“Seven years ago, next month, I had a still more favourable opportunity to observe this phenomenon in company with the Hon. J. Lansing, late Chancellor of this State. While we were engaged in taking a geological survey of his manor of Blenheim, the leaves of the forest had expanded to almost the common size in cloudy weather. I believe the sun had scarcely shone upon them in twenty days. Standing upon a hill, we observed that the dense forests upon the opposite side of the Schoharie were almost white. The sun now began to shine in full brightness. The colour of the forest absolutely changed so fast that we could perceive its progress. By the middle of the afternoon, the whole of these extensive forests, many miles in length, presented their usual summer dress.”—Silliman’s Journal, xiii. 193.
12. Organization and Reproduction of the Trufle.
The reporters of this memoir to the Academy state that they have verified M. Turpin’s account, but point out a circumstance in the natural history of the trufle, which is still unexplained. If the [p492] method described be the only mode in which the trufle is reproduced, then it is difficult to comprehend the enormous multiplication of that vegetable in certain parts of France, where immense quantities are annually collected without exhausting or even diminishing the race. If the plant has no means of progression, how can the young trufles leave the place of their birth, and become disseminated over the soil? The Mémoire received the approbation of the Academy.—Revue Ency. xxxv. 794.
13. Alteration of Corn in a subterraneous Repository.
Being analysed, it was found to consist principally of a substance resembling ulmine in its properties, ulmate of lime and carbonaceous matter: the proportions were
| Ulmine | 26.5 |
| Ulmate of lime, containing some phosphate of lime and a little oxide of iron | 42.0 |
| Carbonaceous matter | 30.0 |
| Muriates of potash and lime | 1.5 |
| Nitrates of potash and lime | 1.5 |
| Fatty matter of the consistency of wax, undetermined. | |
| 100.0 |
Although the time during which this corn has been stored up is probably very long, still M. Braconnot thinks the principal cause of the change in it has been humidity; and thinks also that the same may have been the case with the corn lately found in an Egyptian tomb[135], and quotes the known fact of corn having been found at Scarpone, an ancient Roman station, preserved in good condition, during eighteen centuries, in a reservoir constructed of Roman mortar.
The best use that could be made of the carbonized corn of Deneuvre was to apply it as a manure, for it contained the best elements of a substance of this kind, and M. Braconnot had long since observed the presence of ulmine in good manure, its acid properties, and its effects on vegetation. He adds also that Bruyères earth of excellent quality gave one-fourth of a combustible matter formed of ulmine and a carbonaceous body but little soluble in potash, the remaining three-fourths being a pure siliceous sand without a trace of lime. Yet so effectual is this earth, that, where it cannot be obtained, certain exotics cannot be cultivated.—Annales de Chimie, xxxv. 262. [p493]
[135] See p. 210 of the last Number.