COURTS IN THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.

(Corrected 1874.) SUPREME COURT. - At Newport, 3d COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.- At NewMon. in Mar., and 3d Mon. in Sept. port, 3d Mon, in May and Nov. Provi. Providence, 4th Mon. in March, and ist dence, 18t Mon. in Mar., June, Sept., and Mon. in Oct. South Kingstown, 3d Mon. Dec. So. Kingstown, 2d Mon. May, and in Feb., and 3d Mon. in Aug. Bristol, 181 1st Mon. in Nov. Bristol, 1st Mon. in Mon. in March, and 21 Mon. in Sept. May, and last Mon, in Oct. E. GreenEast Greenwich, 2d Mon, in March, and wich, 2d Mon. in April and Oct. 4th Mon. in Aug.

SUPREME JUD. AND SUPERIOR COURTS IN MASSACHUSETTS.

(Corrected 1874.) SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT OF Mass. SUPERIOR COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS.JURY TERMS.-For Barnstable and Dukes For Essex Co., (civil) at Salem, 1st Mon. Counties, at Barnstable, 1st Tuesday of of June and Dec., at Lawrence, 1st Mon. May: For Berkshire Co., at Pittsfield, 2d of March, and at Newburyport, 1st Mon. Tues. of May: For Bristol Co., at New of Sept. ; (crim.) at Lawrence, 1st Non. Bedford, 2d Tues. of Nov.; also at Taun- of Oct., at Newburyport, 2d Mon. of May, ton, 3d Tues. of April. For Essex Co., at and at Salem, 4th Mon. of Jan. Salem, 3d Tu. of April and 1st Tu. Nov. For Middlesex Co., (civil) at Lowell, 2d For Franklin Co., at Greenfield, 2d Tu. of Mon. of March, and 1st Mon. of Sept.; April. For Hampde 1 Co., at Springfield, at Cambridge, 1st Mon, of June, and 2d 4th Tues. of April. For Hampshire Co., Mon. of Dec.; (crim.) at Cambridge, 2d at Northampton, 3d l'ues. of April. For Mon. of Feb., and 4th Mon, of June; and Middlesex Co., at Jowell, 3d Tues. of at Lowell, 3d Mon. of Oct. April; also at Cambridge, 3d Tues. of For Hampshire Co., at Northampton, Oct. For Nantucket_Co., at Nantucket, (civil) 3d Món. of Feb., ist Mon. of June, 1st Tues. of July. For Norfolk Co., at and 3d Mon. of Oct.; (crim.) 2d Mon. of Dedham, 3d Tues. of Feb. For Plymouth June, and 3d Mon. of Dec. Co., at Plymouth, 2d Tues. of May. For For Franklin Co., at Greenfield, 3d Mon. Suffolk Co., at Boston, 2d Tues. of Sept. of March, and 2d Mon. of Aug. and Nov. and 1st Tues. of April. For Worcester For Hampden Co., at Springfield, (civil) Co., at Worcester, 2d Tues. of April. 2d Mon. of March and June, and 4th Mon.

of Oct.; (crim.) 3d Mon. of May, and 1st LAW TERMS OF SUPREME JUDICIAL Mon. of Dec. COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS.- A law term For Berkshire Co., at Pittsfield, (civil) for the Commonwealth shall be held '4th Mon, of Feb., June, and Oct.; (crim.) at Boston on the first Wednesday of 2d Mon. of Jan. and July: January of each year, which term may be For Norfolk Co., at Dedham, (civil) 4th adjourned, from time to time, to places and Mon. in Apr., Sept., and Dec.; (crim.) times most conducive to the despatch of 1st Mon. in Apr., Sept., and Dec. business and the interests of the public; For Plymouth Co.,at Plymouth, 20 Mon. and there shall be entered and determined of Feb. and June, and 4th Mon, of Oct. therein questions of law_arising in the For Bristol Co., at Taunton, 2d Mon, of counties of Barnstable, Dukes County, March and Sept., and at New Bedford, 2d Middlesex, Nantucket, Norfolk, and Suf- Mon, of June and Dec. folk; and also all questions of law arising For Suffolk Co., at Boston, (civil) 1st in other counties where special provisions Tues. of Jan., Ap'l, July, and Oct.; (crim.) are not made therefor.

