Book VI. WHEAT. 751 



spring-sown grain as seed, as the crop of such grain ripens about a fortnight earlier than 

 when the produce of the same wheat winter-sown is employed as spring seed. (Encj/c 

 Brit. art. Agr.) 



4623. Seed wheat is prepared for sowing b?/ the process called pickling. According to 

 Brown i Treatise on Rural Affairs, art. Wheat), this process is indispensably necessary on 

 every soil ; otherwise smut, to a greater or less extent, will, in nine cases out of ten, as- 

 suredly follow. Though almost all practical farmers are agreed as to the necessity of 

 pickling, yet they are not so unanimous as to the modus ojjerandi of the process, and the 

 article which is best calculated to answer the intended purpose. Stale urine may be consider- 

 ed as the safest and surest pickle ; and where it can be obtained in a sufficient quantity, is 

 commonly resorted to. The mode of using it does not, however, seem to be agreed upon ; 

 for, while one party contends that the grain ought to be steeped in the urine, another party 

 considers it as sufficient to sprinkle the urine upon it. Some, again, are advocates for a 

 pickle made of salt and water, sufficiently strong to buoy up an egg, in which the grain 

 is to be thoroughly steeped. But whatever difference of opinion there may be as to the 

 kind of pickle that ought to be used, and the mode of using it, all admit the utility of mix- 

 ing the wetted seed with hot lime, fresh slaked ; and this, in one point of view, is abso- 

 lutely necessary, so that the seed may be equally distributed. It may be remarked, that 

 experience justifies the utility of all these modes, provided they are attentively carried 

 into execution. There is some danger from the first ; for if the seed steeped in urine is 

 not immediately sown, it will infallibly lose its vegetative power. The second, viz. sprink- 

 ling the urine on the seed seems to be the safest, if performed by an attentive hand ; whilst 

 the last may do equally well, if such a quantity of salt be incorporated with the water, as to 

 render it of sufficient strength. It may also be remarked, that this last mode is oftener 

 accompanied with smut, owing no doubt to a deficiency of strength in the pickle whereas 

 a single head with smut is rarely discovered when urine has been used. 



4624. A new mode of preparing wheat for sowing has recently been adopted in the south 

 of Scotland and followed with great success. It is thus described : " Take four vessels, 

 two of them smaller than the other two, the former with wire bottoms, and of a size to con- 

 tain about a bushel of wheat, the latter large enough to hold the smaller within them. Fill 

 one of the large tubs with water, and, putting the wheat in the small one, immerse it in the 

 water and stir and skim off the grains that float above, and renew the water as often as is ne- 

 cessary, till it comes off almost quite clean. Then raise the small vessel in which the wheat 

 is contained, and repeat the process with it in the other large tub, which is to be filled with 

 stale urine; and in the meantime wash more wheat in the water tub. When abundance 

 of water is at hand, this operation is by no means tedious; and the wheat is much more 

 effectually cleansed from all impurities, and freed more completely from weak and un- 

 healthy grains and seeds of weeds, than can be done by the winnowing machine. When 

 thoroughly washed and skimmed, let it drain a little, then empty it on a clear floor or 

 in the cart that is to take it to the field, and sift quick-lime upon it, turning it over and 

 mixing it with a shovel, till it be sufficiently dry for sowing." {Sup. E. Brit. art. Agr.) 



4625. The quantity of seed necessary depends both on the time of sowing and the 

 state of the land ; land sown early requiring less than the same land when sown in 

 winter or spring ; and poor land being at all times allowed more seed than the rich. 

 The quantity accordingly varies from two bushels or less, to three, and sometimes even to 

 four bushels per English statute acre. Winter wheat, when sown in spring, ought al- 

 ways to have a liberal allowance, as the plants have not time to tiller much without un- 

 duly retarding their maturation. {Supp. &c. ) Upon well prepared lands, if the seed 

 be distributed equally, it can scarcely be sown too thin ; perhaps two bushels per acre 

 are sufficient ; for the heaviest crops at autumn are rarely those which shew the most 

 vigorous appearance through the winter months. Bean stubbles require more seed than 

 summer fallows ; because the roughness of their surface prevents such an equal distribu- 

 tion ; and clover layers ought to be still thicker sown than bean stubbles. Thin sowing in 

 spring ought not to be practised, otherwise the crop will be late, and imperfectly ripened. 

 {Brown.) 



4626. The modes of sowing wheat are either hroad-cast, drilling, ribbing, or dibbling. 

 The first mode is by far the most general, and the seed is for the most part covered by 

 the harrows. No more harrowing. Brown observes, should be given to fields that have 

 been fallowed, than what is necessary to cover the seed, and level the surface sufficiently. 

 Ground which is to lie in a broken down state through the winter, suffers severely when 

 an excessive harrowing is given, especially if it is incumbent on a close bottom ; though, 

 as to the quantity necessary, none can give an opinion, except those who are personally 

 present. 



4627. Ploughing in. Many farmers allege that wheat which is harrowed in is apt to 

 be thrown out in spring ; or if not thrown out at that season, that it does not tiller well, 

 and that the stalks are apt to dwindle away and fall down in the flowering season. It is 

 certain that this is the case in many parts of England ; and the cause assigned by the 



