Agricultural Memorandums. 179 



sowing it, I steeped it in strong salt-brine, and then 

 sifted on it as much quicklime as would adhere to it. 

 This is my usual practice with all my wheat, unless I 

 use plaster instead of lime. My intention, in both ca- 

 ses, is to forward vegetation, and produce vigorous 

 plants, to guard against the Hessian-Fly, and the inju- 

 ries of the succeeding winter's frosts. Mr. C. also 

 sowed a few bushels of this wheat; so did a Mr. S., 

 another of my neighbours. But in the two latter cases, 

 neither brine nor lime was applied to the seed. In 

 every case, the soil was the same, and the seeding done 

 in good order, and in good time. Just before harvest, 

 Mr. C. complained, that his Red-Stone wheat (and that 

 only) was materially injured by what he believed to be 

 Smut. A large proportion of the head, though appa- 

 rently fair, contained a black powder instead of a farina- 

 ceous substance. Shortly after, Mr. S. made the same 

 complaint, and declared that he would not sow the same 

 wheat again. Upon examining mine, I found it per- 

 fectly free from smut, or any other disease, and the 

 grain of an extraordinary good quality. I have thrashed 

 out this grain lately, and never saw wheat of a finer sam- 

 ple. Its exemption from smut may, I think, be fairly 

 attributed to the preparation of the seed -wheat. 



Frederick- County, Virginia, 

 September 22d, 1806. 