1st Mon. of every month. And law terms of said court shall also For Barnstable Co., at Barnstable, Tues. annually be held as follows:

next after 1st Mon. of April, and 2d Tues. At Salem, for Essex Co., 1st Tu. of Nov. of Oct. At Pittsfield, for Berkshire Co., 2d Tues. For Nantucket Co., at Nantucket, 1st of September.

Mon. of June and Oct. At Springfield, for Hampden Co., 3d For Dukes County, at Edgartown, last Mon, after 1st Tues. of Sept.

Tues, of May and Sept. At Greenfield, for Hampshire and Frank- For Worcester Co., (civil) at Worcester, lin Cos., Mon. next after 2 Tues. of Sept. 1st Mon. of March, Mon, next_after 4th

At Worcester, for Worcester Co., 4th Mon. of Aug., and 2d Mon. of Dec.; and Tues. after 1st Tues. of Sept.

at Fitchburg, 2d Mon. of June and Nov.; At Plymouth, for Plymouth Co., 3d Tu.(crim.) at Worcester, 3d Mon. of Jan., 2d of Oct.

Mon. of May, and 3d Mon. of Oct.; and At Taunton, for Bristol Co., 4th Tu. Oct. at Fitchburg, 2d Mon. of Aug.

COURTS OF INSOLVENCY IN MASSACHUSETTS. There is in each county a Court of Insolvency, held by the same judge as the Probate Court, at such times and places as the judge appoints. While the Bankrupt Law of the United States is in force, the Insolvency Law is

The U.S. suspended as to new cases, but not as to those previously commenced. District Courts have jurisdiction over insolvency cases, and are open at all times for

DISTRICT COURTS IN MASSACHUSETTS.

