arable land on the south side of the slope of the Jura mountains in Switzerland. Its specific gravity was taken as described before, and found to be 2:358 nearly. 500 grains of the dry soil were stirred in a pint of water, and set by in a basin. To save time, 500 grains more of the same soil were weighed, after having been dried over the fire. It was well pulverised with the fingers, and sifted through the coffee-strainer, then through gauze, and, lastly, through the cambric handkerchief. Some portion was left behind at each sifting. The two first portions were washed in the strainer and the gauze. The residue was sand of two different degrees of fineness, which, when dried, weighed, the coarser, 24 grains, the next, 20 grains. The earth and water which had passed through the strainer and the gauze were now strained through the cambric, and left some very fine sand behind, which, dried, weighed, and added to what had remained on the cambric, when sifted in a dry state, weighed 180 grains. All that which had gone through the cambric was mixed with water in a jug and stirred about. The heavier earth subsided, and the lighter was poured in one of the lamp-glasses, which had a cork fitted into it, and was placed upright. In about two minutes there was a deposit, and the lighter portion was poured into a similar glass, where it was left some time to settle. In this a slower deposition took place, and in about a quarter of an hour the muddy water was poured off into the third glass. The three glasses were placed upright, and left so till the next day. In the first glass was some very fine earth, apparently clay; in the second the same, but more muddy; and in the third nothing but thin mud. The contents of No. 2. were divided between No. 1. and No. 3. by pouring off the muddy part into No. 3., after some of the pure water had been poured off, and the remaining earth into No. 1.; they were then left to settle. As much water as appeared quite clear over the sediment was decanted off. The sediment was poured on a plate by taking the cork out of the tube, which was cleaned with a piece of fine linen which had been carefully dried, and accurately weighed. The plates were examined, and some of the lighter part, which floated on the least agitation, was poured from one plate to another, until it was thought that all the humus had been separated. Most of the water could now be poured off the earths, by inclining the plates gently, without any muddiness. It was, however, passed through a piece of filtering-paper, which had been previously dried and weighed. The earth was slowly dried, by placing the plates on the hearth before a good fire, until they were

Leaving 10 grains to be accounted for. Each portion, except the three last, was now put into a cup, and diluted muriatic acid poured over them: an effervescence appeared in all of them, which continued on the addition of diluted acid, and when the contents of the cups were stirred with a piece of tobacco-pipe. They were left till the next day, when all effervescence ceased, and the calcareous part seemed entirely dissolved: pure water was added to dissolve all the muriate of lime which had been formed. After some time, the clear liquor was poured off, and the remainder was strained through filtering-paper, and dried on plates before the fire. The earths were now found to weigh, respectively, 20, 17, 162, and 182.5 grains, having lost 4, 3, 18, and 57-5 grains of calcareous earth dissolved by the acid. The soil and water which had been put by in a basin were now repeatedly stirred, and poured into a filter, and more water was passed through the earth to wash out all the soluble matter: all the water was boiled down and evaporated, and left two grains of a substance which had the appearance of a gum with a little lime in it. Thus the loss was reduced to eight grains, a very small quantity, considering the means used in analysing the soil. The corrected account, therefore, is as follows:Specific gravity, 2.358.

Grains. 20 17 199

Very fine

162

17

5.5

0.5

Clay.

Calcareous earth.

Vegetable earth, or humus.
Soluble matter.

From the composition of this soil, it is evident that it is a most excellent loam, capable of producing with good tillage and regular manuring every kind of grain, artificial grasses, and roots commonly cultivated. The field from which the soil was taken was always considered to be of superior quality. This simple rule will suffice to enable any one to analyse any soil of which he desires to know the component parts, so far as they affect the general fertility. To ascertain minute portions of salts

or metals, or any peculiar impregnation of the waters, must be left to practical chemists. To those who may be inclined to try the analysis of soils, it may be interesting to compare the results of their own experiments with some which have been obtained

with great care. Thaër in his very excellent work on Rational Husbandry, written in German and translated into French, has given a table in which different soils analysed by him are classed according to their comparative fertility, which is expressed in numbers, 100 being the most fertile. This table is the result of very patient investigation, the natural fertility of each soil being ascertained by its average produce with common tillage and manuring. It is as follows:

Carb. of Lime.

Finely divided Organic Matter or Humus.

ANALYSIS OF VEGETABLES. The process or means by which such bodies are resolved into their constituent or elementary principles. (See CHEMISTRY, or VEGETABLE CHEMISTRY.)

ANANA. See PINE.

ANBURY. In Farriery a kind of wen, or spongy soft tumour or wart, commonly full of blood, growing on any part of an animal's body. Substances of this kind may be removed either by means of ligatures being passed round their bases, or by the knife, and the subsequent application of some caustic material, in order to effectually destroy the parts from which they arise.

