The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-01-22 00:00:00

NO. XVI

In the last article, we stated that farm-yard manure was
a compost containing most of the organic and inorganic
constituents of plants ; more than this, it is a compost in
which plants thrive wonderfully, when it has undergone
sufficient decomposition ; but plants do not thrive in all
composts, for Wiegmann sowed tobacco and other seeds
in a compost formed solely of the inorganic matters which
analysis shewed were necessary for their developement :
the seeds germinated, but did not succeed so well as some
sown at the same time in common garden soil. These
experiments were conducted with great nicety, and it was
ascertained that the difference in the artificial and real soil
was, that the latter contained humus, which was not sen-
sibly decreased by the growth of the seedlings, thereby
proving that vegetable or organic matter is essential to the
growth of new vegetation. In nature each plant to a cer-
tain extent supplies itself with this species of food, for
every leaf that falls returns to the soil a portion of the
lost nutriment. This is the reason why guano proves in-
jurious rather than otherwise upon light soils deficient in
humus, and leads to the vulgar supposition that it burns
the soil. Next in point of value as a manure, where the
land is heavily tilled, is burnt bone dust and the ashes of
some kinds of wood. The latter kind of manure is, un-
fortunately, too little used in England, for the ashes of
several kinds of wood are proved to be almost invaluable
as manures : according to Liebig, the ashes of beech wood
contain one-fifth of their own weight of the phosphates of
lime and magnesia, therefore beech wood ashes will stand
next to bone dust in value as a manure, for the supply of
the phosphates in this respect they are superior to farm-
yard manure or even to night-soil. Why then is their
use almost unknown in this country? Because with us
the waste of valuable manures is carried on so enormously
that English farmers are in the highest degree culpable,
and will be so until every farm is conducted upon the
principle of returning as much as possible to the soil for
the crops it produces.

MISCELLANEA

fasminum Officinale.—The Italians, by a very simple
operation, prepare from the flowers of jasmine a grateful
perfume. They soak cotton wool in some kind of scent-
less vegetable oil, and then place, in glass vessels, alter-
nate layers of this and of the flowers. After having been
left in this state for some days, the flowers are found to
have given the whole of their fragrance to the oil in the
cotton ; they are then separated, and the oil is pressed
out and removed into small glass bottles for use.— Gar-
deners' and Farmers' Journal.

A Slug and Snail Trap.—Take a large turnip, and
scoop out the inside not quite to the skin, and notch it
in the inside, in the imitation of a beehive. Place them
on the ground, mouth downwards, of course, yet so that
the vermin can crawl under. Examine them every
morning, and clean them of their contents, which will be
considerable, putting them in a flower-pot with lime,
which will soon kill them.—lbid.

We are glad to hear that the fine nursery in Green-
lane, West Derby, left by Mr. Musgrove, is taken by Mr.
Geo. Davies, of the West Derby nursery, whose excellent
skill as a cultivator leads us to hope much from a place so
admirably appointed.