[22] 



On Smut in Wheat, By George Abbott. 



Mount Holly, 9thmo, \st, 1817. 



Respected Friend, 



Having lately observed a publication of the " Phila- 

 delphia Society for promoting agriculture," wherein they 

 invite those possessed of any useful information on cer- 

 tain agricultural subjects therein mentioned, to communi- 

 cate the same to them, T have taken the liberty to direct 

 this to thee, with a request that it may be laid before the 

 Society, to be made use of as they may judge proper. 



Among the subjects on which they request information, 

 is that of the disease in \\ heat and other grain, called the 

 smut ; and having some practical knowledge thereof my- 

 self, and being willing to contribute to the general stock 

 of useful information, I am induced to give them the fol- 

 lowing account of a series of experiments on that destruc- 

 tive disease in grain. 



In the summer of 1815, on the approach of harvest, I 

 discovered my crop of wheat much injured with the smut, 

 a disease, to me, till then unknown, except from a vague 

 account I recollected to have had of it some years ago. 

 My crop I judged was about one-third destroyed, and 

 altogether unfit for use until the smut grains were floated 

 out, and the remainder well washed and dried, which, 

 besides the loss of grain, was attended with a great deal 

 of labour and trouble. As I could get no information 

 respecting it in my neighbourhood, as to the origin of, or 

 remedy for, the disease, I had recourse to such agricul- 

 tural publications as were in my possession, when I found 

 in Dr. Willich^s Domestic Encyclopaedia, a pretty accu- 