ANBURY, THE, AMBURY, HANBURY, or CLUB-ROOT. The anbury, the correct name, is evidently derived from the Saxon word ambre, a wart, suffused with blood, to which horses are subject. In Holderness, a district of Yorkshire, this disease is known as "fingers and toes," from its causing the top root of the turnip to be divided into swollen fibres, resembling those members of the human body. On this, Mr. Spence, the entomologist, wrote a very sensible pamphlet, entitled "Observations on the Diseases in Turnips, termed in Holderness Fingers and Toes, Hull, 1812." The defici

ency of knowledge relative to the diseases of plants is well illustrated by the imperfect and inaccurate observations that have been adventured upon this disease. Where there is much difference of opinion there is little real knowledge, and both these are certainly the case in the instance before us. Some cultivators assert that the disease arises from a variableness and unfavourable state of the seasons; a second party of theorists advance, that it is caused by insects; and a third, that it is owing to a too frequent growth of the same crop upon the same site. Every man having formed an opinion, usually clings to it pertinaciously, and sets its estimate far above its real value or correctness. "It is with our opinions as our watches, none go just alike, yet each believes his own.” The chief error appears to be in considering any of the above enumerated causes as the exclusive one; for beyond doubt they each contribute, either immediately or remotely, to induce or exasperate the attacks of the anbury. I am about, in the first place, to consider the disease exclusively as affecting the cabbage, and, secondly, as it operates upon the turnip. Though other species of brassica, the hollyhock, &c. are subject to its attacks, its progress has invariably ap

peared to me as follows: cabbage-plants are frequently infected with anbury in the seedbed, and this incipient infection appears in the form of a gall or wart upon the stem, immediately in the vicinity of the roots: if this wart is opened it will be found to contain a small white maggot, the larva of a small insect called the weevil. If the gall and its tenant being removed, the plant is placed again in the earth where it is to remain unless it is again attacked, the wound usually heals, and the growth is little retarded. On the other hand, if the gall is left undisturbed, the maggot continues to feed upon the alburnum, or young woody part of the stem, until, the period arrives for its passing into the other insect form, previously to which it gnaws its way out through the exterior bark. The disease is now almost beyond the power of remedies, the gall, increased in size, encircles the whole stem: the alburnum being so extensively destroyed, prevents the sap ascending, consequently, in dry weather, sufficient moisture is not supplied from the roots, to counterbalance the transpiration of the leaves, and the diseased plant is very discernible among its healthy companions, by its pallid hue and flagging foliage. The disease now makes rapid progress: the swelling continues to increase; for the vessels of the alburnum and the bark continue to afford their juices faster than they can be conveyed away. Moisture and air are admitted to the interior of the excrescence through the perforation made by the maggot; the wounded vessels ulcerate, putrefaction supervenes, and death concludes the stinted existence of the miserable plant. The tumour usually attains the size of a large hen's egg, has a rugged, ichorous, and even mouldy surface, smelling strong and offensively. The fibrous roots, besides being generally thickened, are distorted and monstrous, from swellings which appear throughout their length, which apparently arise from an effort of nature to form receptacles for the sap, deprived as it is of its natural spissation in the leaves. These swellings do not seem to arise immediately from the attacks of the weevil, for I have never observed them containing its larva. Mr. Marshall very correctly describes the form which this disease assumes when it attacks the turnip. It is a large excrescence appearing below the bulb; growing to the size of both hands, and as soon as the hard weather sets in, or it is, by its own nature, brought to maturity, becoming putrid, and smelling very offensively. On the last day of August, when the bulbs of the turnips were about the size of walnuts in the husk, the anburies were as big as a goose's egg. These were irregular and

uncouth in their form, with excrescences resembling the races of ginger hanging to them. On cutting them, their general appearance is that of a hard turnip; but on examining them through a magnifier there are veins, or string-like vessels, dispersed among the pulp. The smell and taste somewhat resemble those of turnips, but without their mildness, having an austere and somewhat disagreeable flavour resembling that of an old stringy turnip. The tops of those much affected turn yellow, and flag with the heat of the sun, so that in the daytime they are obviously distinguishable from those which are healthy. These distortions manifest themselves very early in the turnip's growth, even before the rough leaf is much developed. Observation seems to have ascertained, that if the bulbs have attained the size of a walnut unaffected, they do not subsequently become diseased. Mr. Spence has clearly shown, from established facts, that the anbury does not arise from any imperfection of the seed sown: for experience demonstrates that, in the same field and crop, the attacks are very partial; and crops in two adjoining fields, sown with seed from the same growth, will one be diseased, and the other healthy. Secondly, it does not arise from an unfavourable time of sowing, or from dry, unpropitious seasons, during their after-growth; for on this supposition we might expect that in all turnip districts the disease would occasionally make its appearance, in consequence of variations in the period and mode of sowing, or from following droughts; yet we know that, in many parts of the country, it has never been heard of. Thirdly, it does not arise from the quality of the soil, for Sir Joseph Banks suffered from its infecting thin stapled, sandy fields; whilst all Holderness, which is generally a strong loamy soil, was found equally liable to the disease. But a still more decisive evidence on this point is, that it makes its appearance at uncertain intervals upon the same soil; the turnips upon it being in some years more injured by them than in other years. Fourthly, although it is certain from the observations of Sir Joseph Banks, and general experience, that the disease occurs most frequently in soils tired of the crop, that is, soils upon which it has been grown for a long course of years, yet that this is not the immediate cause of the disease is proved by the fact, that often only patches in the same field are affected; and the same observers record, that it appears in soils that have not produced turnips for a long series of years. The diseased specimens examined by Mr. Marshall were from an old orchard that had not borne turnips within the memory of man. Mr. Spence concluded that

