WHEAT. 169 



some torage crop, or such a crop as beans and peas. It requires a 

 stiff rich soil, containing a certain proportion of calcareous earth, 

 and abounding in organic matter ; it does not thrive well in soils 

 where the sandy element predominates over the clayey. For seed 

 the best grain is selected ; but this and all other precautions do not 

 »:uffice to preserve the plant from many diseases, such as smut, rust, 

 mildew. Farmers are wont, before putting their seed wheat into 

 the ground, to prepare it in various ways with a view to destroying 

 the germs of certain parasites which are believed to adhere to it ex- 

 ternally. The process is generally called pickling, or liming, be- 

 cause milk of lime, in which the seeds are put to steep for twelve 

 or fifteen hours, is often employed in its course. Means that are 

 said to be more efficacious have also been recommended : some 

 make use of alum, others of sulphate of iron, sulphate of zinc, sul- 

 phate of copper, sulphate of soda, and even white oxide of arsenic. 

 All these means appear to conduce to the same result. We employ 

 sulphate of copper, which indeed is the custom in a considerable part 

 of Alsace, and I can assure the reader that our fields of wheat are 

 never infected. 100 grammes, or about 3| ounces troy, are allowed 

 to a hectolitre or sack of nearly 3 bushels of wheat ; the salt is dis- 

 solved in as much water as is held requisite for the submersion of 

 the grain, which is steeped in the solution during about three quar- 

 ters of an hour, after which it is thrown into baskets to drain, and 

 being then spread out on the floor it is dried before he'ng sown. 



The season at which wheat is sown in autumn ought to vary with 

 the climate, and nothing can be more displaced than those precise 

 dates which are set down by the majority of writers. The great 

 point to be held in view is, that the young plant may have got a 

 certain length before the frost sets in, that the roots may have pene- 

 trated to a depth which shall protect them from the severe cold of 

 the winter. In each district, experience has already proclaimed the 

 proper time for sowing, and this can rarely or never be departed 

 from without detriment. In the east of France, in Alsace, the sow- 

 ing of winter wheat generally takes place in the first week in Octo- 

 ber ; in the southern hemisphere, in certain parts of Chili, for ex- 

 ample, the wheat is sown in April, and is exposed to the cold weather 

 of June, July, and August. The quantity of seed sown may vary 

 from about 7 pecks to 18 pecks and more per acre. Farmers gen- 

 erally agree, however, that we have seed enough when we employ 

 about 2 bushels to the acre ; this is the quantity which is used at 

 Bechelbronn ; but in the same district, and even on contiguous fields, 

 rve frequently see proportions of seed employed which vary in the 

 .•atio of from one half to twice the quantity specified, without, so far 

 *s I know, any sufficient reason being given for this parsimony or 

 jjrodigality. It is, however, a question of the very highest import- 

 mce to ascertain the proper quantity of seed. The question may 

 be considered in two ways : 1st. with reference to the produce of a 

 given extent of surface, and 2d. with reference to the produce from 

 ihe grain sown. It is quite certain that ir. sowing thick, a larger 

 produce per acre will be obtained than by sowing very thin ; but on 



15 



