62 On the Smut in Wheat. 



steeped in other modes, it has been lost by keeping ; whereas, when 

 prepared by the sulphate, it may remain unsown for any length of time 

 without injury * ; and, 4. The plant is thereby so strengthened, that 

 it is less liable to be lodged, or to suffer from other disorders ; and 

 though it does not prevent the rust or mildew, yet for the smut, when 

 properly applied, it is an infallible antidote. 



In order to do justice to the application, the grain should be per- 

 fectly dry, when the solution of copper is applied. The germination 

 of the smut plant will then be effectually prevented, without injuring 

 the vegetative powers of the wheat. 



It may be proper to add, that M. Prevost's discovery was, in a 

 great measure, accidental ; and that the utility of preparations from 

 copper has long been known in Flanders. The method has also been 

 successfully employed by Mr Joseph Butler of Killamarsh in Derby- 

 shire f . Mr Brownrigg in the county of Wicklow in Ireland, likewise 

 uses vitriol, and with success J. 



On this interesting subject, M. Desmazieres of Lisle, who has paid 

 peculiar attention to the diseases of wheat, states in a recent commu- 

 nication to the Author, that the microscopic fungus which produces 

 smut, (uredo caries), attacks only the grain, which is entirely filled 

 with it, and the powder, which was spread only in a very small de- 

 gree before, remains in the grain when gathered and thrashed. Some 

 means must be found, for destroying this contagious fungus, and this 

 has been effectually brought about, by the various operations common- 

 ly made use of. How comes it then, it may be asked, that a field, 

 where seed has been well prepared, should sometimes yield smutty 

 plants ? To this question it may be answered, that the seeds of rot- 

 tenness, like those of smut, may be more or less scattered over the 

 surface of the earth, at the very moment that the crop is cut down. 

 Hence it follows, if we wish to obtain a pure harvest, that the earth 

 itself ought to be purified, and that the ground to be sown or planted, 

 should be covered with lime, or watered with a solution of sulphate 

 of copper, before or after tillage. 



* It would be a good plan, for seedsmen to prepare the seed-wheat before they 

 send it to their customers. Sulphated seed has been kept uninjured, in small 

 quantities, from the 2d of November to the 24th of December. 



f See Derbyshire Report, vol. ii. p. 116. He mixed two pounds of blue vi- 

 triol, in as much chamber-ley, as would wet twelve bushels of wheat, and after 

 soaking, dried the wheat in quicklime. 



\ Report of the county of Wicklow, by the Rev. Thomas Radcliff, p. 256. 

 Mr Brownrigg dissolved only a quarter of a pound of Roman vitriol, in warm 

 water, and mixed it with one barrel of sea-water, strengthened with a stone of 

 salt. 