(Corrected 1874.) No. Berkshire. - For the towns of dlesex.- For Acton, Bedford, Carlisle, Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg, Florida, Concord, Lincoln, Maynard, Stow, and and Savoy, at Adams, crim., daily, 9 A. Lexington, at Concord, crim., daily; M.; civil, weekly, at north_village of civil, int and 3d Wed. 'of each month. Adams, and ist Wed, of each month at 1st of E. Middlesex.- For Wilmingsouth village, Centr. Berkshire. - ton, No. Reading, Reading, Stoneham, For the towns of Dalton, Hancock, Hins- Wakefield, Melrose, Malden, Everett, and dale, Lanesborough, Peru, Pittsfield, Medford, crim., at Malden, every Mon.. Richmond, and Windsor, at Pittsfield, Tues., Frid., and Sat., at Wakefield, every crim., daily, 9 A. M.; civil, every Satur- Wed. and Thurs.; civil, at Malden, every day. So. Berkshire. - For Alford, Sat., and at Wakefield every Wed. 1st Egremont, Great Barrington, Monterey, of So. Middlesex. - For Ashland, Mt. Washington, New Marlborough, and Framingham. Holliston, Hopkinton, Sheffield, at Great Barrington, crim., Natick, Sherborn, Sudbury, and Waydaily, at 9 A. M.; civil, every Sat., at land, at So. Framingham, crim., daily; 10 A. M. East Hampden. - For civil, every Mon. 1st of Essex.- For Palmer, Brimfield, Monson, Holland, Salem, Beverly, Danvers, Hamilton, and Wales, at Palmer, crim., daily, Middleton, Topsfield, and Wenham, at 9 A. M.; civil, 1st and 3d Sat. of cach | Salem, crim., daily, ''A. M.; civil, every month. 1st of So. Worcester.- For Wed. E. Norfolk.- For Randolph, Sturbridge, Southbridge, Charlton, Dud. Braintree, Cohasset, Weymouth, Quincy, ley,Oxford, and Webster, crim., at South- and Holbrook, at Quincy, crim., daily, bridge, Mon., Wed, and Fri., and at Web- I A. M.; civil, every Monday. 1st of ster, Tues., Thurs., and Sat., 9 A, M.; Plymouth. - For Brockton, Bridgecivil, at Southbridge, Mon., Webster, water, and W. Bridgewater, at Brockton, Tues., weekly. 2d of So, Worc. crim., daily; civil, every Tues. 2d of For Blackstone, Uxbridge, Douglas, and Plymouth.- For Abington, Rockland, Northbridge, for trials by jury, in Black Hingham, Hull, Hanover, So. Scituate, stone or Uxbridge, at such times as, in and Hanson, crim., at Abington, erery the discretion of the justice, the public Mon., Wed., Thurs., and Sat., at Hing. convenience may require ; when not in ham, every Tues. and Frid.; civil, at session for trials by jury, the court shall Abington, 1st and 3d Wed., and at Hing. be held for crim. business, in Blackstone, ham, 4th Frid. of every month. 3d of every Mon., Wed., and Fri., in Uxbridge, Plymouth. - For Plymouth, Kingsevery Tues., Thurs., and Sat.; for civil ton, Plympton, Pembroke, Duxbury, business, in Blackstone, every Mon., in Marshfield, and Scituate, crim., at Ply: Uxbridge, every Sat. 3d of So. Worc. mouth, every Mon., Wed., Thurs., and - For Milford, Mendon, and Upton, Sat., at Scituate, every Tues. and Frid. ; at Milford, crim., daily ; civil, 1st and 3d civil, at Plymouth, 1st and 3d Wed., and Wed. of each month. Centr. Worc. at Scituate, 4th Frid, of every month. - For Worcester, Milbury, Sutton, Au- 4th of Plymouth. - For Middleboburn, Leicester, Paxton, w. Boylston, rough, Wareham, Lakeville, Marion, Boylston, Holden, and Shrewsbury, at Mattapoisett, and Rochester, crim., at Worcester, crim., daily, at 9 A. M.; civil, Middleborough, every Tues., Wed., and every Sat. 1st of E. Worc. – For Sat., and at Wareham, every Mon., Thu., Northborough, Southborough, Westbor- and Frid.; civil, at Middleborough, 1st ough, and Grafton, crim., Westborough, and 3d Wed., and at Wareham, 4th Fri., every Mon., Wed., and Fri., at Grafton, of every month. 1st of Bristol. every Tues., Thurs., and Sat., 9 A. M.; For Taunton, Rehoboth, Berkley, Dighcivil, at Westborough, every Mond., at ton, Seekonk, Attleborough, Norton, Grafton every Tues. 2d of E. Worc. Mansfield, Easton, and Raynham, at For Clinton, Berlin, Bolton, Harvard, Taunton, crim., daily; civil, every Mon. Lancaster, and Sterling, at Clinton, crim., 2d of Bristol. - For Fall River, Freedaily.; civil, 2d and Ith Sat. of each mon. town, Somerset, and Swansea, at Fall No. Middlesex.- For Ayer, Groton, River, crim., daily; civil, every Monday. Pepperell, Townsend, Ashby, Shirley, | 3d of Bristol. — For New Bedford, Westford, Littleton, and Boxborough, Fairhaven, Acushnet, Dartmouth, and at Ayer, crim., daily, at 9 A. M.; civil, Westport, at New Bedford, crim., daily; Ist Mon. of each month. Centr. Mid- civil, every Mon.

MUNICIPAL COURTS IN MASSACHUSETTS.

(Corrected 1874.) Municipal Courts are held daily in the city of Boston, as follows: In Boston (old city), Highland District (Roxbury), South Boston, East Boston, Dorchester District, Charlestown District, Brighton District, and West Roxbury District.

POLICE COURTS IN MASSACHUSETTS.

