of half a bushel of finely-powdered gypsum, scattered over an acre of land, in some places, in increasing the crop of grass, and in respect to some other crops, is amazing; yet in all England, I have not been able to find a single well-attested example of its being applied with any benefit whatever. The application of guano has been made, in England and Scotland, to all kinds of plants, and in some instances with great success; indeed, with rarely a failure.

It has been used for turnips, barley, wheat, oats, grass, garden vegetables, onions, asparagus, potatoes, flowers, and trees. I have seen its application in all these cases, excepting asparagus and trees; but the testimony which certifies its success in these cases is unquestionable. Compar

isons made between guano and other manures, are not quite satisfactory in respect to quantities, because it is obviously very difficult to institute any instructive comparison between so many pounds of guano, and so many loads of manure; manure is so various in its nature, quality, bulk, &c.; but it will be quite easy to compare the two in respect to the ease or difficulty of their transportation, and of their application to the plant or soil. Comparisons, likewise, in respect to the cost of different applications, as made here, would be of little use in the United States, as prices of manure and of labor are totally different; and the one can afford no rule for the other. In this matter, the, farmers of the United States must judge for themselves.

The quantity which it is deemed best to apply, varies from two hundred weight to four hundred weight, or five hundred weight. Frequent cases have occurred of the application of five hundred weight and eight hundred weight, to a statute acre, with great advantage. Cases are on record of twenty-nine and thirty hundred weight being applied to grass land with a great, but not, most certainly, a remunerating increase of crop. I met one farmer in Lincolnshire, who thought more than one hundred weight applied to turnips was unnecessary; but the almost universal testimony is in favor of three hundred weight. A bushel of sifted guano weighs from fifty-two to fifty-four pounds.

In regard to the mode of application, it is well settled that it should seldom be applied alone. To garden vegetables, or greenhouse plants, it may be applied in a state of solution in water. In field cultivation, it may be applied, by being mixed with four or six times its quantity of dry earth or mould. In this way, it may be sown broadcast over the field, and then lightly harrowed or turned in; or it may be sown first in the same drill where the seed is to be dropped; great care must be taken, however, that it does not come in contact with the seed, or it will destroy its vegetative powers. It is desirable that it should be covered as soon as may be after being sown. The best farmers give a caution against mixing it with lime, or bones, or wood-ashes, as these substances, coming in contact with it, will drive off its ammonia.

Where a portion of barn manure has been applied in conjunction with guano, the mixture has been found much more efficacious than the manure when applied alone. In an application which I saw, guano gave seven tons of turnips increase to an acre over an artificial manure which had been much praised, and was applied at the same time.

A good mode of preparing it for application is to mix it with fine earth, on the headlands of the field where it is to be used, forming it, with the earth, into alternate layers, in the proportion of earth to the guano of three to one; and after it has remained two or three days, thoroughly incorporating them together by turning over the heap.

*

With potatoes, it should be placed in the drill or hole, but not in contact with the set or seed; and for Indian corn-a case in which I have had no experience it would seem advisable to adopt a similar method."

An account of several experiments by various individuals 'is added, but they have all proved successful in establishing the value of guano. One thing we think with Mr. Colman, is correct, viz. that however valuable an artificial guano may be as a manure, it cannot compare with the substance itself; and as long as the genuine unadulterated article can be had at a reasonable rate, no one should purchase the artificial compounds got up by individuals whose sole object is the acquisition of gain.

The future numbers will, we trust, be of a more practical nature than those already issued, and possess more interest to the agriculturalist. As an exposition of the state of the science in Great Britain, the work is valuable to every well wisher of rural improvement.

MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

ART. I. General Notices.

Propagating Roses.-The following is a method that I have practised with success in propagating different kinds of Roses. At the autumn pruning, I collect shoots that are well ripened of the various sorts that I wish to increase, and of these I select the middle part, rejecting both the base and termination, the former of which is in general too hard, while the latter is not sufficiently matured for the purpose. I then cut the parts selected into about 8-inch lengths, and prepare them in the same manner as Gooseberry cuttings, by divesting them of all their eyes except the three uppermost ; they are then cut through at the base of the lowest eye; after which they are planted in rows, 4 inches apart, and about 2 inches between each cutting in the rows, on a warm south border. If the soil is naturally light it receives no other preparation than what is absolutely necessary for the reception of the cuttings; they are planted about half their length in the ground. After planting, I cover the ground with old tan, up to the lowest eye of the cutting, and at the approach of frost I stick small branches of Furze thickly into the bed, which I find quite a sufficient protection, and at the same time they admit sufficient light during the dormant state of the cutting; the Furze is removed when danger from sharp frost is to be no longer dreaded; and early in spring most of their buds will break strongly, according to the kinds. By the following autumn they will have made strong shoots, and will be well rooted, at which time they will be fit for removal to any situation which they may be permanently required to fill. In the manner des. cribed above I have succeeded in striking Gallicas, Albas, Bourbons, NoiVOL XI.I.-NO. VI.

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