120 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



&quot; I have just seen Sir John Ogilvie s overseer, and he states 

 that the steeped oats sold by roup, yesterday, at Id. per pole 

 more than those which were not steeped on the next rig.&quot; 



&quot;N. B. The prepared seeds were sown much thinner than the 

 unprepared, at least one quarter. 



&quot;Cranch & Co., (Newcastle-upon-Tyne,) 30th July, write, 

 We have received some good accounts of the steeps. 



&quot;P. Bruce, (Hull,) 30th July, writes, I am glad to inform 

 you that one or two parties tell me that they will buy the steep 

 again, supposing that any falling off is attributable to the 

 drought. He has himself seen some that looks very well. 



&quot;I may add that any that I have hitherto seen looks exceed 

 ingly well, better than the unprepared, although sown thinner.&quot; 



I cannot say that I am sanguine as to those extraordinary 

 results to which, from the quotations which I have made, some 

 persons look forward, when there will be no longer a necessity 

 for a rotation of crops, and even the application of manure to 

 the soil may be dispensed with. But I cannot help thinking 

 that much remains to be achieved, and that much may be hoped 

 for. We are not to be surprised that failures occur ; but one well- 

 authenticated experiment, conducted in an exact manner, and in 

 which the extraordinary results may be directly traced to the 

 application, is sufficient to outweigh a hundred failures. The 

 exhibition at Dundee, supposing Mr. Campbell s statements to 

 be true, and I know no reason to doubt, but, from his manly 

 conduct, the best reason to believe them, satisfied me that some 

 thing important had been effected. I rely little upon mere 

 opinion and conjecture, even of parties above suspicion of dis 

 honesty. The mortification of failure, the desire of success, 

 the ambition of notoriety, and especially any degree of personal 

 or private interest, all may serve to color the vision, to bias the 

 judgment, and present grounds of hesitation, if not of distrust. 

 With a full share of confidence in the virtue of men, I have 

 been too often disappointed not to require the most ample evi 

 dence in all cases of moment. I was not a little amused in visit 

 ing, with several gentlemen, the farm of an excellent cultivator 

 the last summer, that, when he showed us in his field of swedes, 

 with an air of the most confident triumph, the surprisingly 

 beneficial effects of a certain application upon some marked 

 rows, every one of the party except himself was satisfied that 



