184 



HOW TO GROW GOOD CORN. 



tice of washing or steeping seed wheat in certain 

 solutions almost universally prevails."* 



Our own experiments, however, recorded in the 

 "Journal of the Uoyal Agricultural Society" for 

 1856, led us to conclude that the success derived 

 from pickling wheat in different caustic and corrosive 

 solutions arose from the fact of diseased grain being 

 destroyed in the process ; and we extract the follow- 

 ing record of experiments made in 1853, as explaining 

 this view of the matter. 



Four plots of wheat, all from the same sample, 

 were sown in the following order : — 



1, 



2. 



Much diseased 



wheat, 

 without pickle. 



Much diseased ; 



treated with 

 mlphate of copper. 



Perfect picked 



without pickle. 



Perfect picked 



seed, with 



sulphate of copper. 



The results of these were as under : — ■ 



Plot 1. Most of the seed germinated, but the crop 

 was much blighted, both in straw and grain ; in fact, 

 scarcely a perfect ear of the latter. 



Plot 2. A small quantity of the seed germinated ; 

 the few resulting ears were free from blight. 



Plot 3. Germinated, 



with a good and clean result- 



ing crop. 



Plot 4. The same result as Plot 3. 



These experiments seemed to show that the pick- 

 ling of wheat destroys the seed, so as to prevent 



* See an essay on Diseases of Wheat, m the Journal of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society for 1841, by the Eev. Professor Henslow. 



