72 On Smut in Wheat. 



ingly ^ve are informed by Mr. Bordley,* that an intel- 

 ligent farmer in Georgia, protects his wheat from smut 

 by mixing rye with the seed, or encircling it with a list 

 of r}^e, of 25 feet breadth, which he considers as per- 

 fect security, and adds, that it has also been tried with 

 success in England. This however, merits further in- 

 vestigation in other places, and in different seasons. 

 For if rye itself, be liable to the disease, how can it 

 protect other grain ? 



Prevention. 



Various means of prevention have been proposed by 

 steeping the seed in different antidotes, and sanguine 

 expectations formed of their success from the extrava- 

 gant encomiums of their authors, such as acids, alkalies, 

 neutral salts, lime, brine, sulphur, &c. But the fresh 

 soil, with its exhaling moisture, soon destroys the most 

 offensive tastes and odours ; assimilates foreign substan- 

 ces, and speedily overpowers the virtues of these pre- 

 tended antidotes. Accordingly most of them, after ma- 

 ny fruitless trials, have at length been given up, some 

 as useless, others as highly pernicious. Therefore the 

 best precautions I can venture to offer at present, are 

 the following. For until the nature of the disease be 

 more fully ascertained, it is not easy to direct the pro- 

 per remedy. 



1. Make choice of the best seed wheat that can be 



procured, and particulai'ly such as comes soonest to ma- 

 turity, as the early Virginia, or the red bearded wheat. 



* Notes on Fnrmirij^, P^ge- 481. 