(Corrected 1874.) Police Courts are held daily_at Cambridge, Chelsea, Chicopee, Fitchburg, Gloucester, Haverhill, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lee, Lowell, Lynn, Newburyport, Somerville, Springfield, and Williamstown.

PROBATE COURTS IN MASSACHUSETTS.

(Corrected 1874.) Suffolk.- At Boston, every Monday Jan., Ap., Oct., and 20 Fr. July. NanLin each month. Essex. -- At Salem, tucket. - At Nantucket, oa Thu. aft. 2d 1st Mon. of ea. mo., and 3d Mon. of ea. Tu. of ev. mo. Berkshire, At Pittsmo., except Aug.; Lawrence, 2d Mon. field, 1st Tu. Jan., Feb., Mar., Ap., May, Jan., Mar., May, June, July, Sept., and June, Sep., Oct., and Dec., 3d Tu. July, Noy. Haverhill, 2d Mon. Apr. and Oct.; and Wed. af. 1st Mon. Nov., Lee, Wed. af. Newburyport, 4th Mon. Jan., Mar., May, 1st Tu.in Jan., Ap., and Oct., and Wed. af. June, July, Sept., and Nov. Gloucester, 3d Tu. July; Adams, Th. aft. 1st Tu. Jan. Ith Mo. p. and Oct. Middlesex. — At and Oct., Wed. af. 1st Tu. Var., and Th. Cambridge, 1st, 2d, and 4th Tu. ea. mo. ex. ar. 3d Tu. in July; Gr. Barrington. Wed. Aug.; Lowell, 31 Tu. of Jan., Jar., May, after 1st Tu. in Feb., May, Sep., and Dec. July, Sep., and Nov. Worcester. - At Plymouth.- At Plymouth, 2d Mon. of Worcester, 1st and 3d Tu. of every mo. ev. mo., ex. July and Aug.; Wareham, 4th except Aug.; Fitchburg, 4th Tu. of Ap. Mon. O'ct.; E. Bridgewater, 4th Mo. Feb. and Sep.; Milford, 2d Tu.of Ap.and Sep.; and Dec.; Hingham, 4th Mo. Mar.; MiddleTempleton, 20 Tu. of May and Oct.; and boro', 4th Mon. Ap. and Jan., avd 2d Mon. Barre, Wed. next after 2d Tu. of May and July; Abington, 4th Mo. May, Aug., and Oct. Hampshire. – At Northampton, Nov.; Hanover, 4th Mo. June; Bridgewa1st Tu. of every mo.; Amherst, 20 Tues. ter, 4th Mo. Sep.; North Bridgewater, 3d Jan., Mar., June, Aug. and Nov.; Belch- Mon. Apr. and Oct. Barnstable. - At ertown, 2d Tues. of May and Oct.; and Barnstable, 2d Tu. Jan., Feb., Mar., Aug., Williamsburg, 3d Tues. May and Oct. Sep., Dec., and 3d Tu. Ap. and Jun.; HarHampden. - At Springfield, 1st Tucs. wich, 2d Mo. af. 1st Tu. May, and Mo. af. Jan., Feb., March, Ap., May, June, July, 3d Tu. Oct.; Orleans, 3d Tu. May and 4th Sep., Oct., and Dec.; Palmer, 2d Tues. Tu. Oct.; Wellfleet, Wed. af.3d ľu. May, Feb., May, and Sept., and 4th Tues. Nov.; and Wed. af. 4th Tu. Oct.; Provincetown, Westfield, 3d Tues. in Feb., May, Sept., | Th. aft. 3d Tu. May, and Th. aft. 4th Tu. and Dec. Franklin. - At Greenfield, Oct.; Falmouth, 3d Tu. Nov. Norfolk. 1st Tues. in every month, except Nov.; - At Dedham, 1st and 3d Wed.; Quincy, 2d Northfield, 2d Tu. May and Sep., Orange, Wed., Hyde Park, 4th Wed. ev. mo. exc. 2d Tu. Mar. and Dec., and 3d Tu. June; | Aug. Dukes Co., -- At Holmes' Hole Conway, 3d Tu. May; Shelburne Falls, 4th village in Tisbury, 3d Mo. Ap. and 1st Mo. Tu. May, 20 Tu. Feb., and 4th Tu. Oct. Sept.; Edgartown, 3d Mo. Jan. and July, Bristol.-At Taunton, 1st Fr.Mar.,Jun., and 1st Mo. Mar. and Dec.; W. Tisbury, Sep., Dec.; New Bedford, 1st Frid. Feb 1st Mo. June and 3d Mon, Oct. May, Aug., and Nov.; Fall River, 1st Fri. JUDGES OF PROBATE COURTS IN MASSACHUSETTS.

