and, like some magician of old, command the rich treasures of the earth to come forth at their bidding. Speaking of the nature of soils, our author remarks: "In order that a plant should flourish in a soil, it is not always sufficient that the earths composing it are of the right kind, or suitably proportioned ; it is necessary to unite other circumstances which are not always to be met with; for example, the arable soils which are based upon rocks, vary considerably in depth; and the thickness of the bed not only exerts an influence upon the powers of vegetation, but determines the kind of plant which can be cultivated upon it. The bed of earth ought to be from ten to twelve inches in depth for grain, and much more than that for clover, and sainfoin; for trees, it must be much deeper than for these, otherwise their roots, running but little below the surface of the ground, will extend their shoots to a great distance, and thus exhaust the strength of a large portion of soil. Trees are often found upon the sides of mountains, which are almost entirely devoid of a covering of earth, but in this case the chinks and crevices of the rocks supply the place of earth, or rather the rocks are of so spongy and porous a nature, as to permit the roots to penetrate them. In the Cévennes and Limousin, the most beautiful chestnuts are planted upon granite and free-stone; and the famous vines of the Hermitage prosper in a soil of granite decomposed at the surface." Might not this be a useful hint in covering the barren sides of many of our New England hills, by planting among the debris which are broken from the tops? for we know that considerable excellent soil rests among the loose fragments, and moisture is longer retained than elsewhere. The grape flourishes in volcanic countries, among the loose and decomposing lava, with a luxuriance seldom equalled, and many of our native plants, as the Rubi, are found in great luxuriance in such places. Again, on the subject of manures, are many important facts: "The nutritive manures are those which contain juices or other substances, which, being dissolved in water, or otherwise divided to the most minute degree, are capable of being drawn into the organs of plants. All the vegetable and animal juices are of this description." "The most useful art, perhaps, in agriculture, and that which requires the most care, is the preparation of dungheaps. It requires the application of certain chemical principles, which it is not necessary for me to explain, since it is sufficient to point out to the agriculturist the rules by which he should be governed in his proceedings, without requiring of him an extensive knowledge of the theory upon which they are founded. "Solid substances, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral, do not enter into plants unless they are previously dissolved in water, or are drawn in with that fluid in a state of extreme division. "Animal and vegetable substances which are, by their nature, insoluble in water, may, by being decomposed, form new soluble compounds, capable of furnishing nourishment for plants. "Animal and vegetable substances deprived by the action of water of their soluble particles, may, in the course of their decomposition, form new compounds susceptible of being dissolved.” "The clippings and parings of horns form an excellent manure, of which the effect is prolonged during a succession of years, owing to the difficulty with which water penetrates them, and the little tendency they have to ferment. "A very good manure is likewise formed from wool. According to the ingenious experiments of M. Hatchett, hair, feathers, and wool are only particular combinations of gelatine with a substance analogous to albumen; water can only dissolve them by means of fermentation, which takes place slowly, and after a long time. "One of the most surprising instances of fertile vegetation that I have ever seen, is that of a field in the neighborhood of Montpelier, belonging to a manufacturer of woollen blankets. The owner of this land causes it to be dressed every year with the sweepings of his workshops; and and the harvests of corn and fodder which it produces are astonishing. "It is well known that the hairs of wool transpire a fluid which hardens upon their surface, but which possesses the property of being easily soluble in water. This substance has received the name of animal sweat; the water in which wool has been washed contains so much of it, as to make it very valuable as a manure. "A wool merchant in Montpelier, placed his wash-house for wool in the midst of a field, a great part of which he had transformed into a garden. In watering his vegetables, he had used no other water than that of the washings; and the beauty of his productions was so great, as to render his garden a place of general resort. The Genoese collect with care, in the south of France, all they can find of shreds and rags of woollen fabrics, to place at the foot of their olive trees." In the south of France, where they raise