STEEPING SEEDS. 119 



11 The lucern was beyond all comparison stronger, had more 

 shoots, and its roots were as thick again. 



&quot; The disks of the sunflower were doubled in diameter ; the 

 cabbage had larger heads, the cucumber larger fruit, while the 

 unprepared seed yielded nothing.&quot; 



Other testimonials are added from persons of respectable stand 

 ing and condition. Other plants, besides those above mentioned, 

 are said to have been equally benefited. One fourth only of 

 the usual quantity of seed, of wheat and rye, was sown on a 

 poor, unproductive clay ; and yet the product was greater than on 

 the newest land of good quality, though aided by manure. 



&quot; Ten or twelve potato plants gave, on an average, thirty large 

 potatoes each, and had stems seven feet in height. 



&quot; Fifteen stalks of Indian corn had, on an average, five ears 

 each, some having as many as eight or nine ears to a single 

 plant. 



&quot; The buckwheat was four and a half to five feet high j the 

 flax had four to five stems from each seed. The white clover 

 was as large in the leaves and stems as the red clover usually is ; 

 the red clover and lucern three feet high.&quot; 



The experiments of Mr. Campbell induced many farmers to 

 try the effects of steeps upon their seeds. One of the most ex 

 perienced and intelligent cultivators in Scotland informed me 

 that his success had been partial. He had made numerous ex 

 periments, and in some instances with remarkable, in others with 

 no effect. I am not yet in possession of the details, which I 

 presently hope to obtain from him, and on which I shall greatly 

 rely. As my Report is going through the press, I have been 

 favored with a reply to a letter written to Mr. Campbell on this 

 subject, which I annex. 



&quot; The accounts which I have received from various quarters 

 are conflicting, some exceedingly good, and others equally bad ; 

 but this I have learned, that the greatest success has attended 

 the experiments on a great variety of soils. 



&quot; 1 believe and this is also the opinion of many others that, 

 where failures have taken place, they are due either to misman 

 agement or to the drought of the season. The results of my 

 own experiments are highly favorable ; and I have a variety of 

 specimens for the exhibition at Glasgow.&quot; 



He adds, &quot;My nephew writes me as under.&quot; 



