WHEAT. 81 



and other offal matter, ought to constitute a sufficient inducement to the 

 practice. 



The question is, what forms the best steep, and how it can be most easily put 

 in use ? 



Virgil speaks of having seen farmers sprinkling their wheat with carbonate 

 of soda ; but Jelhro Tull says, in 1(360, that brining, as an antidote to smuttiness, 

 was discovered in the following manner: "A ship-load of wheat was sunk 

 near Bristol, in the autumn, and afterward at ebb all taken up, after it had 

 been soaked in sea-water ; but, it being unfit for making bread, a farmer sowed 

 some of it, and, Avhen it was found to grow very well, the whole cargo was 

 bought at a low price by many farmers, and sown in many places. At the 

 following harvest, all the wheat in England happened to be smutty, except 

 the produce of this brined seed, which Avas all exempt from smuttiness. This 

 accident has been sufficient to justify the practice of brining ever since." He 

 elsewhere, however, conjectures that its exemption may have been owing to its 

 coming from a country free from that disease. 



For pickling wheat the following directions are given by Professor Low: 



Let a tiib be provided, and partly tilled with nrine, and let a qtiaiitity of wheat, as a 

 b'«shel, bo put in at a time. Let the wheat be well stirred, and let all the lighter grains 

 Avliich come to the top be skimmed carefully off", and ihrowii aside as useless. The wheat 

 should remain from five to ten minutes, but never more than ten minutes, in the pickle. — 

 The successive portions of wheat thus pickled are to be allowed to drain a httle, and then to 

 be laid upon the barn-floor in layers, hot lime being at the same time silted upon each layer. 

 The purpose of spreading the lime is to di'y the grain, which should then be canned imme- 

 diately to the fields and sown. The lime used should be quite hot, and for this pui-]:)08e it 

 should bo slacked at the time. Although the immediate purpose served by the application 

 of lime is drying the gi'aiu, it may be beheved that it also Eissists the action of the brine m. 

 removing the tendency to the disease. 



A vei-y stiong pickle of salt dissolved in water may be used instead of urine ; but salt- 

 brine is not quite s« secure a means of preventing the disease as urine ; and the latter, there- 

 fore, ought to be preferred. 



The vvlieut, after being pickled, must not remain long unsowii, otherwise its vegetative 

 powers may be injui-ed or desti-oyed. No more should be pickled at a time than can be 

 then sown. When, from any caTise, as from rain intervening, it is not practicable to sow the 

 wheat for a day or two, it should be spread tliinly upon the floor, but never kept in sacks, 

 in which it would soon ferment. 



The wheat, when pickled, then, is to be can-ied directly to the field. It may be sown, 

 either by the hand or by the broadcast sovAang-macliine, in the manner already described, or 

 iii rows by the drill-machine. 



When it is sown in drills, the usual distance between the rows is from 9 to 12 inches ; but 

 it is conceived that the larger intervals ai"e the better, and that they may, in most cases, b»> 

 with advantiige more than 1-2 inches. 



The qu;uitity of seeds usuajly sown is from two to three bushels to the acre. In the case 

 of sumraer-tiillow, the quantity need not exceed two bushels to the acre. When the sowing 

 takes place hi spmg, the quantity may be extended to three bushels, but rather less than 

 more. 



When the seeds are sowii by the drill-machine, a single or a double turn of the harrows 

 will snflice. When they are sown broadcast, the land must receive several harro\\dngs, but 

 no more than are sufficient to cover the seeds — it being better in the case of wheat that there 

 be a certiiin roughness of clod. A double turn along the rid?e, a double turn across, and 

 again a shigie tuni along, w^Ul in almost every case sutHce ; and often less, namely, a double 

 turn along, a single turn across, and a single turn along ; but many farmers prefer finishing 

 with a turn across. 



No sooner is the process of harrowing executed than the land is to be water-furrowed in 

 the followuig manner : The common plow, with one horse, is to pass once along each water- 

 fiirrow, and then along tlie wator-furrovvs of the head-lands, and to draw farther open fur- 

 rows in such hollows of the field as water might stagnate in. A person is then to follow with 

 a spade, to clear out the water-fuiTow of the headlands to the necessary depth ; to make 

 channels through the headlands to the ditch, where necessary ; to clear out the cross-fuiTows 

 in the hollows, so as to allow the water to nin ; and to open uj) the intersectioas of the water- 

 iiirrows of the ridges with these cross-fiirrows, and the water-furrows of the headlands. 



The best period of sowing, it has been said, is from about the middle to the end of Sep- 



(n7) tf 



