ing silicate of
soda by merely mixing lime, sand, and salt together, as my
chemical friends tell me this cannot be accomplished unless the
silex and the alkali are fused together. If a soluble silicate of
soda can be made in the way you mention, it will be a great saving
of expense. Has it been tried? You have no doubt seen a report of
the enormous crop of wheat grown in a field in Norfolk last year
(90 bushels to the acre), and that the Royal Agricultural Society
have determined to have the soil analyzed by Dr. Playfair. This is
very desirable, but as Dr. Playfair is more of a lecturing than an
analyzing chemist, I think it is very necessary that his analysis
should be checked by another, made by the most eminent chemist
that Europe can produce, for 90 bushels is so unheard-of a crop,
that no expense should be spared which would enable us to
ascertain what the soil contained to enable it to produce such a
crop, which is the more remarkable as the field seems to have been
a good many years under the plough. As your Wakefield Farmers'
Club has many wealthy members in it, allow me to hint the
desirableness of your undertaking this analysis, which, if
properly performed, will be worth a thousand times more than its
cost. When you are aware that even Davy missed 16 per cent. of
alumina in one of his analyses and that the chemists of the
present day don't seem to have detected the potash which exists so
abundantly in potato-tops, you will, I think, agree how
exceedingly important it is that such analysis should be checked
by others, made without any communication between the parties. You
speak of an original letter of Liebig's appearing in the "Farmer's
Journal." On what subject is it? as I have no means of referring
to the periodical in question. Does it throw any light upon the
new manure for which he is said to be taking out a patent? You
speak of humus and humic acid. What do you understand by humus?
as, according to Liebig, humus sometimes means one thing and
sometimes another, and he appears to treat it very much as modern
chemists treat phlogiston, as something which they don't
comprehend, but which they need to explain the phenomena of
vegetation. If you are a believer in humus, what is it composed
of, and how does it act in forwarding vegetation? I suppose you
will reply, By combining with oxygen and forming humic acid. But
would not the theory of the decomposition of carbon do quite as
well? I don't perceive the