INUTILITY OF SEED-STEEPING. 237 



stances, the oxygen is furnished by the decomposition of water 

 by the vital forces of the seed; but when those forces are 

 languid, it has been proposed to supply oxygen by some other 

 means. Humboldt employed a dilute solution of chlorine, 

 which has a powerful tendency to decompose water, and set 

 oxygen at liberty, and, it is said, with great success. Oxalic 

 acid has also been used for the same purpose. Mr. Otto, of 

 Berlin, states that he employs oxaKc acid to make old seeds 

 germinate. The seeds are put into a bottle filled with oxalic 

 acid, and remain there tUl the germiuation is observable, 

 which generally takes place in from twenty -four to forty- eight 

 hours, when the seeds are taken out, and sown in the usual 

 manner. Another way is to wet a woollen cloth with oxalic 

 acid, on which the seeds are put, and it is then folded up and 

 kept in a stove; by this method small and hard seeds will 

 germinate equally as well as in the bottle. Also very small seeds 

 are sown in pots and placed in a hotbed; and oxalic acid, 

 much diluted, is applied t,wice or thrice a day till they begin to 

 grow. Particular care must be taken to remove the seeds out 

 of the acid as soon as the least vegetation is observable. 

 Mr. Otto found that by this means seeds which were from 

 twenty to forty years old grew, while the same sort, sown in the 

 usual manner, did not grow at all {Gard. Mag., viii. 196); 

 and it is asserted by Dr. Hamilton (16., x. 368, 453,) and others, 

 that they have found decided advantages from the employment 

 of this substance. Theoretically it would seem that the effects 

 described ought to be produced, but general experience does 

 Hot confirm them; and it may be conceived that the rapid 

 abstraction of carbon, by the presence of an unnaturally large 

 quantity of oxygen, may produce effects as injurious to the 

 health of the seed, as its too slow destruction in consequence 

 of the languor of the vital principle. 



It is an old assertion, revived within <iie last few years, that certain 

 agents have a powerful action not only upon the germinating seed, but 

 upon plants in their after growth, and that marvellous crops have been 

 obtained by mere SEED-STEEPnfGr, in certain solutions, without other 

 aid. A German, of the name of Bickes, has more especially made 

 himself conspicuous for the enthusiasm with which he has propagated 

 this opinion. That he laboured under some delusion, is, however, 