(Corrected 1874.) Suffolk Co., Isaac Ames, Boston.

Nantucket Co., Thaddeus C. Defriez, Essex Co., Geo. F. Choate, Salem.

Nantucket. Middlesex Co., Geo. M. Brooks, Concord. Dukes Co., Joseph T. Pease, Edgartown. Worcester Co., Henry Chapin, Worcester. | Hampden Co., W.8. Shurtieff, Springfid. Franklin Co., C. C. Conant, Greentield. Hampshire Co., Samuel T. Spaulding, Bristol Co., Edm. H. Bennett, Taunton, Northampton. Plymouth Co.,Wm.H.Wood, Middleboro'. Norfolk Co., Geo. White, Needham. Barnstable Co., Jos. M. Day, Barnstable. | Berkshire Co., J. T. Robinson, No.Adams. REGISTERS OF BANKRUPTCY IN NEW ENGLAND.

(Corrected 1874.) MAINE.

MASSACHUSETTS. 18t District, J. D. Fessenden, Portland. 1st District, H. M. Knowlton, New 2d District, John W. May, Auburn.

Bedford. 3d District, vacancy.

Duties appor

2d District, Samuel B. Noyes, Canton. tioned as follows: Lincoln and kennebec 3d District, F. W. Palsrey, Boston. Co's, Register May; Somerset and Knox 4th District, 8. L. Thorndike, Boston, Co's, Register Hamlin.

5th District, Benj. C. Perkins, Salem, 4th District, Charles Hamlin, Bangor. 6th District, E. J. Sherman, Lawrence.

5th District, vacancy. Assigned to 7th District, A. F. Jewett, Lowell. Register Hamlin.

8th District, Peter C. Bacon, Worcester.

9th District, 1. F. Conkey, Amherst. NEW HAMPSHIRE.

10th Dist., Gideon Wells, Springfield. 1st District, Thomas E. Sawyer, Dover.

RHODE ISLAND. 2d District, Aaron W. Sawyer, Nashua.

J. M. Clarke, Providence. 3d District, Wm. H. H. Allen, Claremont.

CONNECTICUT.
VERMONT.

1st District, Henry E. Burton. Hartford. | 1st District, A. P. Lyman, Bennington. 2d District, E. K. Foster, New Haven. 2d District, A. Underwood, Wells River. 3d District, R. Coit, Jr., New London. 3d Dist.

John L. Edwards, Newport. 4th District, L. N. Middlebrook, Bridge{ L. L. Lawrence, Burlington. port.

Waste of Seed. Few farmers can be open knowingly to the charge of wastefulness. The majority are supposed to err in the other direction. At the same time, there can be no question that the annual loss and waste of seed, by the injudicious sowing and the want of complete preparation of land for a proper seed-bed, is something enormous. Nor is it in one direction alone, or with reference to any one variety of seed. It is too common, but we wish to speak more particularly with regard to the loss of seed in the methods of seeding down land to grass.

