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f IT. Accnwit cf a fviple and efeShial Preparation of Secd-^ 

 ' 'CdA'. -By Mr. John Wagstaffe, o/Nonvich*. 



T'IERE has been long fought for, and, in the opinion 

 of fo'nic, long lince obtained, a'perfeft cure of the difeafe in 

 wheat and oLher grain, provincially known by various names, 

 as fniiit, foot-brand, &c. which are but one and the fame 

 difeafe. 



From the partial judgment of many individuals, it haS 

 been afferled, that fuch and fuch cauftics, falls, and waflic?, 

 have beeii completely deftruftive of this bane; yet, however 

 fuch" individuals may have efcaped its malignity, the repeated 

 ufe of their recipes has not fuCceeded with others to whom 

 (hfeir pVocefs has been communicated : but I am coitvinced, 

 by a ferics of repeated experiments, that every perfon, who 

 duly praclifes the fimpla means I now lay before you, will 

 be exempted from its i:nniicdia,te ban6 ; and a diflrift of coun- 

 try, by purfuing the fame meails, itiay perhaps efcape fciture 

 contagion. 



The means are fimple i and are no other than immerfing 

 the feed in pure water, and repeatedly fcouring it therein, 

 juft before it is fow^n or dibbled in the foil. Whether well', 

 fpring, or river water be ufed, is indifferent ; but repeated 

 ftirring and change of water is elTential to remove the par- 

 ticles of fnfe^lion that may h^ve imperceptibly adhered to 

 the feeds thus pulified : the fubfequent crop will be perfect 

 in ilfelf, and its feeds (I am perfuaded) fucccfl'lvely fo li'ke* 

 wife, if ihere are no adjacent fields from whence this conta- 

 mination mav be wafted. Before I give you a feries of ex-' 

 periments, which have confirmed to me the complete cure 

 of the difeafe in queftion, permit me to obfcrve, that many 

 years fincc, believing that this corrupt fubftance of fniut 

 bcjcafioned its perpetuation, T took fome grains of wheat from 

 a ilock that had been known not to be affefted with fniut ; 

 t!icfc orains I blackened with its daft, and the fuccceding 

 lurnnier confirmed my opinion, as near half the produce wa3 



• from Letters and Papers of the Ball) and IVfJl-of-Ev^land Society for 

 tbe Rvn'ir^'^rT.cri of Jlgridiltirc-, i^c. 



i " ' fmut- 



■c 



