fQ? O F S T E E P S. Part I 



CHAP. XVI. 



Of STEEPS. 



.^TEEPS were brought very early into ufe in hufbandry; not 

 O only as prefervatives againft the feveral diftempers of corn 

 which we have been fpeaking of, in which they are demonftratively 

 of great ufe; but alfo with a view to render the feed more fruitful. 

 The Romans, as has been already obferved, Iiad their lees of oil, 

 decoftion of cyprefs leaves, juice of houfe-leek, &c. Lord Bacon 

 was the firft who feems to have bellowed any attention on this 

 fubjeft in England. What he did, was rather pointing out the 

 path to others, than determining any thing politive on this head 

 liimfelf. We do not know any author who has yet given us a fet of 

 experiments with this view, which have been long enough conti- 

 nued to determine what efFe<£ls any fleeps have towards rendering 

 grain more fruitful. 



Van Helmont, and fmce him the authors of the maifons rujliques, 

 have given many receipts for fteeps, which they boaft greatly of, 

 as increafuig the fruitfulnefs of the feed that is fteeped in them. 

 Thofe who recommend thefe receipts, advife fowing the corn 

 thinner than ufual j generally one third lefs. — All the experiments 

 in this work will fliew evidently, that this one circumftance of 

 lowing thin, will add greatly to the crop. That the comparifon 

 may be juft, all circumftances fliould be alike, as to the goodnefs 

 of the foil, the quantity and quality of the feed, &c. 



To fatisfy myfelf, fays M. Duhamel, whether or no any benefit 

 does arife from the ufe of fleeps, by way of giving the feed a greater 

 degree of fruitfulnefs, I tried the following experiment. I infufed 

 fome good wheat in a lye of dung, mixed with lixivial falts, nitre, 

 and fal ammoniac. I fowed with this grain two beds in my kitchen 

 garden, dug with a fpade. One of the beds was fowed very thick, 

 and the other very thin. At the fame time I fowed two other beds, 

 exadtly like the former, with fome of the fame feed, not fleeped, 

 one thick, and the other thin. At harvefl time, the beds fowed 

 with the fteeped feed were fo exadlly like the others, that it was 

 impoffible for the eye to diftinguifh between them. 



A gentleman in his neighbourhood followed exadlly the diredions 

 given in the maijbns rujliques, in the ufe of one of their boafted re- 

 ceipts. 



