ness has been done in the article. Prices have been kept high from the disposition of holders generally to await the chance of better prices, grounding their hope upon the small supplies expected from Poland, to replace their stocks, in consequence of the unsettled state of that country.

DANTZIG. This is a port always of great importance, and above all others attracts the attention of the speculator in corn. This year very extensive orders have been sent out from England; but so much business has not been done as usual, in consequence of the limits at the outset having been too low, and the prospects becoming more favourable for the course of prices. The merchants in Dantzig became purchasers themselves to a large extent, and consequently much of the stock there, and which has already been shipped to Britain, is for account of the foreigners. The transactions this year have been confined almost exclusively to the stocks on the spot, and in the vicinity, and on the Dantzig side of Warsaw, while in ordinary years large quantities are contracted for in Poland, to be delivered on the opening of the Vistula; but that country was in too unsettled a state to induce the merchants this year, either to advance money before delivery, which is usually required by the Poles, or to guarantee the due delivery to the British merchant, who always stipulates such a measure on the transmission of orders.

All the craft generally used to bring down wheat from Poland, has been in requisition to carry supplies upwards to store the capital and Modlin. A few hundred lasts of fine Polish wheat were exported to Prussia, while the exportation from Poland was allowed, which will appear here shortly. The corn market has been very animated of late, notwithstanding the little encouragement lately by the accounts from England, and several hundred lasts have been bought for English account, at 52/ @ 55/ for red mixed wheats, and 58/ @60/ for high mixed, while some inferior parcels for Liverpool had been taken at 47/ @ 48/ @ 50/; Rye 30/@ 32/; Barley 21/@ 25/; Oats in limited supply, and nominally held at 15/ @16/. A great demand has existed the whole season for pease, but not above 200 lasts have been picked up from the farmers in the vicinity, (there being no stock in granary), at 24/ @28/, and lately at 30/ and 31/.

THE

QUARTERLY

JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE.

GEOLOGY VIEWED IN RELATION TO AGRICULTURE. By W. MACGILLIVRAY, A. M.

THERE is a natural relation between the physical sciences, and between them and the arts that contribute to the existence and comforts of society, which becomes especially apparent in a highly advanced state of civilization, when the wants of the population have a tendency to exceed the supplies furnished by existing modes of industry. As in our classifications of natural objects, so in our classifications of the natural sciences, we produce disjunctions which, on account of the limited grasp of the human intellect compared with the vastness of nature, are indeed unavoidable, but of the inconvenience of which we become sensible whenever we attempt to investigate an object, or treat of a science, considered in a more or less insulated position. "No less true than striking," says Mr Greenough, "is the remark of the author of a work entitled Contemplations of Nature, that there is no picking up a pebble by the brook-side, but we find all nature in connexion with it.”

Should we, for example, consider vegetation in its relations, we should perceive the concurrence of a multitude of phenomena, of which, at first sight, we should have no conception; and to trace the means employed in effecting the growth of a plant, would be to enlarge our ideas of the Divine wisdom, and fill us with admiration of the intellect that planned, and the power that

VOL. 111. NO. XIV.

carries on, so complicated an operation. A seed is dropped upon the ground. The water which exists in the soil, and has been deposited from the atmosphere, penetrates into its substance, softens its envelopes, causes its embryo to enlarge, changes the cotyledonary body into a substance capable of affording nourishment to the young plant, and conveys to it the gaseous substances which are to contribute to its development. But water is only one of the agents employed: heat also is essential; and, for this reason, seeds germinate naturally only at particular seasons of the year. Atmospheric air is equally necessary, insomuch that seeds buried in the earth so as to be beyond its influence, will not germinate. Its action upon the vegetable is similar to its action upon animals, it being, by means of respiration, intended to effect certain changes in the fluids, without which life would cease. Light, which at germination is more or less hurtful, becomes essential to the development of the plant, when it has attained a more advanced state. We now observe the curious phenomenon of the ascent of the plumule into the region of light and atmospheric air, and the descent of the radicle into that of darkness and moisture. As the plant grows up, enlarges in all its parts, spreads out its leaves, displays its blossoms, and perfects its seeds, we observe how it is influenced by the deficiency or excess of light and moisture, the free or impeded circulation of air, the presence of animals, and other agents. When moisture is plentifully supplied, whether directly from the atmosphere, or by means of a retentive or oozy soil, it vegetates vigorously; and when the contrary is the case, it makes little progress, or even droops, withers, and dies. Every person knows how much the supply of moisture is influenced by the nature of the soil and subsoil, and how, in a dry season, plants situated in loose and sandy ground, under which there is no retentive stratum, are liable to be greatly injured or to fail, while, in a wet season, they flourish vigorously. And as we know that moisture is an essential source of vegetable energy, and that the supply of it depends in a great measure upon the nature of the soil and subsoil, which, again, is directly influenced by geological relations, we cannot but perceive that, however little the consideration of the diversified nature and relations of the masses of rock upon which the soil reposes has hitherto engaged the

attention of the agriculturist, these masses must in reality exercise a great influence upon vegetation.

