200 
of the turnip : it is said that this plan has not been 
successful, and that the fly feeds indiscriminately 
on both. * 
There are several chemical menstrua which ren- 
der the process of germination much more rapid, 
when the seeds have been steeped in them. As in 
these cases the seed-leaves are quickly produced, 
and more speedily perform their functions, I pro- 
posed it as a subject of experiment to examine 
whether such menstrua might not be useful in rais- 
ing the turnip more speedily to that state in which 
it would be secure from the fly ; but the result 
proved that the practice was inadmissible $ for seeds 
so treated, though they germinated much quicker, 
did not produce healthy plants, and often died soon 
after sprouting. 
I steeped radish seeds in September 1807 for 12 
hours, in a solution of chlorine, and similar seeds 
in very diluted nitric acid, in very diluted sulphu- 
ric acid, in weak solution of oxysulphate of iron, 
and some in common water. The seeds in solu- 
tions of chlorine and oxysulphate of iron threw 
out the germ in two days : those in nitric acid 
in three days, in sulphuric acid in five, and those 
in water in seven days. But in the cases of pre- 
mature germination, though the plume was very 
vigorous for a short time, yet it became at the end 
of a fortnight weak and sickly ; and at that period 
less vigorous in its growth than the sprouts which 
had been naturally developed, so that there can be 
scarcely any useful application of these experiments. 
Too rapid growth and premature decay seem in- 
variably connected in organized structures ; and it 
7 
