NEW EXPERIMENTS SUGGESTED. 105 



would delay the ripening and filling of the seed, and thus 

 diminish the weight and bulk of grain produced by a given 

 period of the year. The unmanured might have ripened its 

 seed while the manured was still growing. 



The after barley crop, in 1842, reaped from the several por- 

 tions, was 7 bushels, 11^ bushels, 11 J bushels, 12f bushels, and 

 9J bushels, respectively. 



Again, in 1843, he tried the effect of the same acid, at the 

 rate of 9 Ib. of acid per imperial acre, (10 loth to 20 square 

 rods,) diluted with 200 of water compared with that of pure 

 water, and of the same seed steeped 6 hours in the same 

 quantity of acid, diluted with 40 of water, with the following 

 results, per morgen : 



Grain. Straw. 



Seed steeped in dilute acid, . 14^ bush. 16 cwt. 76 Ib. 



Seed steeped in common water, 11| ... 14 ... 8 ... 



Acid applied with 200 of water, 11^ ... 14 ... 44... 



Same quantity of water only, 11 -j ... 13 ... 10 ... 



Nothing applied, . . . 11^ ... 12 ... 84 ... 



There does appear to have been a small increase of growth 

 produced by the application of the acid to the soil, though much 

 less than when the seed was merely steeped in it. 



The quantities applied by this experimenter appear to have 

 been almost incredibly small, to have produced a sensible effect 

 over a whole acre of ground ; and it would, in such a case as 

 this, have been especially desirable that duplicate or triplicate 

 experiments should have been made. 



Receiving these results, therefore, in the mean time as curious, 

 and as suggestive of inquiry, the experiments should be re- 

 peated, 



1. With the acid in different and in larger proportions than 

 were used by Tinzmann, and in different degrees of dilution, 

 though 300 or 400 of water by bulk may be considered safe, 

 except in very dry weather. 



2. Applied at different seasons, either all at once on sepa- 

 rate trial portions, or in successive small applications, as I have 

 explained in the preceding chapter. 



3. On different soils, such especially as differ in the propor- 

 tions of lime they contain. 



