No. 12, 



Soaking Seeds in Chemical Solutions. 



377 



price, thirty dollars, at which his services 

 are held, restricts him to a very few cows, 

 besides those of the herd of his owner. It 

 is the opinion of the best judges, that there 

 is no bull of his age in America, can mea- 

 sure with him. His calves have added 

 greatly to his reputation. 



From the number of heifers — calves of 

 Leander — now on hand, his owner, to 'pre- 

 vent close breeding, is obliged to keep an- 

 other bull, especially for them. To remedy 

 this inconvenience, Leander is held at pri- 

 vate sale, and if not disposed of soon, will 

 be offered at public sale in the fall, with 

 other superior animals belonging to the 

 same herd. 



Soaking Seeds in Chemical Solutions. 



A GREAT deal has been said and written latterly, 

 both in this country and in Europe, particularly in 

 Germany, respecting concentrated manures. Poudrette 

 and Guano— the one made among ourselves— the other 

 imported from a great distance, are claiming the close 

 attention of the agricultural community, which we 

 believe is ever ready to embrace enterprizes which 

 hold out reasonable promises of advantage. 



In some parts of the continent the startling doctrine 

 has been held, and tenaciously insisted upon, that all 

 teeds may be so treated as to grow most luxuriantly, 

 without any manuring of the soil in which they are to be 

 sown. 



The article given below, in reference to this curious 

 subject, we take from a late number of the "Transac- 

 tions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of 

 Scotland." Believing it to be of great interest to the 

 farmer, to be acquainted with every process by which 

 his garners may be filled— and to the political econo- 

 mist, to provide for the daily sustenance of the mil- 

 lions whose daily wants are without a holiday, we 

 mean to revert to this matter in a future number. — Ed. 



There was perhaps no object in the ex- 

 hibition of plants in the Society's Show at 

 Dundee, in August, 1843, which attracted 

 such general attention as the remarkably 

 strong and vigorous oats growing in soil, 

 exhibited by Mr. James Campbell, of the 

 Educational Seminaries of that town. The 

 soil in which they grew possessed no pecu- 

 liar property, except that it had not been 

 manured for eleven years. The vigor of the 

 plants, according to Mr. Campbell, was en- 

 tirely 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 disinterested manner, placed 

 the particulars of his process in the hands 

 of the Society, for the benefit of agricultu- 

 rists generally; and, to further his good in- 

 tentions, the Society has thought it proper 

 to publish his own explanation of the me- 



thod of conducting the process of preparing 

 the seed, as it is given, in letters, addressed, 

 at various times, to the secretary. 



The first letter contains an intimation of 

 Mr. Campbell's intention to exhibit plants of 

 oats at the Society's Show at Dundee, on 

 the 8th of August, in a letter dated Semina- 

 ries, Dundee, 17th of July, 1843, which was 

 couched in these terms: "Not being a mem- 

 ber of the Highland and Agricultural So- 

 ciety of Scotland, some^pology is necessary 

 for my addressing you. Betbre proceeding 

 farther, therefore, I beg leave to inform you 

 that, some years ago, 1 became proprietor of 

 about 140 acres of land, some of which stood 

 much in need of improvement. My atten- 

 tion has accordingly been, for a considerable 

 time pnst, directed to agricultural improve- 

 ment in various ways, and I conceive this 

 may be held as an excu.se for the liberty 

 which I now take in writing you. 



" Much has of late been said and written 

 on the subject of extraneous and other ma- 

 nures, and a great many nostrums have been 

 puffed oif and applied with various success. 

 Many composts have been formed, whose 

 tendency is to yield abundant crops on cer- 

 tain soils, but it must still be confessed that 

 no manure or other application of much per- 

 manency of effect, or approaching to any 

 thing like universal aptitude to soil, has yet 

 been produced ; and, in all circumstances, 

 the expense of manures is still very great. 



"The discovery, therefore, of a process 

 by which the cereal and other gramineous 

 seeds might be obtained in extraordinary 

 abundance, without the use of manures, is 

 certainly a great desideratum. Now, this 

 desideratum, however strange it may appear, 

 I have good grounds for concluding I have 

 attained. 



"It is now a considerable time since I 

 began to imagine that if the ultimate prin- 

 ciples of which the proximate constituents 

 of most of the gramineous seeds are com- 

 posed, could, by any possibility, be made so 

 to enter the substance of the seed, and at 

 the same time not to injure its vitality, as 

 thoroughly to imbue its texture with an ex- 

 cess of these principles, the end would be 

 accomplished ; and it is by doing this, to a 

 certain extent, that I am convinced I have 

 succeeded. 



" In the spring of last year (1842) I began 

 some experiments with oats, which were 

 going on well, when, towards the end of 

 July, I lefl them unprotected, and on return- 

 ing, four or five weeks after, found, to my 

 great regret, that my labour was lost, by 

 the depredations of poultry and sparrows. 

 The stems were all trodden down, and not 

 a grain lefl. I have this season, however, 



