Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1846-02-05
INTERESTING EXTRACT.

INTERESTING EXTRACT.
At the Highland Society's late show at
Dundee, the most extraordinary exhibition
amongst the roots, seeds, plants, &C., was
that Of Mr.. James Campbell, Of the Dundee
Public Summaries. 1t consisted Of magni-l
fcent plants of oats and barley, grown from
seed which had undergone certain chemi-
cal preparation, and without the aid of any
manure whatever. Since the show, Mr..
Campbell has placed the particulars Of his
process in the hands of the Society, for the
benefit of agriculturists generally, and, to-
further his good intentions, the Society has
published his own explanation, which will
be found interesting to our readers
Much has of late been said and written
on the subject of extraneous and other ma
nures, and great many nostrums have
been pulled off and applied with various
success. Many composts have been form
ed, whose tendency is to yield abundant
confessed, that no manure or other applica-
ton of much permanency of effect, or APP
preaching to anything like universal apti-
tude to soil, has yet been produced and in
all circumstances the expense is still very
great. The discovery, therefore, Of pro-
cess by which the cereal and other grami-
'neous seeds might be obtained in ertraordi-
nary abundance, without the use of ma
nures, is certainly great deslderatum. Now
~
appear, have good ground for concluding
have attained. 1t is now considerable
time since ! began TO imagine, that if the
ultimate principles Of which the proximate
constituents Of most of the gramineous
seeds are composd, could, by any pos
slbllity, be made so as to enter the sub
stance of the seed, and at the same time not
to injure its vitality, as thoroughly to i'm
bue its texture with an excess of these
principles, the end would be accomplished;
and it is by doing this to a certain extent,
that am convinced have succeeded. ]
stepped the seeds of the various specimens
exhibited at the Highland Society's Show
in sulphate, nitrate, and murate of ammo
mia, in nitrate of soda and potass, and in
combinations of these, and in all cases the
results were highly favorable. For exam
pie, seeds of wheat stepped in sulphate of
ammonia on the 9Th July. had, by the 10th
of August, the last day Of the show, tiller-
ed into nine, ten, and eleven stems of near
lily equal vigor, while seeds of the same
sample unprepared, and soWn at the same
| time, in the same soil, had not filtered into
more than two, three, and four stems.
prepared the various mixtures from the a.
bove specified salts exactly neutralised, and
then added from eight to twelve measures
of water. The time for sleeping varied
| from fifty to ninety-four hours, at tempe
nature of about go Fahrenheit. found
however, that barley does not succeed SO
well if stepped beyond sixty hours. Rye
grass and other gramineous seeds do with
stepping from sixteen to thirty hours, and
clover from Ell ght to ten, but not more; for
being b-lobate, they are apt to swell too
much and burst. The very superior speci-
men Of tall oats averaging 100 grains on
each stem, and eight available stems from
each seed, were prepared from sulphate OF
ammonia. The specimens of barley and
beer were prepared from nitrate of ammo
MIA; the former had an average of ten avail
able stems, with seventy-two grains in the
ear. The other specimens of oats which
were next the most prolific, were from mu-
riate of ammonia, and the promiscuous spe-
cimens Of oats were from nltrates Of soda
and potass-strong, numerous in STEMS
some not having less than forty-two,) and
not so tall as either the preparations from
the sui phate or muriate of ammonia. II
was objected by some tina. the tallest oats
were too rank, and would break down be-
fore coming to seed; but | have no fear
of that, as they were strong in proportion
to the height; and should there even be
any ground for the objection, | am conf
dent that combination of sulphates of am
monia and soda, or potass, would rectify
the excess of height, and render the grain
equally productive. From the experiments
which / have already (September, lS43,)
tried. am satisfied that even without the
application of common manures, double
crops at least may thus be raised and I'M
| der the application of the ordinary manures,