394 



SM L 



SMU 



recommended by different writers, 

 are various. 



The last mentioned writer thinks, 

 " that the best and ripest corn 

 should be chosen for seed, threshed 

 as soon as possible, and limed im- 

 mediately after ; as well to keep it 

 from growing mouldy, as to destroy 

 the mould already formed, if there 

 be any : Adding, that every me- 

 thod he has tried to make corn so 

 prepared grow mouldy, has been 

 ineffectual, and that he has never 

 known it produce smutty ears." 



"As weak plants are found to 

 be most subject to smut, he also re- 

 commends good tillage, as a sure 

 means of giving them strength and 

 vigour. And he observes, that the 

 lies made use of, preserve the 

 plants from mouldiness, and of all 

 of them lime seems to him to be 

 the most effectual." 



Though liming at the time of 

 Sowing, as is the practice in this 

 country, does not always prevent 

 smut, I would recommend it to far- 

 mers, to do it in the method that 

 M. Aimen mentions as successful. 

 The lime will probably have a 

 greater eflfect, when used so early, 

 than when the mouldiness on the 

 kernels is become older and more 

 deeply rooted. The subject 1 am 

 upon, is of so great consequence to 

 the farmer, and to the public, that 

 I shall make no apology to the 

 reader, for proceeding to lay be- 

 fore him the opinions of other wri- 

 ters; although 1 shall run out this 

 article to what some readers may 

 call a tedious length. 



M. de Lignerolle says, " That 

 the surest means of avoiding smut, 

 and that which he has practised 



with success ever since the year 

 1739, on upwards of three hundred 

 acres of land, is, to change the seed 

 every year, to be very careful that 

 the seed corn be well dried, and 

 thoroughly ripe, and that it be not 

 smutty, nor have any smutty pow- 

 der sticking to it. He then pours 

 boiling water on quick lime, in a 

 large tub; and after the ebullition 

 is over, as much cold water as there 

 was hot, and stirs it all strongly to- 

 gether, in order to dissolve and tho- 

 roughly mix the lime. The quantity 

 of wheat intended to be sowed, is 

 sprinkled with this ley, and then 

 well stirred with a shovel, and laid 

 in as high a heap as possible. It 

 is best to keep the grain for a week 

 after this preparation, turning it 

 every day ; for otherwise it would 

 heat so as to destroy the germ. 

 By these means he has not had any 

 smut, when the fields around him 

 have been infected with that dis- 

 temper." 



" M. Donat, near Rochelle, 

 thinking the ingredients commonly 

 employed in the steeps too dear 

 for the use of farmers, studied for 

 some years to find out something 

 cheaper, easy to be had every 

 where, and therefore better calcu- 

 lated to be of general use. I have 

 had the good fortune, says he, in a 

 letter to M. Duhamel, to accom- 

 plish what I wished ; for I now use 

 only pigeons' dung, quick lime, 

 ashes, and sea salt, where this last 

 can be conveniently had. I have 

 sometimes made with these iogre- 

 dients, steeped in water, so strong 

 a liquor, that it has even destroyed 

 the g»rm of the grain. But there 

 will be no danger of that, if care 



