346 Proceedings of the British Association. 
another crop equally accelerated, than that from acrop which has 
been longer in ripening. He also asserted, that the acceleration of 
a crop was farther promoted by thick sowing, which likewise might 
be considered advantageous in checking and stopping the mildew.— 
Dr. Richardson referred to the remark of Humboldt, that in South 
America the wheat crop was ripened in ninety days from the period 
of sowing, and stated, that about Hudson’s Bay this period was only 
seventy days. He suggested the probable advantage that might 
arise from importing seed from the latter country for the purpose of 
furthering Mr. Hall’s views; but this gentleman stated, that he had 
found that seed imported from a distance (and he had tried some 
from Italy) was liable to become diseased. As connected with the 
subject of the acceleration of the growth of seeds, Prof. Henslow 
mentioned the results of experiments which he had tried upon seeds 
of a species of Acacia, sent by Sir John Herschel from the Cape of 
Good Hope, with directions that they should be steeped in boiling 
water before they were sown. Some of these were kept at the boil- 
ing temperature for three, six, and fifteen minutes respectively, and 
had yet germinated very readily in the open border; whilst those 
which had not been steeped did not vegetate. It was suggested 
that these facts might lead to beneficial results, by shewing agricul- 
turists that they may possibly be able to steep various seeds in wa- 
ter sufficiently heated to destroy certain fungi or insects known to be 
destructive to them without injuring the vital principle in the seed 
itself—Mr. Hope mentioned a practice common in some parts of 
Spain, of baking corn to a certain extent, by exposing it to a tem- 
perature of 150° or upwards, for the purpose of destroying an insect 
by which it was liable to be attacked.—Dr. Richardson mentioned, 
that the seeds sold in China for the European market were previ- 
ously boiled, for the purpose of destroying their vitality, as the jeal- 
omy of that people made them anxious to prevent their exportation 
in a state fitted for germination. Upon sowing these seeds he had 
nevertheless observed some few of them were still capable of vege- 
tating. or 
Mr. Curtis exhibited some specimens of the terminal shoots of 4 
Pinus, which had been attacked by the Hylurgus piniperda, and 
made a few remarks on the habits of the insect. 
_ Dr. Daubeny communicated to the Section the partial results 
which he had obtained from a series of experiments he was carrying 
on at Oxford, respecting the effects which arsenic produces on vege- 
