86 CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



It has been satisfactorily ascertained by repeated experi- 

 ments of distinguished agriculturists, that steeping seed wheat 

 about twelve hours in weak ley, lime, or common lime water, 

 will prevent smut, and destroy the larvae of insects, and the 

 germ of smut and other diseases to which it is subject. If im- 

 mediately rolled in plaster, or a mixture of lime and plaster, 

 the crop will be sufficiently increased to pay three times the 

 expense.* 



This process should never be omitted, because, besides de- 

 tecting the shrunk and shrivelled grains, and many seeds of 

 other plants, which will float on the surface of the water, it 

 entirely removes the dust of smut and rust, and thus prevents 

 their propagation. This practice is fully sustained by the ex- 

 perience of eminent English farmers, as detailed in the "Far- 

 mers' Series of the Library of Useful Knowledge." 



A practice of steeping, very general in England, and to some 

 extent practiced in the United States, is thus described by Pro- 

 fessor Low. Let a tub be provided, and partly filled with 

 urine, and let a quantity of wheat, as a bushel, be put in at a 

 time. Let the wheat be well stirred, and all the lighter grains 

 which come to the top, be skimmed carefully off, and thrown 

 aside as useless. The wheat should remain from five to ten 

 minutes, but never more than ten minutes, in the pickle. 



The successive portions of wheat thus pickled, are to be 

 allowed to drain a little, and then to be laid upon the barn- 

 floor in layers, hot lime being at the same time sifted upon 

 each layer. The purpose of spreading the lime is to dry the 

 grain, which should then be carried immediately to the fields 

 and sown. 



The Professor does not mention the quantity of lime. Half 

 a peck must be amply sufficient for a bushel of wheat, and it 

 should be carefully stirred, that every grain may receive a por- 

 tion. Quick-lime fresh from the kiln, which has been recently 

 slaked with some of the liquor used for the steep, is to be pre- 

 ferred. Great caution is requisite in the use of lime for if 

 not properly slaked, so great a degree of heat might be raised 

 as to destroy its vegetative power. 



A very strong pickle of salt dissolved in water may be used 

 instead of urine; but salt-brine is not quite so secure a means 

 of destroying the infection of the disease as urine. That of 

 urine ought to be preferred as being the most efficient; but it 

 should be neither too fresh nor too stale; for it is ineffectual 

 in one case, and injurious in the other. Its strength also differs 

 according to the nature of the food from which it is extracted; 



* A Practical Farmer, in Genesee Farmer, vol. v. p. 261. 



