18 



On the Manuring and Steeping of Seeds. 



Vol. IX. 



On the Manuring and Steeping of 

 Seeds. 



By James F. W. Johnston. F.R.SS L. & E., 



Hod. >lemb8r of the Royal Agricultural Society of 



England. 



In our last number an article was given in relation 

 to soaking seeds in chemical solutions, with a promise 

 to recur to the matter again. We acknowledge con- 

 siderable interest in this subject, without however 

 feeling prepared to subscribe to all the sanguine ex- 

 pectations of the German writers. Many experiments 

 have been tried in this country which have resulted in 

 tolerable success, showing plainly, that it is worth 

 while for the farmer to look into them. To raise large 

 crops cheaply, is the grand object in profitable fann- 

 ing; and it would be a great practical error to con- 

 clude that all is known, which is likely to promote 

 this desirable end. After knowing what is said, the 

 enterprising farmer will adopt the measures most 

 likely to lead, as he may believe, to the furtherance of 

 his interests.— Ed. 



Public attention has lately been drawn 

 in this country, to the possibility of so ma- 

 nuring' or otherwise doctoring the seeds of 

 our usual grain crop.=, before they are put 

 into the ground, as to do away with the ne- 

 cessity of manuring the soil itself. It has 

 been long known to practical farmers tliat, 

 by steeping their seeds in urine, in salt and 

 water, or in other solutions, and sprinkling 

 them while wet with quicklime, their 

 growth is in many cases promoted, and the 

 rust, smut, and similar diseases, in a great 

 degree prevented. It has been observed 

 also in regard to potatoes, that in some soils 

 a dusting of lime makes the cuttings more 

 productive than they would otherwise be, 

 and that, when powdered with gypsum, they 

 thrive still better. The absolute effect in- 

 deed of all such applications to the seed- 

 corn or to potatoes, will in every case be 

 modified by the kind of soil in which the 

 seed is sown. If the soil abound in common 

 salt, the salting of the seed will be less effi- 

 cacious, while if it be rich in lime or in 

 gypsum, the dusting of the potatoes with 

 these substances will produce a less striking 

 effect. Yet the above observations of prac- 

 tical men, show that it is possible in certain 

 circumstances, and by the use of certain 

 substances, so to doctor or manure the seed 

 we intend to sow, as to make the growth of 

 our crop more sure, and the return of our 

 harvests more abundant. 



From this limiled conclusion, which is 

 justified by experience, some persons have 

 hastily leaped to the freneral assertion, that 

 all seeds may be so doctored as, in all cir- 

 cumstances, to groio more luxuriantly — and 

 still farther, that they may be so treated as 

 to render unnecessary any manuring of the 

 soil in which they are to be sown. 



It is in Germany that this latter broad 

 assertion has been most confidently made 

 and most pertinaciously repeated. It has 

 met with some credence also among our- 

 selves, from persons chiefly, who, like the 

 German fathers of the statement, know a 

 little more than the generality of practical 

 men, but who do not know enough to enable 

 them to see the difficulties that beset their 

 own views, nor the limits within which their 

 statements are true. 



It will, no, doubt, interest the British 

 farmer, to read the statements of those who 

 bring forward these novel views, and to 

 consider the degree of probability which 

 exists as to their expectations being real- 

 ized. 



The great discoverer in this new line is 

 Franz Heinrich Bickes, of Cast^l, near 

 Mayence, who has published a pamphlet 

 under the title of an ^'■Account of the Dis- 

 covery of a Method of Cultivating the Soil 

 without Manure," in which he thus speaks: 



" The discovery — of cultivating the soil 

 without manure — lias been carefully verified 

 in different countries, and in the most dis- 

 similar soils. 



" It is twelve years since the discovery 

 was made, and it has, during this time, been 

 more and more tested. 



" The experiments have been made at 

 various seasons of the year, and the same 

 cro]) has been repeated on the same soil 

 without regard to the usual rotation of 

 crops. 



" The cost is very trifling — a shilling or 

 two an acre — and the supply of the sub- 

 stances used instead of manure, is inex 

 hau.stible." 



lie then expatiates on the importance ot 

 his own discovery. 



" It is not good," says Plato, " to push our 

 investigations too far; the natural sciences 

 find their limits, beyond which the mantle 

 of Isis covers what is mysterious. Can any 

 one reveal the nature of force, of life, and 

 of motion ? The mantle of Isis is now, by 

 this discovery, at length removed. 



" It is not the discovery of a mere crude 

 substitute for manure, but the result rests 

 on a knowledge of the nature of plants, by 

 which the vital power is increased in all 

 respects, and their existence elevated and 

 ennobled !" 



Here follow some of the results of his 

 new method. 



" Who can assign limits to the growth of 

 a plant ■? 



" I possess dried plants of wheat, consist- 

 ing of fifty-six and fifty-seven stalks. Indian 



