fO A-GrKlGirLrVRAL MUSEUM 



dated, and the flower on which the plant must at first 

 be maintained, more fully ripened. 3(1. Whether tlie 

 smut, which must possess animal or vegetable life, is not 

 destroyed, or at least weakened, by the wheat bein^ 

 kept for a year. 4th. Whether steeping is as necessa- 

 ry for old wheat, as fornew. And S.h. Whether it is 

 not owing to the weakness of the plant and not to blights 

 or other aerial iniUicnces, that it is liable to smut, and, 

 other disorders. It is singular, that spring wheat is less 

 liable to milldew and other disorders than winter wheat ; 

 %vluch perhaps may be partly owing lo the circum- 

 stance, that it never can be sown till several months af- 

 ter it is produced. 



It is to be hoped, that many experiments will be tried 

 in the course of the season, and that the result thereof 

 will be transmitted to the board of agriculture, to whom 

 such information must be particularly acceptable. In- 

 deed, those who commuuicate experiments upon this 

 subject, will be well entitled to the thanks of the board, 

 and of the country. 



This paper having been transmitted to Mr Arthur 

 "Young, he returned it with the following remark. 



" The advantage of sowing old seed has been long 

 known in Gloucestershire, and generally practised on tlie 

 Cotteswold Hills, where they sow so early, that they 

 cannot use new seed ; and there they do not steep on 

 that account. In my report for Norfolk, p. 298, you 

 •will find trials and practice. See also Eannister's Sy- 

 nopsis, p. 84. [have sown old seed rcpeatedl}-, and ne- 

 ver knew it smutted See Essex Report, Vol. I.p. 302." 



Farmer's Magazine. 



ON THE CCJLTUEE OF POTATOES. 



Of all the roots produced in our fields and gardens^ 

 none appears to be of so much consequence as the pota- 

 toe. As food for the poor, they are certainly to be pre- 

 ferred to turnips ; and might be rendered equally useful 

 for cattle. As a fallow crop, they tend greatly to meli- 



