The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-02-12 00:00:00

2ortfrultamt

rests" flower, we do not film., _
um) has yet met with its due share of attet.
merits well understood. One reason why
-.4 it is, that it is not-a plant which,

the snar

"--) or ranunculus, Can be ad

is place
Ind shrub'-

ope.rlyi in th

,ery boid

wer bor.

in the latterposition it

seen
its bright c 0..,

In cont

of ever:

..urs have a moat ileasing effect,
is of longer duration than that affooded by most
. It forestalls the dahlia, and braves

frost;

But itx

atest merit

!ncy to

produce varieties, many of which a.,
Ind handsome. We cannot yet tell to what extent it may
be carried, but there is strong reason for hoping that muclz
nay be done : the colours of the dahlias were not so bril—
iant for several years after their introduction to the pub_
is notice as they now are, so that the objection: oft=
mged against the antirrhinum, that the colours are not
ever bright, cannot amount to anything until florists have
riven it a fair trial ; on the contrary, it °tight, rather, to
move a stimulus to their industry, which has '
'omplished such exfr-

remarkably distinct

I

...L.raordinary triumphs. We have no
over in our garden which has a prettier habit, bears more
•eely, or lasts longer in perfection, and already at lease
le hundred fine varieties have received names and are
the market. At the metropolitan exhibitions they
place, and grown in pots for the purpose
igly pretty objects, being under good ma-
iect balls of lively coloured flowers. At
ey have received but little attention in the pro-
at we hope to see the Liverpool florists take them

Iready occupy a

NO. XVIII!

Et AL CHEMI

The next class of manures to which we shall allude aret
those termed inorganic. They are both numerous and
valuable, but at present they are not fully appreciated.
The best known are the alkalies, the importance of which
we have already shown, lime, chalk, gypsum, (sulphate oE
lime,) marl, the nitrates of soda and potash, salt, burnt
clay, soot, and charcoal. The use of earthy or inorganic
manures may be thus exemplified if we were to feed our
infant upon arrowroot made with pure water, death
would, in all probability, be the result. Now, the nutri—
tive qualities of arrowroot are well known, and its value
'n supplying the constituents of muscular fibre is, doubt..
(Teat ; but the body has other requirements..
fr- 'ework is constantly
the v 'ous secretions

less, very g

The bony frar

rowing or requiring
and the nervous tissue
_ ed with matter ; the nails require albumen,
the teeth enamel, and the hair sulphur, of which it con—
tains, at least, 5 per cent; All these, and many more,
cannot be supplied from the arrowroot alone, for there is
but one known substance (and that is milk) which of
itself can supply all that is necessary for the nutrition of
the animal body, and this is only sufficient in infancy..
The after development of the body requires more com—
plex arrangements. If these facts be applied to the vege-
table organism, the same will be found to take place.
Farm-yard manure may represent the arrowroot, but it
will be found that, however well adapted to supply the
means of developing the structure of a plant, other
manures, especially inorganic ones, must be supplied
from time to time, to repair the waste of such materials
which is constantly going on in the soil, the natural
source of such matters. Nitrate of soda exerts a bene—
ficial effect upon many soils, but, if applied to the cereals,
it is found to produce strength and vigour in all the parts
except the seed ; hence it will generally improve a grass
crop, but ought not byany means to be usedalone with wheat
or other corn. It is thought that the beneficial action of
this manure is attributable to the nitrogen contained irr
the nitric acid with which its base is in combination, and
this view is most likely correct ; but it may have other
uses arising from its stimulating powers, and also from the
combination of the alkaline base with other substances
contained in the soil. This is borne out by the extraor-
-I:frretice perceivable in different soils where
nitrate of potash, containing the same equivalent of
nitrogen, does not produce the same benefit. The nitrates
of Soda and Potash are produced naturally in great abun—
dance, and appear to originate from the decomposition of
animal matter, and the natural presence of the alkaline
bases. Thus the ammonia constantly given off in stables
is fixed by its chemical affinity by the potash or soda itr
the materials of the wall, and nitrate of potash or soda is
formed, and appears as a conspicuous efflorescence on the
surface of the wall. The larger deposits in.various places,
called Natron-beds, are caused by the decomposition of
organic remains. This, at first sight, may appear too bold
a supposition, but be it remembered that the operations
of nature are on a grand scale, and we can readily conceive
that if all the nitrogen and soda of the great guano depo-
sits were to combine they would form very extensive beds
of nitrate of soda ; this combination would be effected if
these beds were inundated. As manures, the nitrates are
very valuable, but their application requires care ; ant
indiscriminate use of them would prove very detrimental.

REVIEWS.

Gardener's Magazine of Botany, Horticulture, and Fla-

riculture,

London : W.

S. Orr and Co.

This magazine has taken the place of " Paxton's Maga-,
zine," which has become defunct. Our surprise is that
it lasted so long, for in every respect it was useless to tha
practical gardener, and the man of taste could not fee!
pleasure in looking at its wretched plates. In the new
serial which has sprung, phoenix-like from its ashes, wa
have good promise of better things. Its conductors. Mr.
Thomas Moore, of the Chelsea Gardens, and Mr. W. P.
Ayres, of Brooklands. are fully capable of doing justice to
the undertaking. We abstain from passing any further
opinion until we have seen how it progresses, except that
with five handsomely-coloured plates, a profusion of
highly-finished woodcuts, and a whole volume of most
useful letter-press, this work is the cheapest we have ever
-. No work with which we are acquainted contains sa
h useful gardening and botanical information more
aptly illustrated.

Magazines for the Month.

Curtis's Botanrcal Magazine contains figures of two
very beautiful orchids, Acanthophippium Javanicum and.
Coelogyne Wallichii: the pseudo-bulbs of the latter aret
very beautiful. Zauschneria Californica, Dipteracanthusi
spectabilis, and Clematis graveolens, ara alr,o beautifully

figured.
Sowerby's English Botany illustrates the genera itu-
mex, Scheuchzeria, Triglochin, Tofieldia, Colchicum,
Actinocarpus, and Alisma. Not
beauty and truthfulness of

ltla-und's Botanic Garden a
the handsome Amyrillad, Neri
frigida, Pentstemon diffusum, Coro
Beaurr6 d'Aremberg Pear.
Hooker's Journal of Botany. Reeve, Benham,. and-
Reeve. Several of our readers were fearful that the inte-
resting journal of Dr. Hooker, published in the " Journal
of Botany," would be discontinued owing to his tempo..
rary imprisonment : this is not the case ; it is continued.
and its interest is unabated.

d Fruitist has figures of
o eurvifolia ; Cotoneaster
auca, and that