60 .Yi On the Smut in Wheat, 



of the Board of Agriculture, in which the sulphate of copper was re- 

 commended as a remedy against the smut. That he had no faith in 

 steeps, from the previous want of success in the use of them, notwith- 

 standing the application of the usual remedies, having had consider- 

 able breadths of wheat, rendered absolutely unsaleable, for the four 

 preceding years, by the ravages of that destructive disease. Yet to 

 gratify the wishes of an esteemed friend, he was induced to make a 

 trial that year. That in the course of his experiments, he found his 

 crops were free from disease, exactly in proportion to the quantity of 

 sulphate used. That having ascertained there was no hazard in the 

 operation, he caused the whole of his seed wheat, used in autumn 



1818, and also some Talavera wheat that was sown in the spring of 



1819, to be prepared in the manner to be afterwards described. The 

 result was, that by the use of blue vitriol, he had a beautiful crop of 

 wheat, entirely free from smut, and every other disease. 



In the autumn of 1819, he sowed thirty-three acres of wheat, and 

 in the spring of 1820, nine acres of Talavera and Cape wheat, pre- 

 pared in the same manner. The result at harvest was again, crops of 

 grain entirely free from disease. 



In the seed time of 1819, Mr Hipkys induced a particular friend, 

 whose soil and situation were perfectly different, to make a trial of 

 the sulphate, which he did with the most satisfactory and decisive re- 

 sults. The particulars have been detailed by Mr Hipkys, in the Far- 

 mer's Journal, at that gentleman's particular desire. Letters sub- 

 scribed by him, have been transmitted to me ; and though he declines 

 having his name mentioned, there can be no doubt, that the facts he 

 states, may be confidently relied on, and that the success of this plan 

 of preventing smut, is placed beyond the possibility of doubt. 



The nature of smut is now well known. It is a small, and delicate 

 microscopic plant, which would soon be destroyed by the variations 

 of the atmosphere, if wheat did not offer an asylum, where it could 

 propagate itself. While it is only attached externally to the grain, 

 and before its seeds, or germs, have penetrated into the plant, its ger- 

 mination may be effectually prevented, by any operation that will 

 clear the grain of the smutty powder, or that destroys it by acrid, cor- 

 rosive, or poisonous applications. If nothing effectual is done for that 

 purpose, the smut penetrates into the plant of the wheat, while it is 

 still very young. There it produces globules, which increase with 

 the ear, and become perfect seeds when the wheat approaches to ma- 

 turity. If however, the seed is fortified by a solution of copper, that 

 substance not only destroys the germination of any smutty powder 

 attached to the grain, but likewise prevents its being attacked, through 

 the root, by any other parasitical plant that may be found in the soil, 

 and thus enables it to escape other accidents, or disorders to which 

 wheat is liable *. 



* Mr Hipkys states, that he had a superior crop of wheat, which had been 

 sulphated, and escaped being lodged, while the field of a neighbour, of equal 

 quality, was beaten down, and mildewed. This he attributes to the superior 

 strength of the straw. He is not of opinion, that the sulphate will prevent the 

 mildew ; all that can be expected from steeps is, that through their instrumen- 