many silk-worns, they make make great use of the larvas, after the silk has been spun from cocoons. They are spread at the foot of the mulberry and other trees, of which the vegetation is in a languishing condition; and this small quantity of manure reanimates them surprisingly. Upon distilling some of these larvas, I found more ammonia than i have ever met with in any other animal matter." The supposed phenomenon of the reappearance of seeds in lands very many years after sown, and hence the absurd theories of spontaneous generation, and the like, are thus overthrown by the true state of the vegetable vitality. "Germination cannot well be carried on, unless the atmospheric air has access to the seed, which cannot be the case if the seed be buried too deeply in the ground, or if it be sown in a compact soil and closely covered over. "It likewise follows, from these principles, that when the earth remains a long time covered with standing water, the seeds must decay, and also, that a seed placed in dry earth cannot germinate unless it be moistened. "The impossibility of a seed's germinating, when too deeply buried in the ground, explains why we sometimes see, after deep tilling, plants making their appearance, of the same kind as those which had been cultivated upon the soil several years before. The state of the earth, as it regards moisture, at the time of sowing, furnishes a reason independent of the action of heat, why seeds are a longer or shorter time in sprouting." Influence of carbonic acid on vegetation: "The pieces of wood which support the roof of the long gallery which conducts to the beds of coal in the coal mines of Bousquet, in the department of Beziers, were loaded with that species of mushroom which usually fixes itself upon the trunks of old trees; the entrance of the gallery is very light, but the light gradually diminishes till it is lost in total darkness. I was much struck, in passing through this gallery, with the different appearances presented by the mushrooms in the various degrees of light; those at the entrance were yellow, and their texture so compact that they could hardly be broken by the hand. As I advanced, the reddish yellow color grew gradually fainter, and the texture of the plants more soft and spongy, till at the bottom of the gallery, where a ray of daylight never penetrates, I found the mushrooms, though as large as those at the entrance, perfectly white, and nearly without consistency, so much so, that upon pressing them with the hand, they were found to yield much liquid, and but little fibrous matter. I filled several bottles with these, and took in my hands some of those from the middle and entrance of the gallery. A comparative analysis of these various portions afforded me, from those which grew at the bottom of the gallery, only water saturated with carbonic acid, a small quantity of mucilage, and a little parenchymous fibre swimming in the liquid. The proportion of acid was much less, and that of ligneous-fibre more considerable, in the mushrooms plucked from the middle and entrance of the gallery, particularly in the last. Those from the dark part of the gallery contained only the elements of nutrition not elaborated; whilst in the other, the process of assimilation was carried on more or less perfectly, in proportion as light and atmosphreic air had access to them to facilitate vegetation; otherwise, as carbonic acid was most abundant in those plants which grew in darkness, their texture ought to have been the most thoroughly impregnated with it." On the succession of crops, as superseding the old custom of suffering ground to lie fallow, in order to renovate it, we are told, "A good system of cropping is the best guarantee of success that the farmer can have; without this, all is vague, uncertain and hazardous. In order to establish this good system of cropping, a degree of knowledge is necessary, which unhappily is wanting to the greater part of our practical farmers. I shall here state certain facts and principles, which may serve as guides in this important branch of agriculture." Principle 1. All plants exhaust the soil. 2. All plants do not exhaust the soil equally. soil in the same manner. 4. All plants do not restore to the soil either the same quantity or the same quality of ma nure. 5. All plants do not suffer weeds to fill the soil equally. From such principles carried into detail, the author lays down the following conclusions: "1st. That however well prepared a soil may be, it cannot nourish a long succession of crops without becoming exhausted. "2d. Each harvest impoverishes the soil to a certain extent, depending upon the degree of nourishment which it restores to the earth. 