94 CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



of the seed of the smut. It is a general opinion, in this coun- 

 try, founded on experience, that the steeping and liming of 

 seed wheat, is a certain remedy against smut. 



The use of fresh burnt lime is almost indispensable; as lime, 

 exposed for any length of time to the action of the atmosphere, 

 will, in a great measure, lose its causticity. By absorbing car- 

 bonic acid it is restored to the state of limestone or chalk, and 

 its alkaline qualities are completely neutralized. 



One of the most eminent of American agriculturists,* whose 

 opinion on these matters is always received as good authority, 

 says, that he is surprised to learn that smut is still permitted 

 to adulterate and diminish our grain crops, when it is a fact 

 amply and satisfactorily established, that steeping the seed 

 grain twelve hours in brine, and rolling it in fresh slaked lime, 

 before sowing, will prevent the evil. 



The pepper-brand and dust-brand, the two species of smut, 

 are parasitic plants, the minute seeds of which attach to the grain, 

 and are propelled through the sap vessels of the plant to the 

 germs of the young grain. The salt and lime destroy the vi- 

 tality of these seeds. 



Of all the injuries to which wheat is liable, there are per- 

 haps none which are more to be dreaded than those arising 

 from insects and tvorms, which invariably commit great de- 

 vastation, and in some seasons spread their ravages to a very 

 alarming extent. 



Of these, the various tribes of predatory insects, those known 

 under the names of wheat-fly hessian-fly or weevil, or any 

 of their numerous varieties, are the most dangerous; and al- 

 though treated of by naturalists, they have furnished no means 

 of either a radical prevention or cure. The wheat-fly gene- 

 rally makes its appearance about the middle of June, and its 

 operations, it is asserted by some, cover a period of from thirty- 

 seven to thirty-nine days. 



A late American work on Agriculture,t says, that the 

 hessian-fly deposits its eggs in the winter wheat, in which state 

 it remains until the plant has acquired some growth; the grub 

 then feeds upon it, and the plant, having its nourishment in- 

 tercepted, sickens. 



"In the spring it assumes the perfect form, as soon as the 

 weather is moderately warm, and immediately proceeds to de- 

 posit its eggs in the wheat.J Wheat grown on highly culti- 

 vated land is not generally much injured by this fly. 



* JESSE BUEL, Esq., of Albany, New York, conductor of the Cultivator. 

 + The Practical Farmer, by an American, New York, 1839, 8vo. 

 + See a very interesting paper on the Wheat Fly by Observer, in Farmers' 

 Cabinet, vol. i. page 289, also pages 273 and 30(3. 



