66 AGRierTLYtTRAL ESSAYS. 



of them the insects were found. The other seventeen remained, 

 and overspread the top of the glass. They were preserved till 

 spring, when on examining them, every stalk had an insect in 

 it, some two, and one had four. Twenty other grains were se- 

 lected, and the lime applied for twelve hours. It was then 

 washed, and the color of the eggs were changed, and being 

 put into a glass, in like manner as the others, the wheat grew,, 

 but the eggs did not produce. The roots were transplanted 

 and grew well. And ten bushels of wheat limed as above, pro- 

 duced a good crop, while the neighboring fields suffered mate- 

 rially, and some v/ere almost wholly destroyed by the fly." 



Smut is often a great injury to a crop of wheat. For a rem- 

 edy the following experiment developes much useful informa- 

 tion on this subject: — Mr. Young sowed fourteen beds with the 

 same wheat seed as black with smut, he says, as he ever saw 

 any. The first bed was sown with this wheat without wash- 

 ing, and this had 377 smutty ears. That washed in clean wa- 

 ter had 3*25 ; that in lime water 43 ; that in lye of wood ashes 

 31 ; that in arsenic 28 ; again, that steeped in lime water four 

 hours had 12 ; that in lye four hours had 12 ; that in arsenic 

 four hours had 1. And again, that which was steeped in ly^ 

 as before mentioned 12 hours had none, and that which was 

 steeped in the same kind of lye 24 hours had none ; that also- 

 which w-as steeped 24 hours in lime water had none ; that steep- 

 ed in arsenic 24 hours, had five. It appears from this experi- 

 ment that steeping the seed 24 hours inlye will eflfectually pre- 

 vent smut. Let the lye be ma,de pretty strong, and if the seed 

 wheat is steeped longer it will not injure it unless it be kept 

 too warm. Lime water and salt lime applied in this manner, 

 will, no doubt, answer the same purpose. If steeping in arsen- 

 ic a longer time should prove effectual, this would also be an 

 excellent antidote to birds ; or to prevent them from picking 

 up the seeds, the lime water and arsenic might be used togeth- 

 er. It has been observed that seed wheat which has been well 

 ripened before harvesting is much less liable to must than that 

 which has been cut early. Let tlie wheat for seed be the last 

 harvested, and let it be kept by itself perfectly dry until it is 

 thraghed. Some have practiced thrashing it out in the field 

 when in a very dry state. The reason assigned for this is that 

 smut is believed to be somewhat infectious •, and therefore if 

 wheat, entirely free of this disorder, be put in a mow with 

 smutty wheat, the whole mass will become more or less in- 

 fected with smut, by reason of sweating or heating of the 

 mow. 



Wheat that is very smutty in the field, should not be hat- 



