Memoir on Smutty Wheat. 333 



. Mode of washing Smutty Grain. 



' Water from wells, springs, or streams, may be used with 

 equal effect : to employ it, proper vessels must be procured, 

 as buckets, shallow tubs, and casks open at one end ; but 

 in preference to tbese, a large flat cistern with a sluice, the 

 inside of which should be covered with a piece of linen, or 

 of tin perforated, to facilitate the escape of the water im- 

 pregnated with the smutty matter, and to prevent the pas- 

 sage of the grain. This operation is more easily performed 

 when near the water: in that case the wheat may be wasbed 

 in baskets so close as to retain the grain. The mere motion 

 of the water is insufficient to detach the dust from the 

 wheat; it must be stirred with a broom, and rubbed wiih 

 the hands, in small quantities at a time ; the foul water 

 must be let out of the cistern, and fresh water put upon 

 the wheat, until it runs off clear. If it is washed at a river 

 or a well, the basket must be plunged in it several times. 

 It is, however, to be observed, that this operation must be 

 performed as quickly as possible, that the grain may be 

 washed without being softened, to prevent the difficulty in 

 drvino- it, and to avoid vvrinklina; the skin. 



Drying the ^cashed Grain. 



The moment the grain is taken out of the water, it ought 

 to be spread on cloths in tbe open air ; in the southern pro- 

 vinces, where it is customary to wash grain, it is dried in 

 the sun. This method is preferable to anv other, and at 

 the same time the most (Economical ', and in our climate 

 (France) a cogent reason for washing smutty grain imme- 

 diately after harvest, is to take advantage of the heat of the 

 lAUi in the latter end of August, or the beginning of Sep- 

 tember : besides, the sooner the grain is washed, the more 

 easv and efl'ectual is the operation. 



If the weather will not permit the grain to be dried in 

 ilie open air, it must be spread very thin on the floor of the 

 granary, and often turned to prevent its heating, and to 

 allow a free escape to the adventitious moisture. If the 

 weather happens to be moist and warm, and likely to make 

 it sprout, it f.hould be dried in an oven moderately heated. 

 In whatsoever way the grain has been dried, care must be 

 taken not to leave it in heaps, nor to press it closely toge- 

 ther, until it is perfectly cool, and has been pa>ved two or 

 ihrcc times through the. riddle. 



