58 On Smut in Wheat. 



washed without being softened, to prevent the difficulty 

 in drying it, and to avoid wrinkling the skin. 



From an accurate analysis of the smut of wheat, by 

 those eminent chemists, Vauquelin and Foucroy,* it 

 appears, that it is only a "residuum of putrefied faring, 

 ^\ hich instead of the constituent elements of this last, 

 A iz. starch, gluten, and saccharine matter, contains only 

 a kind of charred oily substance, very similar to that 

 Species of bitumen which derives its origin from ani- 

 mal or vegeto-animal bodies. 



For seed grain, Mr. Young places no dependence 

 upon steeps in preventing smut in the succeeding crop^ 

 but there are several facts on record, which would lead 

 us to incline strongly to the belief, that some have a 

 powerful- influence; a few of these shall now be men- 

 tioned. 



1. TuU, the father of the drill husbandry relates, that 

 a ship load of wheat was sunk near Bristol, in autumn, 

 and afterwards, at ebbs, all taken up ; but being unfit 

 for the miller, it was used for seed. At the following 

 harvest, all the wheat in England was smutty, except 

 the produce of this brined seed. 



2. Mr. Richai'd P. Barton of Frederick county Vir- 

 ginia, relates that in 1805, some fine wheat was brought 

 from Redstone Pennsylvania, to his neighbourhood to 

 exchange for salt; and having purchased two bushels, 

 he steeped it in strong salt brine, and then sifted on it 

 as much quicklime as would adhere to it. Two of his 

 neighbours sowed some of the same wheat without steep- 

 ing. The soil was the same, and the seeding done in 



''^ Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle,. No. 35. 



