146 OIUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



of the kind may be placed, which will give it a pretty finish, and; 

 hang over from its top. The hole for the stem of the vine may 

 be filled in with moss to give it a pretty appearance. As the vine 

 grows it is to be trained round the column, and with moderate care^ 

 Mr. Hoare asserts,- may be made to bear fifty pounds of fine grapes 

 in one season. The cost of the column, he believes, should not 

 exceed 25s., but we hardly imagine it could be properly erected for 

 that sum. 



It is easy to believe that such columns^ when erected in suitable 

 situations, and the vines are well trained around them, and clusters- 

 of grapes appear, must add to the beauty of grounds. They 

 may be planted singly or in groups ; and the cost is so slight, and 

 the gain in fruit, according to our author, so certain and so large,, 

 that the experiment is well worth trying. We liave but given an 

 outline of Mr. Hoare's plan. Those who are desirous of further 

 information must consult this pleasing treatise. They will find it 

 full of instructive details, the result of extensive management, di- 

 rected by an intelligent mind, and of long experience. The man- 

 ner of the remarks is clear and pleasing, ancl the whole treatise of 

 eminent utility to those who have the care of vines, or who pro- 

 pose to engage in their culture- 



[Abridged from the Scottish Journal of Agriculture.] 



ON THE EFFECTS OF SOAKING SEEDS IN CHEMICAL 



SOLUTIONS, 



There was perhaps no object in the exhibition of plants in the 

 society's show, at Dundee, in August, 1843, which attracted such 

 general attention as the remarkably strong and vigorous oats grow- 

 ing in soil, exhibited by Mr. James Campbell^ of the Educational 

 Seminaries of that town. The soil in which they grew possessed 

 no peculiar property, except that it had not been manured for 

 eleven years. Tiie vigor of the plants, according to Mr. Campbell, 

 was entirely to be ascribed to their seed having been subjected to 

 a process by which they were soaked in certain chemical solutions, 

 Mr. Campbell has, since the show, in the most liberal and disin- 

 terested manner, placed the }>articulars of his process in the hands 

 of the society, for the benefit of agriculturists generally ; and to 

 further his good intentions, the society has thought it proper to 

 publish his own explanation of the method of conducting the pro- 

 cess of preparing the seed, as it is given in a letter to the secre- 

 tary. 



