The observations of Mr. Phillips, to which I now refer, did not come into my hands till about three weeks ago. It fortunately happened that I had still preserved the specimen of washed manganese upon which sulphuric acid had been affused, under the circumstances already recapitulated, and it occurred to me that this would afford occasion, as decisive as I could desire, to put the accuracy of my original experiment, and the conclusions drawn from it, to further proof. I am bound to premise that this specimen of manganese, after having been in the first washed and subjected to the action of sulphuric acid, as already mentioned, has ever since remained in [p261] the vessel in which the experiment was at first made, covered with dilute sulphuric acid,—a period of more than eighteen months; and it will scarcely be doubted that, in the course of that long interval, any muriate of lime which it might have originally contained must have been thoroughly decomposed. Upon removing the supernatant acid, the residuary manganese gave sensible evidence of the presence of chlorine; paper stained with the solution of indigo in sulphuric acid was readily bleached by it, &c. I now proceeded to wash the manganese in pure water, and continued to do so until the acid was no longer perceptible to the taste. I then washed it three times successively with distilled water, and after decanting off the fluid of the last washing as closely as possible, added pure sulphuric acid in considerable quantity, and stirred the mixture thoroughly, after it had cooled, with a glass rod. At this time no vapour of chlorine was evident either to the smell or to the usual tests. The mixture was then set aside, and allowed to stand undisturbed for ten days: at the end of that time, when the acid was poured off, and the subsident manganese agitated, the vapour of chlorine was as distinctly manifest as when it was first subjected to experiment more than a year and a half ago.
Dublin, June 11, 1827.
Modern Improvements of Horticulture. [◊]
THAT gardening has always been one of the most natural, as well as the most useful occupations of mankind, is obvious: that it has advanced—been retarded—or flourished, according as general taste or wants, or peculiar political, moral, or local circumstances, were favourable or adverse, is also sufficiently evident from all historical testimony;—but in no age has it advanced with such rapid strides towards perfection as it has done within the last fifty years. To bring the modern improvements in array before the reader,—to estimate their advantages in a public and private point of view,—to look forward from our present elevated station to the probable results of continued, and extended application,—may be an amusing, if not an [p262] useful inquiry: it may tend to remove barriers which are only imaginary, and by freeing the thinking powers of practitioners from the trammels of custom, lead them forward into that expanse of operative freedom, where much remains for the exercise of the inquiring mind, and experimental hand, in exploring the yet untrodden field of practicability, and calling forth the still latent powers and susceptibilities of pregnant nature.
When we turn to the history of the first ages, we hear of a garden as soon as we hear of man; and though, from the paucity of description, we can only form ideas of such a place from the effusions of the poet, rather than from the detail of the historian, yet, in judging from what still appears of aboriginal scenery, we may conclude with Milton that a garden was a place,
“A happy rural seat of various views;
Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm;
Others whose fruit, burnished with golden rind,
Hung amiable, and of delicious taste:
Betwixt them lawns—or the flow’ry lap