368 Oxalic Acid as a Stimulant to Vegetation. 



Art. IV. An Experiment made with a View to determine the Efficacy 

 of Oxalic Acid in stimulating dormant Vegetable Life. By William 

 Hamilton, Esq. M.D. 



I took, on the 5th of May, four grains of Victoria wheat, 

 and put two to soak in 2 oz. of soft water, acidulated with two 

 drops of a saturated solution of oxalic acid; while the other two 

 were put into rain water. At thirty minutes past one in the 

 afternoon of the 6th of May, after having been macerated for 

 twenty-six hours, I took out one grain from each, and, washing 

 that which had been in the acidulated water from any adhering 

 acid, I planted both in separate pots; and, at noon on the fol- 

 lowing day, after macerating for forty-eight hours and a half, I 

 took the remaining grains, and sowed them, without washing 

 that which had been soaked in the acidulated water. On the 

 10th of May, the first-sown seed, which had been soaked in the 

 acidulated water, first appeared above ground, at 8 a. m., and at 

 the same hour on the succeeding day had made a growth of 

 four eighths of an inch ; while the grain soaked in rain water, 

 and sown at the same time with it, was still invisible. At length, 

 on the 12th, at 8 a. m., by which time the leaf of the former was 

 fully expanded, and its height was l^in., the other appeared 

 above ground, and, almost simultaneously with it, the second 

 seed taken out of the acidulated water, and planted without 

 washing. On the 14th, the plant which first appeared was, at 

 8 a. M., 2 1 in., while that sown at the same time with it had its 

 leaf just beginning to expand, and its height was only 1 in. The 

 fourth seed (the second of those soaked in rain water) had not, 

 and has not yet, appeared. At this moment, 3 p. m., May 20., 

 the first of those soaked in oxalated water measures 6 in. from 

 the ground to the top of the longest leaf (two leaves being fully 

 developed); that soaked in rain water 3f- in. ; and that which, 

 having been soaked in the oxalated water, was sown without 

 washing, 2 in. and a little more than six eighths. What their 

 future progress will be, we have yet to learn. However imper- 

 fect and inconclusive these experiments may be, their notice may 

 not be altogether useless, since they may serve to stimulate some 

 better experimenter to take up the subject, and prosecute it more 

 successfully. 



Plymoidh, May 20. 1834. 



Various notices respecting the Victoria wheat, and some of them of very 

 considerable importance, in an agricultural point of view, will be found in suc- 

 ceeding pages, under England and Scotland. — Cond. 