Every farmer knows that losses often occur on newly-secded lands from a failure of the seed to “catch.” It is worth while to inquire whether this is owing to influences which are inevitable, such as severe dronghts occurring year after year, or to the mistakes so often made in the methods of seeding. Is Nature to blame, or are we ourselves responsible for it? Let us look at it a moment. Probably, in a majority of cases throughout New England, the old methods prevail, of seeding in the spring with grain. We do not overlook the fact that many intelligent and progressive farmers have adopted the practice of fall seeding, and like it, laying down land without grain; but taking the country over, the old practice still remains.

Now, let us see what is the effect of this laying down in the spring with grain. There is no kind of grain that does not draw heavily on the elements of plant food in the soil. The soluble materials that enter so readily into the circulation and growth of plants, helping to build up their structure, are seized upon first and absorbed, leaving the soil in a reduced condition. No matter what the particular kind of grain may be, if it requires materials similar to those needed by the grasses, the effect on the soil, so far as its relation to the grasses is concerned, will be the same.

What is the result? The grasses are deprived of the food essential to their growth. The root is feeble and sickly. The growth of the stalk corresponds to the size and vitality of the root; and this is so jogtled, and crowded, and robbed by the stronger and more vigorous roots of the grain that it cannot, and does not, thrive as it would if it had the free use and the sole possession of the land. In these con. ditions a very large part of the seed will die from suffocation and starvation almost as soon as it germinates. The portion which survives this severe ordeal will grow up feeble and puny in the shade of the overtopping grain, and it may fight its way along till the grain is cut, in the heat of a July sun, and its last end will be worse than the first. It cannot stand the sudden and severe shock which the cutting of the grain and the removal of the shade bring to it. If it is dry and hot, the chauces of life are small, and, in point of fact, a large part of the plants that survive till the grain is cut never live to attain maturity.

Now, this is just what takes place where the small and tender grass seed is sown along with any grain whatever. Much of it dies immediately after germination, from starvation and want of room, and what lives in the shade is so enfeebled that it dies on exposure to the sun. There is undoubtedly a great waste and loss of seed, let the season be what it will, and however much moisture there may be at the time of cutting the grain; but when this happens in a dry and hot time, the chances of an entire failure are very great. Sowing grain and grass seed together is very much like setting out an orchard or a nursery of tender trees and shrubs in the midst of a pine forest; the pines can stand it, perhaps, but it is hard on the shrubs,

It ought never to be forgotten that grass, or hay, is the one thing indispensable to success in farming in this climate. The grass crop must always take the lead in point of importance. At the same time, grass seed is expensive. It is not secured and saved in any considerable quantity for sale in the market in this part of the country. It is, therefore, clearly for the farmer's interest, after he has bought and paid a high price for it, to manage 8) as to save and economize it, by giving it the best possible chance of life and growth. But the sowing with grain of any kind, especially with oats, is giving it the least chance in our power. It is choking it at birth, and it involves the greatest waste, and consequent loss of seed, and of the cost of preparation and sowing - a loss which amounts to something like half a million of dollars a year in this state alone. Isn't that sum worth saving ?

Seeding in August, or early in September, with grass alone, would save a very large part of this loss, especially if the practice of applying a liberal dressing of manure on or near the surface to which the seed is applied, were adopted. A grain crop along with, or immediately preceding a grass crop, reduces the capacity of the soil to an extent greater than is generally supposed.

Charleston Phosphate Beds. AMONG the sources of supply of the materials which constitute what may be called the food of plants, none are more wonderful than the immense phosphate beds of the Charleston basin. They have opened to us a vast mine of commercial and agricultural wealth, the extent of which we can hardly realize.

The geological position of these phosphatic strata had been long known to scientific men, and the presence of the rocks had been a source of trouble to planters from the first attempts at cultivation, cropping out often upon the surface in the forin of nodules of "rock," varying in size from a hen's egg to that of a man's head. They impeded the plough in the processes of cultivation, and were picked up and carted off to get them out of the way, just as we dispose of the stones on

our hill-sides, without the slightest idea of their value. Their chemical composition was entirely unknown till just before the breaking out of the rebellion, when analysis proved them to be very rich in phosphate of lime, and to be of animal or bone origin; that is, they were found to be fossilized boues of races of animals long since extinct.