opportunity to impress upon agriculturists in general the great importance of employing more certain terms than they usually do. What can be more indefinite than the statement, that marl is a certain preventive of the anbury? For the very first question suggested to the reader's mind is, What marl is intended? Is it a chalky marl, or a clay marl? Is it a mixture of chalk and elay, or of chalk and silicious sand? for all these varieties of marl are known to agriculture. The want of a correct nomenclature is one of the drawbacks and deficiencies checking the improving progress of agriculture. Few farmers ever thought upon this point, and still smaller is the number who duly appreciated its importance; yet it is an incontrovertible fact, that no art or science can advance rapidly until its technical terms are fixed, terse, expressive, and generally understood. Chemistry attained a greater aid to its advancement by the introduction of its new nomenclature by Lavoisier, than by any series of discoveries that have since been made on its rapid and brilliant progress. If a sulphate, an acid, or a metal is mentioned, a chemist immediately has a definite idea of the nature and properties of the substance alluded to; but if a loam or marl is spoken of, would any two farmers agree in their idea of what description of earthy compound was intended? To make it well understood, a long detail must be added; and nothing checks the imparting of knowledge more, than the person capable of imparting it being conscious that he must define every term as he goes on, and that even then it is doubtful, if he shall succeed in making himself intelligible. The very name, anbury, usually applied to the disease, which is the subject of this paper, is another proof of the necessity of a reformed agricultural nomenclature; for in Suffolk the same title is given to another disease which merely affects the leaves of the turnip. Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. Baker of Norfolk, and others, agree that marl is the best preventive of anbury. And another evidence of the efficacy of applications to the soil is afforded by a gentleman in Holderness, a Mr. Brigham, who had a highly manured clayey ridge, which he had levelled the year before, and this grew turnips entirely free of the disease, whilst in the natural rich loam of the field they were much infected. Francis Constable, Esq. of Burton Constable, had a field that had been in grass twenty years: this he pared, burned, and sowed with turnips, obtaining a crop perfectly free from the disease. Two white crops were then taken, after which turnips were again sown; a considerable portion of the crop was then infected with the disease. (Spence's Observ

ations on the Disease of Turnips, termed in Holderness fingers and toes.) I have myself tried the efficacy of common salt in preventing the occurrence of this disease its tendency to keep the soil moist, and to irritate the animal frame, certainly checks the inroads of the weevil; and its generally beneficial effects as a manure, enables the plants better to sustain themselves under the weakening influence of the disease; but it is not a decisive preventive.

The following result of one of my experiments was read to the "Horticultural Society of London," October 16. 1821. Some cauliflowers were planted upon a light silicious soil, which had previously been manured with well putrefied stable manure, and over one third of the allotted space was sown salt, at the rate of twenty bushels per acre. Immediately before the planting, in the beginning of July, 1821; the previous crop had been broccoli: fifty-four plants were set on the two thirds unsalted, and twenty-six on the one third salted; the result has been, that of the fifty-four unsalted fifteen have been diseased and unproductive; but of the twenty-six salted only two. Some more cauliflowers were planted on a plot of ground which had previously borne a crop of savoys, and half of which ground had been sown with salt four months previous to planting: in this the unsalted and salted were alike nearly destroyed, evincing that the salt was not present in a sufficient proportion to produce the desired effect.

With regard to the use of salt as a cure for the disease, I am inclined to think, from the results of experiments which I have instituted, that unless the salt be applied very early, it would be useless; for the root soon becomes so diseased as to be entirely past recovery. (C. W. Johnson's Essay on Salt, p. 136.)

I have a strong opinion that a slight dressing of the surface soil, with a little of the dry hydro-sulphate of lime, that may now be obtained so readily from the gasworks introduced throughout England, would prevent the occurrence of the disease, by driving the weevils from the soil. It would probably as effectually banish the turnip-fly or flea, if sprinkled over the surface immediately after the seed is sown. I entertain this opinion of its efficacy in preventing the occurrence of the anbury, from an instance when it was applied to some broccoli, ignorantly grown upon a bed where cabbages had as ignorantly been endeavoured to be produced in successive crops; these had invariably failed from the occurrence of the anbury, but the broccoli was uninfected. The only cause for this escape that I could trace was, that just previously to