185*7.] United States Agricultural Society. 391 



We have been made aware from various sources that smutted wheat 

 on all kinds of ground is sure to produce smutted wheat, and that 

 seeds thoroughly cleansed will not be aifected by it. 



HOW SMUT MAY BE EFFECTUALLY PREVENTED. 



Various substances have been used with success to destroy the spores 

 of this fungus, such as salt, quick lime^ arsenic, corrosive sublimate, 

 chloride of lime, sulphate of copper, etc. 



Careful washing and a selection of good seed will, alone, prevent 

 much mischief. The following recipe proved most effectual with us 

 the past season. 



Make a strong brine of salt and water, pour upon your wheat and 

 let it stand three hours, then pouring off the liquid spread your 

 wheat upon a floor and sift as much quick lime upon it ai upon 

 stirring will adhere, forming quite a coat upon the grain, and then 

 sow. In a field of four acres level, heavy, wet ground, sowed with 

 ■wheat liable to smut not fifty heads could be found ; while the same 

 wheat sowed on the same kind of ground and in the same way, at the 

 same time, without such preparation, was badly smutted. 



At a meeting of wheat growers who had tried the same experiment, 

 convened in this county a few days since, they reported a like salu- 

 tary result from the use of the above pickle and lime ; and we doubt 

 not this simple precautionary measure would have saved millions 

 to our State the past year. 



UNITED STATES AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The premium list of this Society, whose annual exhibition com- 

 mences on the first of September and closes on the 5th, at Louis- 

 ville, Kentucky, is published in the papers of that city. A tele- 

 graph office is to be established on the grounds, so that messages 

 can be transmitted to and answers received from all parts of the 

 United States. Other arrangements have also been adopted to ren- 

 der the exhibition superior to any ever before held. The premiums 

 are on a most liberal scale, including thirty-two of $1000 each, and 

 many of $75, $50 and $25 each. 