It is true that the arts attain a certain degree of perfection, independently of scientific or systematic knowledge: that the miner extracted ores from the earth before geology existed as a science; that these ores were resolved into their constituent principles before chemistry had assumed a regular form; and that medicine, agriculture, and other arts essential to human existence, have been more or less successfully practised in all ages; yet a period arrives in every community when the wants of society increase beyond the supply that could be furnished by an empirical practice of the arts, and then the geologist and chemist are found useful assistants to the miner, the medical practitioner seeks the aid of collateral knowledge, and agriculture becomes improved by the adaptation of its practice to scientific principles.

An experienced agriculturist may judge correctly of the general capabilities of a district from a superficial inspection, and may perceive its adaptation to the cultivation of certain plants, or to the rearing of certain species of animals, in consequence of a single glance of his eye; but how much more precise will be the estimate of him who examines the slopes of the declivities, the depth and quality of the soil, the nature of the subsoil, the distribution of rills, pools and springs, the kind and disposition of the mineral strata, the existence of limestone beds, the elevation above the level of the sea, the exposure to particular winds, the prevalent atmospheric currents, the frequency of rains and frosts, and all the other physical phenomena which influence a country. Even the nature of the rock itself, independently of other circumstances, discloses the capabilities of the soil in a degree which could scarcely be imagined by one totally unacquainted with the influence which it possesses. Thus a granitic district, such as that of the middle and eastern portions of the Grampians, we know must of necessity be scantily clothed with soil, elevated into sterile prominences, and fitted chiefly for pasturage and woods. Thus also gneiss, which is a solid rock, little traversed by slits and fissures, seldom has any accumulations of diluvium upon its surface, and, if in a rainy climate, is liable to have a soil abundantly supplied with moisture, although this soil, being usually stiff clay or partially decomposed fragments of rock, is seldom productive, and in our country is co

vered with peat. Such is the long range of the Outer Hebrides, which no cultivation could ever convert into a district resembling the southern shores of the Frith of Forth, where a thick layer of diluvial clay, sand, and gravel, is covered by a deep stratum of soil, and rests upon beds of sandstone and slate-clay, among which have been interjected masses of trap-tufa, basalt, greenstone, and other igneous rocks. The irregular, hard, and bare surface of a volcanic country, such as that of the greater portion of Iceland, composed of slaggy rocks, arid and indecomposable by the atmosphere, is often incapable of improvement; while in other volcanic districts, such as that of Naples and part of Sicily, the great deposites of ashes, and the readily decomposed lava, soon yield an abundant and highly fertile soil. Some of the persons who have written on the Highlands of Scotland, might have avoided the absurdities into which they have been betrayed respecting the improvement of that portion of the empire, and have spared the invectives in which they have indulged, had they been aware, or had their prejudices allowed them to reflect, that under no management could a mountainous country, destitute of metalliferous deposites, coal and productive diluvium, ever be made to rival another possessed of these advantages so essential to commerce and agriculture.

It is not to the agriculturist alone that a knowledge of geology is of importance; for it will readily be perceived, that, as the rocks and other materials which the exterior of the globe affords are applicable to numerous purposes in the arts, a more correct knowledge of them than that derived from superficial inspection, must be of decided utility; but my object at present is to endeavour to impress upon the mind of the cultivator of the ground, the advantage which he might derive from such a degree of attention to the science in question as might afford him. a correct idea of the rock deposites, without inducing him to run the risk of bewildering himself among the idle speculations to which their phenomena and relations have given rise.

It must not be imagined, however, that a knowledge of geology will prove of so decided and manifest advantage to every farmer, as to enable him to obtain more abundant harvests than he who is ignorant of the science. A farmer, possessed of very extensive botanical knowledge, does not perhaps exhibit better crops than his neighbour, who holds botany in contempt. In