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THE GENESEE FARMER. 



or "eggs," in the berry. But I have never known 

 the pea-bug, nor J. H. H.'s bug, to change the pea 

 or berry to anytliing else, by the " operntions" above 

 alluded to, — they still rennain the same. Now, it 

 will be obi>erved that J. H. II. admits, virtually, that 

 the '•grain" has formed its shape ; for just then his 

 bugs make their appearance, as by instinct, and 

 deposit their nits or eggs. Now, we farmers know 

 that the " gtain' of smut wh-^'at is globular ; and I, 

 for one, have never discovered that it was ever shaped 

 like a berry of good wheat. 



The phrenologists say my bump of marvelousness 

 is small — that I will believe anything I can see — 

 that I must have facts, fic. If J. H. H. will show 

 me that his bugs by perforating a berry ("grain") of 

 wheat changes its shape, after nature has formed it, 

 and converts it to smut, 1 will give it up. 



It freijuently happens that one error begets another. 

 It seems to have been the case with your correspond- 

 ent, J. II. n. — that after he had discovered the 

 cause of "smut in wheat," as he " conjidenlly" be- 

 lieved, he (erroneously) "used" many ways "as 

 preventive remedies," but to no efTect ; for he " occa- 

 sionally" found his "old enemy (bvgs) smutting" his 

 wheat. Not having discovered his error, lie con- 

 tinued his several experiments "for several success- 

 ive years" — say some "twenty years," — and still 

 he would "occasionally" find his "old enemy smut- 

 ting his wheat again," which he thought "probably 

 strayed over into his fields from some neighhoring 

 farm." .\fter having had some success in raising 

 good wheat, and consequently having good seed, he 

 came to the conclusion that, after all, "natu-rr" had 

 as much to do with his success as himself. 



Here lies the secrect of the prevention o{ " smut in 

 wheat." If J. H. H. had separated the second and 

 third quality of his wheat from the first, and had sown 

 no other than the largest berries of wheat, his old 

 enemy, (bug;,) nor those of his neighbors, would have 

 never succeeded in manufacturing smut for him. 

 Give "nature" good, large, plump, healthy seed, and 

 I will guarantee a good crop of wheat, clear from 

 smut or chess, weighing soma 63 or 64 lbs. to the 

 bushel. 



Now, as I do not partake much of the marvelous, 

 and inasmuch as I require facts, as above stated, 1 

 ■am willing to accord to others that which I require 

 myself, viz : facts. I will proceed to state my ex 

 periments, observatijiis, and experience, although it 

 is with no small degree of diffidence that I do so, not 

 being skilled in the science of farming, and not accus- 

 tomed to writing on such subjects, especially being 

 aware that I am ditl'ering from so able a writer as 

 J. H. II., who is, 1 infer, a practical and scientific 

 farmer ; one who has been a long and close observer, 

 anil has had much experience in investigating the 

 subject of his articles "on Smut in Wheat, and the 

 cause of it." I am highly pleased with, and admire 

 the very able manner in which his articles are penned, 

 although I cannot concur in the conclusions he has 

 arrived at, touching the cause of smut in wheat. 



When 1 first commenced raising wheat in Genesee 

 county, my wheat was very smutly. I was put to 

 much trouble to prepare it for market. Albany was 

 then our market. A number of years subsequent, 

 our market for wheat changed to Rochester, where 

 we ohtnined thirty-one cents per bushel. The price 

 not warranting much pay for our trouble to cleanse 

 our wheat from smut, we paid but little attention to 



it or its cause, or prevention. When the canal was 

 in full operation, the market near, and price greater, 

 we began to turn our attention to raising more wheat ; 

 and when we found that the price of our wheat was 

 docked in consequence of smut, chess, fcc, we began 

 to think on the subject, and the first step was to 

 ascertain the cause, in order to know the remedy. 

 My neighbors were trying all the preventives they 

 could think, or hear of ; but to no purpose ; therefore 

 I did not attempt it myself. 



I was in the habit of watching my wheat crop in 

 the spring, to see if my wheat was like to be smutty. 

 I soon observed that all those plants that were not so 

 vigorous, and standing considerable below the aver- 

 age of the good wheat, proved to be smut wheat. 

 This led me to the "roots," where I was led to 

 examine the " vitality," not of the roots particularly, 

 but of the seed, which I found from after experiments 

 to be wanting sufiicient to produce good wheat. 

 Hero the remedy was suggested to my minJ. I had 

 manufactured for me a double sieve, which would 

 retain in the first or upper seive, the largest and 

 plumpest seed to sow ; the second seive retaining the 

 second quality, which I appropriated to the use of 

 my family ; and the third quality, the smallest wheat 

 falling on to the barn floor, to be fed to my fowls and 

 pigs. I sowed a field of fifteen acres, where I almost 

 invariably had more or less smut in my wheat, with 

 the first quality, reserving one-eighth of an acre to 

 experiment on by sowing one half of said piece with 

 the second, and the remainder with the third quality 

 — - neither quality having any smut, chess, or other 

 foul seed in it. 



When I harvested my field, the crop from the first 

 quality of seed stood high and uniform, the heads of 

 the wheat were long and large, well filled and plump, 

 weighing 63 or 64 lbs. to the bushel, and no smut 

 nor chess to be found. That from the second qualitv 

 was some ten inches, on an average, below that of 

 the first quality, containing some smut and some 

 chess — the heads of the wheat short, berry not very 

 plump. Th« thi"rd quality was still lower than the 

 second, some ten inches on an average, and nearly 

 all smut and chess, with here and there a small, short 

 head of wheat, and some of them part smut and part 

 wheat — a very small berry. 



I have never been troubled with my " old enemy" 

 (snuit) since : neither have the "bugs from some 

 neighboring farm" been able to manulacture smut in 

 my wheat grown from such seed as the first quality 

 aforesaid. Here you see I have learned by long 

 experience, (it being over twenty years since I have 

 raised any smut wheal,) what is the cnvse of "smut 

 in wheat" and what is a preventive, and accidentally 

 the cause of chess and the preventive. I have less 

 trouble in preparing my seed than by any other mode 

 of preparation that I ever knew or heard of — have 

 better and more wheat to the acre, and am sure of 

 having my wheat pass for the first quality. It is not 

 necessary to prepare my seed in this way every year. 



The next thing that is wanting, is to make the 

 process of separating the seed as aforesaid more con- 

 venient and of less labor ; and as 1 am not possessed 

 of a verv large bump of construcliveness, I would 

 suggest that T. D. Burrali,, or some one cl-e of an 

 inventive genius, would get up a separator for the 

 purpose, which could be worked by hand, horse, or 

 water power, as circumstances might require. E. T. 

 —Jiutavia, JV. Y., April, 1850. 



