OF FOREST-TREES. 



15 



trees grow and prosper well in any tolerable land which will produce CHAP. 1. 

 com or rye, and which is not in excess stony, in which nevertheless 

 some trees delight, or altogether clay, which few or none do naturally 

 affect ; and yet the oak is seen to prosper in it, for its toughness pre- 

 ferred before any other by many workmen ; though of all soils the cow- 

 pasture doth certainly exceed, be it for what purpose soever of planting 

 wood. Rather therefore we should take notice how many great wits 

 and ingenious persons, who have leisure and faculty, are in pain for im- 

 provements of their heaths and barren hills, cold and starving places, 

 which causes them to be neglected and despaired of ; whilst they flatter 

 their hopes and vain expectations with fructifying liquors ^ chymical 



The steeping of seeds in prolific liquors is not of modern invention. The Romans, 

 V who were good husbandmen, have left us several receipts for steeping of grain, in order 



to increase the powers of vegetation. In England, France, Italy, and in all countries 

 where agriculture has been attended to, we see a variety of liquors recommended for the 

 same purpose. Good nourishment has ever been observed to add strength and vigour to 

 all vegetables. Hence it was natural to suppose that, by filling the vessels of the grain 

 with nourishing liquors, the germ, with its roots, would be invigorated. How far this 

 reasoning is founded upon just principles, remains to be examined. For my part, I am 

 not an advocate for steeps. All my experiments demonstrate that they have no inherent 

 virtue. I have more than once sown the same seed, steeped and unsteeped, and though 

 aU other circumstances were minutely alike, yet I never could observe the least difference 

 in the growth of the crop. I confess that when the light seeds are skimmed off, as in the 

 operation of brining, the crop will be improved, and diseases prevented: but these 

 advantages proceed from the goodness of the grain sown, and not from any prolific virtue 

 of the steep. I am happy in not being singular in my objection to steeps. Many philo- 

 sophical farmers have been induced to quit their prejudices, and are now convinced from 

 their own trials, that thei*e is no dependence upon prolific liquors, though ever so well 

 recommended. Some people have been hardy enough to persuade themselves, that the 

 tillering of wheat may be so much increased by invigorating the grain, that only one half 

 of the seed will be required. Duhamel, one of the most accurate of the experimental 

 husbandmen, and a most excellent philosopher, speaks in the strongest terms, against the 

 practice of steeping, so far as it supposes an impregnation of vegetative particles. I shall 

 not here repeat his experiments : I shall only observe, that they are such as any farmer 

 may make ; they are plain and conclusive. Good seed, when sown upon land in excellent 

 tilth, will always produce a plentiful crop. The best of grain impregnated to the full 

 with the most approved steep, and sown upon land indifferently prepared, will for ever 

 disappoint the hopes of the farmer. I do not presume to condemn the practice in positive 

 terms, because my experiments are against it. Other experiments may be opposed to 



