194 *The Principles of Part V. 



here; becaufe it happens moft to weak 

 grain, and in rainy feafons. It may, like- 

 wife, be communicated by infection, if I 

 may fo fpeak ; and the fmut, like other con- 

 tagious difeafes, may be transmitted from the 

 infected to the healthful grain. The ex- 

 periment, I was informed, has been tried. 

 Some fmutty grain was fown along with 

 very good feed j and the produce appeared 

 very fmutty. Nor ought it to furprize us, 

 that this mould happen to the juices of 

 plants, when we find, by daily experience, 

 that the juices of animals aflume the nature 

 of the contagious ferment communicated to 

 them. This difeafe is prevented, in a great 

 meafure, by fteeping the grain in a pickle 

 of fea-falt. This operates in two ways. It 

 firengthens the feed, and fits it for expelling 

 the fuperabundant watry juices -, and, by 

 its great weight, fufpends all the faulty 

 grain ; fo that none but the heavieft and 

 ftrongeft fall to the bottom, and are made 

 ufe of. : 



DUNG 



