STEEPING WHEAT. 37 



prudently supply his ground with seed on which every 

 precaution has been bestowed to ensure its fertility. 



" Seed well prepared, and warm'd with glowing lime, 

 'Gainst earth-bred grubs, and cold, and lapse of time ; 

 For searching frosts and various ills invade, 

 Whilst wintry months depress the rising blade."* 



The value of this practice of steeping wheat is proved 

 by numerous testimonies. In the Northumberland 

 Report an instance is given of a farm where wheat was 

 annually grown to a large extent for a period of more 

 than forty years with only one case of smut, and this was 

 when the seed was not steeped. In another case, in the 

 same county, experiments were tried with grain infected 

 by smut. One third of this grain was steeped in 

 chamber-ley, and limed ; one third was steeped and 

 dried, but not limed ; and the remainder was sown 

 without steeping or liming. Of these, the first and 

 second were almost entirely free from smut, while the 

 third was strongly infected, and had abundance of smutty 

 ears. Some experiments made in Derbyshire show that 

 brine may be employed with equally good effect. A 

 peck of very smutty wheat was taken, one half sown as 

 it was, the other half washed in three waters, and then 

 steeped for two hours in brine strong enough to float an 

 egg. The unwashed seed produced a wretched crop, two 

 thirds at least being smutty ; the washed and pickled 

 seed, on the contrary, produced a perfect crop, without 

 a single ear of smut. 



We said that the pickled wheat must be taken to the 



field in clean sacks. If this be neglected, and the grain 



be put into sacks which had before held smutty grain, 



the pickling will have been of very little service. A 



trial of the infectious nature of smut was made by 



' placing a quart of fine wheat for two days in a bag 



where some of the black dust was left : on being sown 



this grain produced a smutty crop. This, perhaps, 



* Bloomfield. 



