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barrel, a portion of the common air contained under the jar, and the water will rise in the jar in proportion to the capacity of the barrel of the condenser. On thrusting down the piston the valve ƒ closes, and the air is expelled through the valve h. This operation is repeated till all the common air is removed from the jar b, and the water completely fills it. The strong glass vessel 7 m, with its stop-cock, is now screwed on. It is nearly filled with the water to be impregnated, but not quite, a small portion m of air being left, in order to allow room for the agitation of the water. The jar b is now to be filled with carbonic acid gas, which is pumped up and forced into the glass vessel in as large a quantity as it will admit without danger of bursting, which in my vessel, containing about a pint measure, is about an equal bulk of The glass vessel is then to be taken off (its stop-cock being previously closed) and agitated briskly; and as the water absorbs the gas more readily when many of its par ticles are thus forced into contact with it, the condensation may be repeated several times. It appears useful, in order to expel the bubble of common air left in the vessel for the convenience of agitation, after two or three condensations, to open the stop-cock, and suffer it to be expelled, and then to renew the charge of the carbonic acid gas. In a very few minutes water may thus be acidulated to any degree (provided the apparatus is sufficiently strong and close), so as even to foam out of the glass vessel like liquors highly in bottle, as soon as the stop-cock is opened.

gas.

As the carbonic acid gas may be quickly generated or preserved for any time in bottles closely stopped, artificial mineral waters, in great perfection, may by this apparatus be prepared as soon as any other medical prescription.

The

The apparatus I have constructed is of brass; and however carefully cleaned, perceivably imparts a taste of the metal to the water. It is adviseable therefore to make it of some metal which either may not possibly impart any sensible taste to the water, or which may not be considered injurious even if dissolved in it in very small portions; silver or tin appear best adapted for this purpose, but as the former may be too expensive for general use, and as the latter is too soft to bear well the frequent screwing and unscrewing necessary in the use of the apparatus, the channels through which the gas passes may be well coated with silver or tin, which may answer the purpose; the pipes and cocks may have a thick silver wire soldered in the centre, which may be perforated, and the condenser may be well plated or tinned on the inside.

But as glass appears to be the most unexceptionable material, I have ordered an apparatus to be constructed entirely of glass, and have hopes that I shall have it so executed as not to admit any thing else to come in contact with the gas. As the difficulty of execution may however cause a variation in my plan, I shall defer the laying it before the Academy till I get it accomplished to my wish. Ingenious workmen may also be induced to contrive and execute some apparatus which may answer the purpose, should my ideas seem practicable to them, or useful for philosophic experiments.

As disagreeable accidents might arise from the bursting of the glass vessel, an ingenious mechanical friend has suggested to me the propriety of inclosing it in a strong copper case. It may consist of two hemispheres with a broad rim screwed together, as in Fig. 2.

Account

Account of a Method of improving Waste Land. By THOMAS FOGG, Esquire, of Bolton in the Moors, Lancashire.

From the TRANSACTIONS of the SOCIETY for the Encouragement of ARTS, MANUFACTURES, and COMMERCE.

The Gold Medal was voted to Mr. Fogg for this
Communication.

THE following is a description of the waste land I

have inclosed from the common called Edgworth Moor, in the parish of Bolton, and county of Lancashire, by an act of parliament, granted for that purpose; and also an account of the method which I have taken for the improvement of the said waste.

Upon one of the small plots I have built a farm-house, cow-house, and a room above for hay.

Five of the plots were all of similar black soils; the situation, a gentle descent to the south, of about one inch to the yard. One of these plots I manured upon the green swarth; but the soil being too wet, it did not answer my expectations. I then drained all the five plots with stone, laying bottoms underneath. The main drains opened about two feet square, and smaller drains are directed into them. I afterwards covered the land with compost made from lime, soil, and black dung, which answered very well; and they are now as good meadow and pasture lands as any in the neighbourhood.

On a small plot I have walled out a nursery for plants, in which I have about 6000 two-year-old and one-yearold trees: these I take up, and plant out as I have occasion.

Two of the plots were alike very bad, and bare of soil; they produced nothing but bent grass. On many parts VOL. II. SECOND SERIES.

Q

of

of them there was no soil, large beds of rocks appearing on the surface: these I got up, and made part of the walls with them, levelling the land at a great expense. I then covered the ground with a compost of lime and rich black soil, produced from decayed timber and vegetables; which soil I dug out of one part of the premises. With the above compost I covered the two plots, from three to four inches thick. The cattle seem to like this pasture better than any of my old inclosures. It has a south aspect, falling from north to south three or four inches in a yard.

Another plot I have improved upon the same plan as the two last, and have no doubt of its answering: but as it has been only done this year, I must attend until the next year to ascertain it. It has a north-east aspect, with a fall of about one inch to the yard from the south.

Two other plots were very boggy and full of small pits, whence peat had been got. Many places were not passable, being full of water: these lots I have levelled. and drained, with open drains, at a great expense, as they would not bear the cattle to tread upon them. I first made a large drain, which answers the purpose of a fence it is three yards wide at top, one at the bottom, and two deep. I then cut small drains directed into it, about four yards asunder; with the soil from which I filled up the pits, and where the land wanted I put it sometimes on the middle of the butts, after hacking it small. These small drains are about one foot in width, and from twelve to eighteen inches deep; taking care not to go into the clay. These small drains are cut by a line : I paid for them 1d. per rood, of eight yards. These plots have a north-east aspect, with a gentle inclination from the south. They are now as dry as any land I have, and fit for any manure; I have about 500 loads of soil

heaped

heaped up for that purpose, which I mean to mix with lime next spring.

Another plot, which is nearly flat, I have drained with open drains, and levelled the land, which is now dry enough for tillage.

Another part I have planted with Black Italian Poplar, Lombardy Poplar, Beech, Scotch-Fir, Larch, Sycamore, Ash, Alder, Huntingdon-Willows, and a few Oaks; they flourish well in general: the Larches seem to thrive best, and the Sycamore next. This plantation is double-railed to the west: I have platted brush-wood in the rails, and fastened it in the ground.

'I drained other parts of the land which were mossy, and planted one plot thereof, which had from three to four feet deep of good black soil, with potatoes. A person of the name of Duckworth, who is unacquainted with my application to your Society, told Mr. John Ashworth, of Turton, the secretary to the Manchester Agricultural Society, that he had weighed the potatoes grown in two different places of it, and the produce was above 7 lb. to a square yard upon the average.

Expenses In walling fences 500 roods, 8 yards to the rood, from 5 to 6 feet

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£. s. d.

212 10 10

221 17 0

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