746 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



FN o.l2 



and it has already acquired a considerable growth 

 when the germs of the stalks rises out of it, to 

 reach the surface of the earth, where it acquires a 

 new developement, which enables it to respire the 

 atmospheric air. Till this moment the lite of the 

 plant is altogether interior; it is the lile of a foetus 

 in the womb of a mother,orinanegg. The animal 

 foetus can receive no nourishment from without, 

 until its respiratory organs have been brought into 

 contact with the atmosphere, and it is exactly the 

 same with the vegetable kingdom. Ir is only at 

 the period when the cotyledons are sufficiently ex- 

 panded to absorb atmospherical air, lhat is, when 

 they have acquired the green color of leaves — that 

 the radicle is able to extract from the soil which 

 surrounds it any nutritive substance; but at this 

 time, the radicle is quite long, and has descended 

 from one to two inches below the point, at which 

 the grain was deposited in the soil. How could it 

 be supposed that the minimum quantity of manure 

 with which the seed was impregnated, could then 

 be imbibed by the radicles which are unable to ab- 

 sorb any thing except by their inferior extremities? 

 On the other hand, during all this time of its first 

 growth, the young plant is very delicate, and may 

 easily be destroyed by agents which might have 

 served it for nutriment at a more advanced period 

 of vegetation. Hence it is, that if oil-cake be 

 spread in the same drill with the seeds of wheat, 

 beets, buckwheat, &c. and the whole be covered 

 with earth, scarcely any of the seeds will come up, 

 as I have ascertained by repeated experiments. It 

 was certainly by an action analogous to this, that 

 the cows' urine, in the case just, mentioned, pro- 

 duced such disastrous effects. The same agricul- 

 turist had formerly used in liming, without incon- 

 venience, the drainin£s of the dunghill; but as this 

 liquid may vary considerably in its nature, accor- 

 ding to the age of the dunghill, and to the species 

 of animal from which it is formed — and according 

 as it is mote or less weakened with water, or more 

 or less concentrated, in consequence of rain;-, 

 droughts, &c, &c. it might be very possible that 

 employed under different circumstances, it would 

 produce very bad effects; and, as mixtures of this 

 sort can be useful in no way, I think it would be 

 better to dispense with them altogether; and to 

 employ only pure water as a solvent or vehicle oi 

 the preservative agents. 



I shall conclude this article by giving, in detail, 

 a description of the most effectual mode of liming, 

 as established by my experiments. In my various 

 operations, I have used the sulphate of soda in 

 quantities, which have varied in the proportion of 

 1 to 4. As the germs of smut have been completely 

 destroyed by the weakest as well as the strongest 

 dose, or seeds infected to the highest degree — I 

 shall here give the weakest as being sufficient, in 

 every case. I should say however, that in ma- 

 king use even of the greatest proportion, I have 

 ascertained that this mixture has no injurious in- 

 fluence on the germinating faculty of the wheat. 



Description of the process. — The sulphate of 

 soda of which I speak in this place, is a salt, which 

 is produced in great masses in the manufacture ol 

 soda — and which may be procured at all the drug- 

 gists' at a lower price than common salt; it is not 

 at all poisonous; a solution of it in water will pre- 

 serve its properties for a long time, and it may be 

 prepared beforehand for the whole duration of the 

 Bowing season. As for the lime, it should be ta- 



ken in lumps and slaked by the addition of the 

 small quantity of water necessary to reduce it to 

 powder, or dissolve it. It ought to be applied new- 

 ly slaked, and if it is necessary to keep it for some 

 time, it should be preserved from the contact of the 

 air, by placing it in a barrel with the head out, and 

 covered first with a linen cloth, on which should be 

 spread, to the depth of a couple of inches, some 

 substance in a dry powder, such as ashes, well 

 dried sand, &C. Whenever any of the lime in 

 powder is taken out, this covering should be im- 

 mediately re-placed : if this precaution is not 

 adopted, or is inconvenient, the lime should be 

 slaked as it is needed, and that which has been 

 slaked lor two or three days, should be rejected. 

 All these precautions are generally dispensed with, 

 in the various uses of lime; because when it has 

 been slaked, it preserves for a very long time the 

 same exterior appearance; and to judge of it only 

 by the eye, it would be supposed to be always the 

 same substance; but in proportion as the lime ab- 

 sorbs the carbonic acid of the air, which is rapidly 

 done, it loses its alkaline quality, and becomes as 

 inert as powdered chalk-. 



The sulphate of soda should be first dissolved 

 in pure water, in the proportion of 80 grammes to 

 the. litre, or 8 kilogrammes to the hectolitre: as 

 this fait does not dissolve readily, it would be well 

 to perform this operation the night before, shaking 

 the liquid repeatedly till the salt is well dissolved. 

 The »'rain to be limed should be placed in a heap 

 on a floor of mortar. flag-stones,or level pavement; 

 it should be watered by means of a common wa- 

 terinn' pot, and at the same time workmen, furnish- 

 ed with shovels, should mix and stir up the grain 

 rapidly. The watering and stirring should be 

 continued till all the grains are well wetted over 

 their whole surface, and until the liquid begins to 

 flow away from the heap, which indicates that the 

 grain can receive no more: this operation absorbs 

 about 8 litres to the hectolitre of grain; but it 

 would be useless to measure the liquid, and it, is 

 sufficient to observe the ride just given. As soon 

 as enough of the liquid has been received, 

 and while the grains are still quite wet on their 

 surface, the lime in powder is immediately sprink- 

 led, stirring the mixture briskly all the time, and 

 lime is added till it reaches the proportion of two 

 kilogrammes to the hectolitre of grain. When 

 the mixture is complete and all the grains are 

 equally covered with lime, the operation is finished, 

 and the seed thus prepared may either be sown 

 immediately, or kept for several days. As it has 

 not imbibed as great a quantity of water as it does 

 in the operations performed by steeping, it is not 

 necessary to spread it out. in thin layers, and it 

 may be left in the heap without danger of heating: 

 it is however advisable to turn the heap over 

 every three or four days. 



The quantity of lime that I have directed does 

 not require a great degree of exactness, so that 

 the trouble of weighing, every time the quantities 

 used, may be dispensed with; it will be sufficient 

 to ascertain, by weighing once, ihe quantity con- 

 tained in any vessel convenient, fortius purpose, 

 for instance, a porringer, or some such thing; and 

 the same vessel may be always employed as the 

 measure of the quantity of lime for each opera- 

 tion. Such a vessel should always be provided 

 before hand, and the lime should be prepared and 

 ready for use; for it is very important that this 