The deposit extends over a vast extent of territory, its average length being something like seventy-five miles, and its breadth about fifty miles — au area of between three and four thousand square miles, the strata varying from six inches to a foot and a half, in many places from two to three feet, in thickness. Though it usually lies some feet below the surface, it often crops out. It will yield as high as a thousand to fifteen hundred tons to the acre, and the deposit has been estimated to contain not less than sixteen hundred millions of tons of bone that has lain untouched for many thousands of years, to say nothing of the millions of tons that must have been pulverized by the action of the elements, and gone down into the underlying marls. This is shown by the high percentage of phosphate of lime found in the marl below the layer of fossil bones, a peculiarity that can be accounted for in no other way than on the supposition that it came from the phosphatic stratum above.

The “rock” is found in nodules varying in size, rounded and water-worn, cavernous from the boring of the teredo and other mollusks, and containing the perfect casts of many shells, the original carbonate of lime of which they were composed having long since disappeared. If we suppose a layer of different sized, rounded rocks, piled evenly on a floor, a foot or a foot and a half thick, just like the cobble stones on a paved street, and packed down closely, and then scatter among them indiscriminately the bones of marine and terrestrial animals, and then pour over them a soft paste of clay and sand, till all the intersticcs are filled, and this to be covered over with a foot or more of sand, and above this, still, four to six inches of humus, or dark soil, we have a good idea of this wonderful deposit. How it came there in such vast quantities has been a problem for scientific men to solve, and also why it is that it is actually richer in true bone phosphate of lime than fresh bone; for it will average not far from 67 per cent., some specimens going as high as 85 per cent., while we seldom find more than 50 per cent. of phosphate of lime in fresh bones.

Let us suppose that before the southern peninsula of Florida was formed, which is estimated by geologists to be scarcely more than a hundred and thirty-live thousand years old, the Gulf Stream poured its warm and genial current around the western and northern shores of what is now the Gulf of Mexico, and directly across upon what is now known as southern and eastern portion of Georgia, and the Charleston basin, at that time submerged, but shallow and gradually rising. The myriads of coral animals formed a partial barrier along the borders of the deeper water of the ocean, and thus made a vast lagoon, a sort of inland sea, partially shut in and protected by walls of coral reef, but still accessible to vast quantities of marine animals, of races long since extinct. Hither the weaker would re. sort for safety, and the stronger for prey, including, also, terrestrial animals in search of food. Storms and other convulsions of the ocean, also, would send over into this great basin vast quantities of marine animals, dead and alive. When it is considered that this process went on thousands of years, it is not difficult to comprehend how such a mass of bone may have been accumulated.

But how about the great richness in phosphoric acid ? Why should bones in a fossil condition, after lying ages buried beneath the surface, contain a higher percentage of phosphate of lime than fresher bone? This is easily explained in this way. The solid fresh bone of an ox will have the following composition:Phosphate of Lime.

61.24 Carbonate of Lime.

8.60 Organic Matter and Water

30.16 100.00

Take out of this, by decay, putrefaction, or otherwise, say 28 parts of organic matter and water, and we have, Phosphate of Lime.

61.24 Carbonate of Lime .

8.60 Water and Organic Matter

2.16

72.CO Now, out of every 72 parts ví.24 parts are still phosphate of lime. The ratio of 61 to 72 is much greater than that of 61 to 100. It is equivalent to 85.05 per cent. of pure bone phosphate of lime. The organic matter of the fossil bones has, of course, long since disappeared, and hence the proportional higher percentage of phosphate.

In its crude form, as it is dug out with the common pick, it is perfectly insoluble in water. It is, however, easily soluble in dilute acids, and if treated just as we treat ordinary bone meal, with sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol, it is changed to a superphosphate, in which fo in it is casily soluble in water. llence its liigh value to the superphosphate manufacturer and the farmer. The discovery is of vast importance, not only to the agriculture, but also to the commerce of the country.