104 EXPERIMENTS WITH SULPHURIC AC1J>. 



2. Results of experiments with sulphuric acid. New 

 experiments suggested. 



It has been long known that the steeping of seeds in diluted 

 sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) promotes their germination, and 

 even increases the crop of corn or other produce obtained from 

 them. But the direct application of this and other acids to the 

 soil has not been so much attended to, though good effects have 

 frequently followed from such a use of them. 



Diluted sulphuric acid applied to the clover crop has been 

 found, in the neighbourhood of Lyons, to produce the same 

 effects as gypsum did. This is easily intelligible, since, if there 

 was any sensible quantity of carbonate of lime in the soil, 

 gypsum would be formed as soon as the acid came in contact 

 with it : still, the acid might also act in a different way. 



In Fifeshire, a fair crop of turnips was obtained by Mr Wood, 

 without other manure, by simply watering the drills with 

 diluted sulphuric acid. This also is not inexplicable, as the 

 land in Fifeshire and the Lothians is, upon some farms, in so 

 high a condition, that it will grow one fair crop of turnips 

 without any manure at all. 



In Germany, both barley and clover have been found to give 

 larger crops when watered with dilute sulphuric and muriatic 

 acids. I quote some results obtained by Mr Tinzmann, of 

 Silesia, in 1841. 



a On clover, applied at the rate of about 7 pounds to the 

 imperial acre (3 loth to 4 square rods Prussian.) The produce 

 from a Prussian morgen (0.631 of an imp. acre) was 



Hay. 



Nothing, . . . . 11 cwt. 50 Ib. 



And diluted with 100 waters, . 18 ... ... 



200 ... 14 ... 35 ... 



500 ... 15 ... 15 ... 



1000 ... 16 ... 40 ... 



The increase of hay in all these cases is certainly great, and 

 this increase appears naturally enough to account for the dimi- 

 nution of the seed. The increased and prolonged growth of 

 the leaf and stem, besides covering up the ground more closely, 



