66 PRIZE ESSAY : 



one plant will then furnish two highly important qualifications 

 required to resist the Hessian fly, the wheat midge and rM*^ con- 

 jointly. (Para. 224.) 



114. 7th. Steeps for the Seed. "Much lies within the com- 

 pass of human instrumentality to accelerate the growth of vege- 

 tation, by means of this kind."(i) It is probable that a great 

 advantage in many respects will be found to flow from a judicious 

 adoption of this artifice. Not only is growth accelerated, but 

 the steep may be made to possess great fertilizing properties ; 

 and steeps are constantly employed as a preventive to smut. 



115. Mr. Pell, of Penam, N.Y., prepared his seed wheat by 

 soaking in brine, scalding with hot water containing common 

 salt, mixing with pearl ashes, and when distributed nicely over a 

 barn floor by sifting a composition containing charcoal dust, 

 guano, sulphate of ammonia, and various other mineral ingre- 

 dients over it. It was sown at the rate of two and a half bush- 

 els to the acre ; at the expiration of fifteen days the wheat was 

 so far above ground as to be pronounced by a neighbour far in 

 advance of his which had been sown in the usual way on the first 

 of September, nearly four days earlier. The crop weighed Go lbs. 

 per bushel, and was eminently rich in gluten, containing 18 per 

 cent. The yield per acre was about 70 bushels. (2) 



117. In another part of this essay a steep for wheat as a pre- 

 ventive to smut is noticed, (par. 230) and it may be remarked 

 here that the following proportions will serve the purpose : — 



Two and one half pounds of sulphate of soda (Glauber's salts) 

 dissolved in one gallon of water, will serve for ten bushels of 

 wheat ; the moistened or soaked grain may be dried with quick- 

 lime. Arsenic and sulphate of copper (blue vitriol) should be 

 avoided ; both are poisonous, especially arsenical compounds. 



(1) Fitch. (2) Pat. Off. Rep. 