3d. The cultivation of spindle roots ought to succeed that of running and superficial roots. "4th. It is necessary to avoid returning too soon to the cultivation of the same or of analogous kinds of vegetables, in the same soil. "5th. It is very unwise to allow two kinds of plants, which admit of the ready growth of weeds among them, to be raised in succession. "6th. Those plants that derive their principal support from the soil should not be sown, excepting when the soil is sufficiently provided with manure. "7th. When the soil exhibits symptoms of exhaustion from successive harvest, the cultivation of those plants that restore most to the soil, must be resorted to." Enough has been quoted to show the spirit and character of the book before us. We will only add, for the gratification of our floral and horticultural friends, that a very interesting North American plant bears the name of the author; we mean “ Chaptalia tomentosa ” (Ventenat).—R. ART. II. The New American Orchardist, or an Account of the most valuable Varieties of Fruit of all Climates, adapted to Cultivation in the United States, &c.; and the Culture of Silk. With an Appendix on Vegetables, Ornamental Trees, Shrubs and Flowers. By WILLIAM KENRICK. Second edition, enlarged and improved. Boston. Russell, Odiorne & Metcalf, and Hovey & Co. 1835. 1 vol. 8vo. pp. 418. WE Congratulate all pomologists and lovers of good fruit in the United States upon the appearance of a second edition of this valuable work. In those sections of the Union, especially where the same enclosure often produces, with but trifling care, so many of the most delicious fruits of temperate climes; where the use of walls for the ripening of fruits is scarcely at all necessary, and is comparatively unknown; where the peach, the apricot, the cherry, the pear, the plum and the apple, acquire their luscious flavor in full perfection during the long, dry, sunny days of our warm summers-a work like the present must be peculiarly valuable. So congenial is our situation to most of the fruits of temperate latitudes, that excellent varieties of apples and peaches have sprung up in our orchards almost, as it were, spontaneously, yielding annually thousands of bushels of superior fruit; but the unwearied and indefatigable exertions of the scientific cultivators of Europe have produced, within the last five years, an immense number of new varieties of the best fruits which, for excellence of flavor, duration and beauty of appearance, have excited the astonishment of all per sons. This is more particularly the case with regard to the delicious pears of Belgium. To all persons, therefore, who wish to make selections of the most desirable of these varieties (and they can nearly all be procured in the nurseries at the present time) the American Orchardist, in its plain and accurate discriptions and synonyms, will be found an invaluable manual. The zeal for pomology in the vicinity of Boston has accumulated more information in that quarter, upon all branches of the subject, and especially in relation to the new fruits, than can be found in any other part of the Union; and Mr. Kenrick, we perceive, has availed himself of the assistance of the most distinguished connoisseurs of that neighborhood and of other districts of the country in addition to his own accumulated information and experience on the subject. In the first part of the work, we find sections devoted to the following subjects: climates, utility of fruits, new varieties of fruits, the growth of trees and plants, transplanting, propagating, inoculating, grafting, fruitfulness, pruning, and noxious insects; all of which are treated in a concise and perspicuous manner; and the different practical operations recommended are generally founded upon the soundest principles in vegetable physiology. In addition to this, and following each different family of fruits, will be found ample directions for their culture, and information as to their uses, and the different maladies and diseases to which they are subject. In the chapter to which Mr. Kenrick devotes to "observations on the new varieties of fruits," we perceive that he adopts unequivocally the well known theory of which the celebrated president of the London Horticultural Society may be considered the champion, viz.: that "the different varieties of fruit have their period fixed by the immutable laws of nature; and after a certain time, either sooner or later, comes on their decline and final extinction." As additional proof of the truth of this theory, the author before us makes the following remarks: "In our own country, and in the vicinity of Boston, it has been more especially observed in regard to the old pears. For, except in certain sections of the city, and some very few solitary and highly favored situations in the country around, they have become either so uncertain in their bearing, so barren, so unproductive, or so miserably blighted, so mortally diseased, that they are no longer to be trusted ;-they are no longer what they once were with us, and what many of them are still described to be by most foreign writers." p. 25. We perceive that, in his description of the old pears, Mr. K. has mentioned the following kinds as having become degenerated, or as he significally terms them, "outcasts:" Jargonelle, Brown Beurré, Doyenné (Virgoulouse or St. |