HOW TO PREVENT SMUT IN WHEAT. 



213 



loose and flaccid. They require no delicate attentions 

 wliatever. 



The usual French mode is to put geese by thirties 

 in the same house, but divided into companies of 

 eight, separated from each other by partitions. They 

 are often kept so closely wedged that they cannot 

 stand upright or turn. Diabolical barbarities have 

 been practised in Paris to enlarge the livers of eeese. 

 They have bVen blinded in the first instance witt hot 

 irons, and then nailed by the web of the feet to 

 boards near a fire; then crammed with balls of paste 

 highly peppered; and at length, when disease has en- 

 larged the liver to the utmost point of unnatural dis- 

 tension, the epicure, Man, sits down to his gluttonous 

 fe;ist; and we cordially wish him to feel the horrors 

 of iudigestiou as the too lenient punishment of this 

 cruel indulgence of his depraved appetite. 



A French queen has obtained an immortality of 

 infamy from paying 1500 livres for fattening three 

 geese, in order to have their livers of extraordinary 

 delii-acy, and to this day goose livers are transmitted 

 (rom Strasburg to the gourmands all over the conti- 

 nent. 



The greatest mortality affects geese from the third 

 to the fifth week, when quill feathers are growing. 



Geese are regularly plucked* twice a year (early 

 in August and at Michfelmiis) for the feathers, by 

 wretches who go about for the purpose of purchasing 

 them. As may be supposed, they pull out the feath- 

 ers in the most rough and r.apid manner to save time, 

 without paying the slightest regard to the screams of 

 the tortured birds, and injure the wings, which drag- 

 gle in a sore and bloody state on the ground. After 

 this operation, geese are sick and thin, and in reality 

 and appearance, especially in cold weather, very mis- 

 erable (they frequently die) until the new feathers 

 cover them, when the same barbarities are repeated. 



Humane housewives do not allow these operators 

 to pluck the quills, (which naturally fall once a year) 

 as this injures the wings, nor any feathers except 

 those on the belly and sides. But many less tender 

 goose owners give the birds to the tender mercies of 

 the pluckers every si.x weeks, except in winter, at 

 three pence per head, for a thorough stripping of all 

 the feathers — the down alone being left to protect 

 the spine. 



•Pennant says, that "in Lincolnshire they are plucked five 

 times in thej'ear; first at Lady-day, for the feathers and quills, 

 and four times for the feathers only, betveen that and Michslmas." 



HOW TO PKETENT SMUT IS WHEAT. 



We regard blue vitriol as one of the best prevent- 

 tives of smut in wheat, and the following as an ex- 

 cellent way of using it: 



Take then a tub or vessel of convenient form for 

 holding three bushels of wheat, and a space of some 

 6 or 8 inches beyond, for skimming, washing, and stir- 

 ring. Place this tub over a wider but shallower ves- 

 sel, similar to the underback of a mash-tub, into 

 which the wheat, when washed and skimmed, may by 

 a cock or other means, be drawn off from the tub 

 above. But we are forestalling matters. Prepare 

 the steep as follows: — Dissolve about 3 lbs. blue vit- 

 riol in water (hot if wanted for immediate use, oth- 



erwise this is immaterial); to this add water enough 

 fairly to swim the quantity of seed you intend to 

 steep — .say 3 bushels; into this liquor then sift gradu- 

 ally and lightly, by means of what in some places is 

 called a reeing sieve, the wheat as above mention- 

 ed. The heavy grain will fall to the bottom, leav- 

 ing the lighter portion, seeds of certain weeds, 

 smut balls (if any,) and other rubbish, to float at the 

 top. These must all be carefully skimmed off, and 

 the main body of the wheat below well stirred from 

 the bottom, to make sure that the whole is thorough- 

 ly washed and skimmed. This process over, some 

 recommend a prolonged immersion in the liquid of 

 from one to three or more hours; but I never could 

 see any necessity for this. In the first place its adop- 

 tion would be attended with great additional incon- 

 venience, to say nothing of the extra expense, from 

 the necessary enlargement of the apparatus for steep- 

 ing and washing a much larger quantity at a time 

 than I have named. As soon, therefore, as you are 

 satisfied that the washing, skimming, &c., is accom- 

 plished, and the liquor drawn ofi' into the underback, 

 empty the wheat on to the floor, which latter ought 

 to be thoroughly washed and cleaned between the 

 steeps, and after spreading it about a little, sift over 

 it enough hot slaked lime to facilitate the progress 

 of drying. The wheat will be fit for drilling or sow- 

 ing in a tew hours, but if even delayed for a day or two 

 will take no harm. The same liquor will serve seve- 

 ral steeps, merely replenishing with fresh water and 

 about i lb. of blue vitriol to each succeeding bushel 

 of wheat. Such was my practice during many years 

 of my farming life, nor did I ever experience any 

 failure of plant from the use of this steep, though I 

 certainly have from chamber lye applied too strong 

 and immersed too long. How to account for " J. 0. 

 C.'s" failure I know no more than he does; but as he 

 says it was sown when the ground was dry, is it not 

 as fair to presume that the failure was quite as likely 

 to have been occasioned by want of the requisite 

 moisture to cause the seed to germinate properly, as 

 by anything in the composition of a steep in such 

 universal use, and, with common care, so harmless as 

 a solution of blue vitriol, even though much stronger 

 than I applied it ? — S. Taylor, Gloucester. 



HrviNO Bees. — A chap out in Louisiana recently 

 took a notion for a bath in an inviting stream, which 

 flowed through a field he was engaged in plowing, 

 and divesting himself of his clothes for the purpose, 

 hung his unmentionables upon the limb of a locust 

 tree, hard by. He had luxuriated for some half hour, 

 and swam back to his starting point, when he perceiv- 

 ed a bevy of young damsels approaching with their 

 flower baskets. He scampered up the bank and into 

 his breeches, but alas! unhappy man, not soon enough. 

 They were occupied. A small colony of bees were 

 in possession. He reports that he got home; but 

 how, he knows not. "Thinks he ran;" knows he hal- 

 loed, and is sure the girls laughed. His friends found 

 in his pantaloons a number of dead bees, some angry 

 ones, and the biggest half of a very sore youth. — 

 Worcester Transcript. 



A NEEDY man's budget is full of schemes. 



