338 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No.G. 



as thin as possible, upon a stone floor, to become 

 dry. If it be put close together, and lie in that 

 state for a day not a grain will vegetate. 



5. Various other steeps and practices have been 

 recommended, as soap-boilers' leys,* — a ley oi 

 wood ashes — lime water — a solution of arsenic,} 

 — powdered wormwood in stale urine — and kiln- 

 drying the seed, which, though a hazardous, i#, 

 when properly executed, a successful mode of pre- 

 venting smutj. 



In every preparation it is necessary, ciiher^ro 

 kill, or mechanically to force ofT, the semina of the 

 smut. ? 



The most effectual steep, for destroying the 

 seeds of the smut, that are attached-to* wheat, was 



discovered several years ago by- Mr. Benedilf a small work, written by the President of the 



Prevost, and strongly recommendTSu to the attend 

 tion of the author of this work, by that intelligent 

 naturalist, as an infallible remedy. Instead of 

 brine, urine, or any of the ingredients that have 

 been mentioned above, Mr. Prevost uses vitriol, 

 (the sulphate of copper,) in the following simple 

 process. The steep or preparation is made up at 

 Ihe rate of one ounce of blue vitriol, dissolved in 

 an English gallon (wine measure) of water, for 

 every bushel of wheat. Into this mixture the 



frain is thrown, or passei**D-tfftugh a sieve; and 

 eing frequently stirred for about half an hour, 

 and the grain which swims on thtQyirface skimmed 

 off, that which has sunk&in the -liquid is thrown 

 into a basket that the water j«ay run off. It is 

 next washed in rain or pure wt^er, so as to prevent 

 injury to the grain, and tffc seed is dried, either 

 with or without lime, and then sown. The grain 

 should be well cleaned, and thoroughly dry at the 

 time it is put into the liquid. The grain, after being 

 thus prepared, may be kt*f>t without injury, and 

 the remedy, when prop'erly used, may be consid- 

 ered "to be infallible.* 31 ' ^-_ 



Having fi1^quently t reeomn>ended this preventive 

 against the.smut, niter mj^Having first discovered 

 it in_the course of <tn excursion to the continent, I 

 flattered thyself* - that ftsij'Gfficacy would soon be 

 tried by a number of zealous and experienoea 

 formers. BuMMs a. true saying in regard to ag- 

 riculture, as \raaw« any other arts, "What is 

 everybody's business is nobody's.''' Each individu- 

 al wishes to throw'fhe load off his own shoulders, 

 in hopes that h?s*neighborhood will undertake 



* Derbyshire Report, vol. ii. p. 116. 



/ 



l.This is strongly objected to, from the hazanUat- 

 tending it, and its destruction of game. A farmer in 

 Essex, who was accustomed to steep his wheat in a so- 

 lution of arsenic, had his crops exempted from smut, 

 but he was remarkable forbad health. 



X At Wooler, in Northumberland, it is said, that 

 passing seed wheat loosely through mill-stones, so as 

 not to injure the grain, has*becn found to prevent smut;' 

 the seed of the disease, which is commonly lodged in 



of the Netherlands; Appendix, p. 5. There is a lu- 

 minous exposition of the chemical nature of the smut 

 in wheat, and a correct analysis, extracted from the 

 works of Fourcroy and Vanquelin, in Mr. Hoblyn's 

 Prize Essay on the diseases of wheat, in the Papers oi' 

 the Bath Society, vol. xix. p. 83. 



the trouble and risk of the experiment. Hence 

 this important suggestion might have remained 

 unnoticed, had it not fortunately attracted the at- 

 tention of some public-spirited agriculturists in the 

 town and neighborhood of Birmirigham. To 

 them, the use of the sulphate of copper, (from their 

 being more accustomed, than the generality of 

 farmersjjx) articles connected with manufactures 

 and chemistry,) was not an object of apprehen- 

 sion.. 



Mj\ Richard Hipkys, of Paradise-street, Bir- 

 mingham, was the first person, at least in that 

 neighborhood, who was prevailed upon to try the 

 powers of the proposed application. He states, • 

 that in the autumn of the year 1817, he met with 



Board of Agriculture, in which the sulphate of 

 copper was recommended as a remedy against the 

 smut. That he had no faith in steeps, from the 

 previous want of success in the use of them, not- 

 withstanding the application of the usual reme- 

 dies, having had considerable breadths of wheat, 

 rendered absolutely unsaleable, for the four pre- 

 ceding" years, by the ravages of that destructive 

 disease. Yet to gratify the wishes of an esteem- 

 ed friend, he was induced to make a trial that 

 year. That in the course of his experiments, he 

 round his crops were free from disease, exactly in 

 proportion to the quantity of sulphate used. That 

 having ascertained there was no hazard in the op- 

 eration, he caused the whole of his seed wheat, 

 used in autumn 1818, and also some Talavera 

 wheat that was sown in the spring of 1819, to be 

 prepared in the manner to be afterwards described. 

 Theresult was, thai by the use of blue vitriol, he 

 had a beautiful crop of wheat, entirely free from 

 smuf, and every other disease. 

 >In the autumn of 1810, he sowed-thirty three 

 acre^s of wheat, and in the spring of 1820, 

 nine acrfeof Talavera and Cape wheat, prepared 

 in the sn*rie manner. The result, at harvest was 

 again, crops of grain entirely free from disease. 



In theyseed time of 1810, Mr. Hipkys induced a 

 pai -iicular friend, whose soil and situation were per- 

 fectly afferent, to make a trial of the sulphate, 

 which'fhe did with the most satisfactory and de- 

 cisive cesults. The particulars have been detailed 

 by Mr. Hipkys, in the Farmer's Journal, at that 

 gentleman's particular desire. Letters subscribed 

 by hi#i, -have been transmitted to me; and though 

 he declines having his name mentioned, there can 

 be*ne,doubt, lliat the facts he states, may be con- 

 fule'rTtly reliec m, and that the success of this plan 

 of preventing smut, is placed beyond the possibili- 

 ty of'' doubt. 



£he' nature of smut is now well known. It is 

 a small and delicate microscopic plant which would 

 "soon be destroyed by the variations of the atmos- 

 phere, if wheat did not offer an asylum, whore it 

 could propagate itself. While it is only attached 

 •externally to the grain, and before its' seeds, or 

 ,germs, have penetrated into the plant, itsgermina- 



applications. If nothing effectual is done for that 

 purpose, the smut penetrates into the plant of the 

 wheat, while it is still very young. There it pro- 

 duces globules, which increase with the ear, and 

 become perfect seeds when the wheat approaches 

 to maturity. If however, the seed is forfeited 





