SM U 



SMU 



39? 



This quantity is sufficient for eighty 

 bushels of seed wheat." 



" My next care is to shoot into 

 this steep a manageable quantity 

 of my seed, which is immediately 

 to be violently agitated, with either 

 birchen brooms, or the rudders 

 (hat are made use of in stirring the 

 malt in the marsh tub, in a brewing 

 office. As the light grains rise, 

 they must he diligently skimmed 

 otf ; and after the seed has been 

 agitated in this manner, for the 

 space of perhaps half an hour, it 

 may be taken out of the steep, and 

 sown out of hand with great safety : 

 And I can venture to say, that if 

 the land is in good heart, and has 

 been properly tilled, it will not, 

 when sown with these precautions, 

 produce a smutty crop." 



Another gentleman, who signs 

 himself 4 Norfolk Farmer, " de- 

 clares, he has observed, that if the 

 seed was only well washed, it ne- 

 ver failed : That he washed some 

 seed which he knew to be smutty, 

 in a large tub, tilled with plain, 

 simple water, stirring it violently 

 with birchen brooms, taking care 

 from time to time to skim oflf the 

 light. This answered very well, 

 and he has ever since continued the 

 practice." The same practice of 

 washing the seed, is recommended 

 by Mons. de Gonfreville, of Nor- 

 mandy, in the Foreign Essays on 

 JlgricuUure.* 



It appears very probable, that 

 washing the seed very clean in se- 

 veral waters, may be the best me- 



* There is very little doubt that washing 

 IS the most effectual part of all the above re- 

 cipes. Salt dissolved in water is as good as 

 any complex preparatioji. 



thod of preventing both smutty 

 and burnt ears. The bursting of 

 smutty ears in a field at the time 

 of blossoming, may infect the grains 

 in the sound ears ; and, may 

 produce a mouldiness, which, if 

 not taken otf, may cause the next 

 crop to be diminished and corrupt- 

 ed by one or both of these black 

 distempers. 



But a Mr. Powell, in England, 

 writes to the compilers of the Com- 

 plete Furme)\ that, in addition to 

 the usual brining and liming of 

 seed wheat, if one pound and a half 

 of red lead were sifted through a 

 cullender upon one bushel, stirring 

 the corn with a shovel, so that 

 every grain may have a spot or 

 two of the lead adhering to it, it 

 will effectually prevent smut : And 

 that fowls will not lie upon it. He 

 is confident, that even smutty seed, 

 so prepared, will produce a sound 

 crop. 



A Mr. Marshall, a late British 

 writer on agriculture, says he was 

 informed by a Yorkshire farmer, 

 that he had made use of a solution 

 of arsenic as a preventive of smut, 

 and for twenty years it had prov- 

 ed effectual. The preparation is 

 made by pounding the arsenic very 

 fine, boiling it in water, and drench- 

 ing the seed with the decoction. 

 The method is to boil one ounce 

 in a gallon of water, from one to 

 two hdurs. Then add as much 

 water or urine as will increase the 

 liquor to two gallons. This will 

 answer for two bushels of wheat. 

 It may be sowed without drying, 

 or coating with lime. If this will 

 prove an effectual antidote against 

 smut, it may be further said in re= 



