810 l'K.W HOE OF A'.liK Till RE. I'akt III. 



Ily i.v M [ernaux al St Ouen, . are no! yel luffli lently matured to enable us to lay .my 



result before the public. That corn hat been to preserved in former ages, and that to a considerable 



. i- beyond ■ doubl ; and it it equally ■■.•nam thai in the Infa rioi ol Africa, among the CafTret and 



other nations, as well as in the south ol Russia, hi - it, the practice is still employed on 



i i ail Male. It may be doubted, we think, whether, with the present population of Europe, it could ever 



! lerally adopted. 



/■, .->. vathn ql i t fn tfltk i Borne account of the opening of a siloe was lately road to tho 

 \ i he place consisted of an icehouse, and the grain when put in was of 



the finest appearance, perfei • id in excellent condition Hie door had been hermetically sealed ; 



and yet, when opened, ible thicknest ol the no ist of corn was found destroyed by weevils, the 



latter being in tuch quantit] as to occasion an elei xature. As part of the same corn bad been 



perfectly well preserved in other siloes, the cause of this deterioration was sought for, and a hole was 

 (bund in the lower part which had been made by mice, and which, by admitting air in sufficient quantity, 

 had allowed the weevils originallj in the corn to live, and increase their numbers to the degree mentioned. 

 . upon experiments which snowed that insects could live tor a very long time in 



,,ir, a committee was named to ascertain the requisite state of the air, and the circumstances 



connected in the enquiry with the preservation of grain in these repositories. At another meeting of the 



M. Hachette described the method proposed by M. Clement to prevent the destruction of corn by 



weei ils. It i» founded upon a fact obsen ed bj him, that these insects cannot live in an atmosphere which 



rontainf i than a » > tain proportion of moisture. He therefore proposes that the corn should be subject 



ntilal fair dried by passing over quick-lime or chloride of calcium. All the weevils 



originally in the corn would thus be quickly destroyed." Jlecueil Imtustriel, vol. xii. p. 208.) 



vation qfcorn in the north qf Russia may deserve notice more as matter of curiosity, 



and for supplying ideas on the subject, than for imitation. The corn is dried in small ovens or chambers, 



which communic ite with a larger chamber or oven by small tubes that enter the smaller chambers at the 



top. The oven is then filled with straw closely pressed, which is lighted and left to consume during the 



\e\t morning the corn is taken from the smaller chambers, the smoke from the ovens having 



a and perfectly dried it. This practice has several advantages : the corn is lighter to move, 



and is kept much easier, without requiring to be constantly turned, being preserved from vermin by the 



taste communicated to it by the straw, which does not quit it until it has passed through the mill. 



im intended to be kept for any length of time is put into pits, in shape like a bottle, sufficiently high 



for ■ m. in to >tand erect in, which are dug in elevated places with a clayey soil. When they are dug a 



fire is lighted for four and twenty hours, which forms a bard crust round the pit. The interior is lined 



with the bark of the birch tree, fastened with wooden nails. Some straw is then put at the bottom, upon 



which the corn is placed, and more straw at the top, the mouth of the pit being then closed with a wisp of 



straw in the form of a cone. Each pit contains from twenty-live to one hundred tchetverts, and the gram 



in them will keep for twenty years without being injured. [Riblioth. Univer. de Geneve.) 



4990. The uses to which the straw of corn may he applied are various. Besides food 

 for cattle, litter for animals, thatch, &c, it is bleached and plaited into ribands for forming 

 hats, and bleached, dyed of different colours, split, and glued to flat surfaces, so as to 

 form various works useful and ornamental. Paper is also made from straw; and the 

 same pulp which forms the paper may be moulded into all the forms given to papier 

 mache, medallion portraits, embossed works, &c. Whoever wishes to enter into the de- 

 tails of the great variety of articles that may be manufactured from straw, should consult 

 the Dictionnaire Technologique, art. Faille ; or an abridged translation of a part of the 

 article in Gill's Technological Repository, vol. vi. new series, p. 228. 



*4991. The diseases jieculiar to the cereal grasses have been included in the diseases 

 common to vegetables in general. (1671.) They are chiefly the smut, the rust, the 

 mildew, and the ergot ; and we shall notice them more at length under the different spe- 

 cies of corn which are most subject to suffer from them. 



•4992. The practice of ?-eaping corn before it is perfectly ripe originated in France, and 



has lately been recommended by M. Cadet de Vaux. 



4993. Corn reaped eight days before the usual time, this author says, has the grain fuller, larger, finer, 

 and better calculated to resist the attacks of the weevil. An equal quantity of tiie corn thus reaped, with 

 corn reaped at the period of maturity, gave more bread, and of a better quality. The proper time for 



: is that when the grain, on being pressed between the fingers, has a doughy appearance like the 

 crumb of bread just hot from the oven, when pressed in the same manner. This does not seem to agree 

 altogether with the experience of some agriculturists in the Carse of Gowrie, Perthshire, where oats in- 

 tended to lie made into meal are always found to yield most when allowed to stand as long as possible. 

 Com for seed, however, it is acknowledged by the same agriculturists, will answer the purpose perfectly 



a out before fully matured. [Perth Miscellany, vol. i. p. 41.) If the doctrine of Cadet de Vaux be 

 Confined to wheat, it may be perhaps considered as confirmed by the following passage from Waistell : — 

 '* II i- well known," he observes, " that wheat produces the most flour and the sweetest bread when 

 threshed out before it has been stacked ; and as all corn is more or less injured in both these respects, ac- 

 cordingly as it is more or less heated in the rick, it would be highly desirable totally to prevent its heating 



I inng in ii sty, in the ricks. In wet harvests it is sometimes impossible to get corn sufficiently dried ; 

 and we see that even in hot and dry harvests, such as that of IS 19, a great deal of com is sometimes spoiled 

 in the ricks: we should, then fore, li i extremely cautious to have corn well dried in the field, the inks 



of a moderate size, and raised oft' the ground, to admit the air to circulate under them, with chim- 



. allow a current of air to pass upwards through them, to carry oil' the hot and niustv air from the 



centre of the rick, which, without such a chimney, has its tendency to heat four-fold greater than one 



with a chimney. Chimneys being easily made, and so beneficial, it were to be wished that they were in 



general use." [Waist ell's Designs/or Agr. Buildings, p. 101.) 



I ( \ For seed corn, it not only appears that unripe grain is preferable, but even that mildewed wheat 

 and oats answer perfectly. Mr. s. Taylor, the editor of the Country Times, ami formerij an extensive 

 farmer, has been in the practice Of sowing from [00 to 1,0 acres of wheat annually for SO years and up- 

 wards. " I"he seed was invariably chosen, not from the best and plumpest, but the thinnest and most 



ved seed." He has seen the most beautiful samples of wheat produced from seed of the most 

 ordinary description. [Country Turns, March 22. 1830.) In Perthshire, the same is stated with respect to 

 oat-. [Perth Miscellany, vol. i p. 41.) 



•4995i The methods of reaping corn are various. The most general mode is by the 

 sickle, already described ('-'182. and 2483.) ; the scythe is also used, more especially 

 for barley and oats; and a reaping machine 27:57.) is beginning to be used in some 

 parts of .Scotland ; in which country nn effectual bean-reaping machine (2710.) was 



