390 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



these metals is mixed with the 

 pewter used in commerce; for some 

 of them injure the colour, or the 

 quality of the metal; and others are 

 at least as dear as lead or tin, con- 

 sequently no advantage can be 

 gained by using them. 



Receipt for deslroijifig the Vermin 

 which infest Plants; from the 

 French of Bastien's Garderier's 

 Year. 



TAKE of black soap two pounds 

 and a half, flower of sulphur 

 two pounds and a half, mushrooms 

 of any kind two pounds, water 60 

 pints. Divide the water into two 

 equal parts, and put one half in a 

 barrel with the soap and the mush- 

 rooms, after having bruised them a 

 little. The other half of the water 

 is to be boiled in acauldron with the 

 sulphur inclosed in a bag, and fixed 

 to the bottom of the cauldron by a 

 stone or other weight. During an 

 ebullition of about 20 minutes, the 

 bag of sulphur must be stirred about 

 with a stick, the better to impreg- 

 nate the water. By augmenting the 

 quantity of ingredients, the effects 

 will be more sensible. The water, 

 that has been thusboiled,mustthei> 

 be poured into the barrel, and daily 

 stirred up with a stick, until it ac- 

 quires the highest degree of rank- 

 ness: care being always taken to 

 stop up the barrel after the water 

 has been stirred. 



This composition is to be sprink- 

 led, or injected on the plants infest- 

 ed; and it will, at the first injec- 

 tion, destroy the greater number of 

 the insects: but it will require fre- 

 quent repetitions to kill those which 

 live under ground; especially the 

 ants; to exterminate them, from 



two to eight pints of the liquor will 

 be necessary, according to the ex- 

 tent of their nests. Two ounces of 

 71UX vomica, added to the above 

 composition, and boiled together 

 with the flower of sulphur, will 

 render the receipt still more effec- 

 tual; especially. when ants are to 

 be destroyed. 



Method of Separating the Grain 

 frmn the Straw, as practisedin the 

 State of Virginia ; from the Se- 

 cond Volume of Cmnmunications 

 to the Board of Agriculture, 



THE use of the flail is scarce 

 known here; almost all the 

 wheat is trodden out in the field by 

 horses upon the bare sandy soil, with 

 which much of it gets incorporated, 

 and afterwards is separated from it 

 by sieves, or some other means that 

 answer the purpose ; the conse- 

 quence of this is, that a consider- 

 able quantity of dust adheres to the 

 surface of the grain, and insinuates 

 itself into the groove on one side of 

 it, so that no art can entirely clear 

 it away ; and thence I am told mil- 

 lers are unable to make superfine 

 flour from Virginian wheat; and on 

 that account that it bears a price, 

 inferior to what the quality would 

 otherwise demand. A weevil, or 

 some other insect, greatly infests 

 the wheat of this state when in the 

 straw, which makes it necessary to 

 tread it out as soon as possible after 

 harvest; and this is frequently atr 

 tended with inconvenience and loss. 

 In unloading the wheat of this state 

 from shipboard, or otherwise work- 

 ing among it in the granaries, the 

 people employed are frequently so 

 affected with a pricking or nettling 

 on the skiiij as to be unable to go 



