THE WHEAT CULTURIST. 411 



tie two or three minutes ; skim off all the light grain 

 and chaff that rises to the top ; stir it up again ; repeat 

 skimming ; then ponr off the brine, which can be 

 warmed again, and used for another lot of wheat. 

 Now spread the wheat on clean boards or a cloth in the 

 sun, or on the barn floor, or any convenient place. 

 Take slacked lime and sift enough over the brined wheat 

 to cover it well ; and as soon as dry, put it into a bag or 

 basket for sowing. Some farmers damp the wheat in a 

 heap on the floor, and mix up two or three quarts of 

 lime with it, and then spread it out upon boards. If in 

 the sun, it will dry in half an hour ; if in the shade, it 

 sometimes takes two or three hours. But, let no man 

 suppose that his crop will be safe from smut, unless he 

 has first secured a hardy variety of wheat, as laid down 

 in another part of this book. Various preparations of 

 vitriol, nitre, sulphur, and arsenic have been tried, in 

 some instances, with considerable benefit. Our agricul- 

 tural papers and books are full of directions for the 

 treatment of seed wheat. But let the reader beware 

 of puerile experiments with his seed, such as he will 

 find recorded on page 318. 



Experiments with Smut in Wheat. 



For the purpose of determining the influence of smut 

 on sown grain, Mr. Bailey, of Chellingham, tried experi- 

 ments on seed in which were a few balls of smut. One 

 third of the seed was steeped in urine, and limed ; one 

 third steeped in urine, dried, and not limed ; and the othei 

 third sown without steeping or liming. The result was, 

 that the seed which had been pickled and limed, and 

 that which was pickled and not limed, was almost free 



