SMUT. 



for fmut. Likewife a very intcHiffent writer in the eleventh 

 volume ot the Agricultural Magazine fays, that he can truly 

 ftate, that in the courfe of long and cxtenfive prattice, he 

 has never difcovered the produce of any good and pro- 

 perly prepared feed-wlieat fmuttcd, while that of his un- 

 prepared efcaped. On the contrary, whenever he has 

 fown any in the latter itate, he has always obfcrved much 

 fmut ui the crops raifed from it ; and refers his readers 

 to the following account of an accurate comparative ilate- 

 ment. On the 15th of March laft he fowed two con- 

 tiguous ridges (in tlie middle of a very large field,) equal 

 in foil, condition, and expofure, with wheat of the fame va- 

 riety, raifed on the fame kind of foil, in precifely the fame 

 mode of management, and thoroughly mixed. The feed 

 contained a very fmall quantity of fmut, perhaps one black 

 ball to a quart ; but the other grains were not at all dif- 

 coloured. The ridges were fet out in an eaft and weft di- 

 reftion, each eighty yards long and nine broad. On the 

 weit half of the northern ridge he fowed the feed without any 

 preparation whatever ; and on the eall, after being well 

 walhed in clean river-water. On the weft half of the other 

 ridge the wheat was fown after having been wet with old 

 chamber-ley ; and on the eaft half, after being prepared 

 (provincially pickled) in the ufual manner, with old cham- 

 ber-ley and lime in tine powder. All the land was ploughed 

 and fown broad-caft on the fame day, without any variation 

 of weather, and equally well harrowed. We had a calm, 

 dry, and tolerably warm blooming feafon. Some time after 

 the ears were out he examined the crop very minutely. 

 That after the unprepared feed, the wafhed feed, and the 

 wheat wet with chamber-ley, contained a great, and that 

 from the feed which received the chamber-ley and lime, a 

 very fmall, quantity of fmut. The ftraw of this appeared as 

 good as that of the found wheat. Upon every piece of ground 

 he found ears partly fmutted and partly found. In part of 

 thefe ears he found fome rows of grain containing found 

 wheat near the middle of the row, and fciut bath above and 

 below it. With a view of finding the proportion (at harveft) 

 with fome degree of precifion, he took four Iheaves from the 

 middle of the crop raifed from the pickled feed, mixed them 

 thoroughly, reduced them to an equal fixe, viz. to the cir- 

 cumference of twenty-four inches, and then carefully picked 

 out and counted the n\imber of fmutted ears they con- 

 tained. He purfued precifely the fame mode with the crops 

 ipon the other pieces of ground, and the refults were as 

 ander : 



Smutted 

 Ears. 

 The four fhcaves after the pickled feed contained - 165 

 The four do. from the Iced which was wafhed in 



clean water - . - . - -1212 



The four do. from the feed wet with chamber-ley 723 



The four do. from the feed which received no wa(h-' 



ing or preparation - - . . . 1270 



It is fuppofcd that it is ftated in fome of our agricultural 

 publications, that one of the ftrong acids, much diluted with 

 water, has been fuccefsfully ufed in preparing feed-wheat, 

 with a view of preventing fmut ; a difeafe which has been 

 improperly confounded with blight or mildew. The latter 

 remedy he never tried ; he has, however, on feveral occa- 

 fions, ufed lea-water (fo (IrongJy impregnated with fait, that 

 an egg would fwim on it ) and lime, and alio thu draiiiings 

 of fold-yards and lime, and is of opinion that thefe inixtures 

 are not nearly fo efficacious as the latter article and ftrong 

 chamber-ley. The bcft mode of preparation is, he thinks, 

 to immcrle the wheat in the chamber-Icy, Itirring it well 



I 



(about five or ten minutes), and (kimming off the light grains, 

 &c. The chamber-ley fhould be let out by a tap, and the 

 wheat fpread on a floor, and fo well mixed with the lime that 

 every grain may receive a part of it. If this mode be care- 

 fully praCtifed with feed free from fmut, he can, from ex- 

 perience, afiure the hufbandman that he will never fuffer, in 

 ar:y confiderable degree, from that difeafe. As the lime and 

 chamber-ley will foon deftroy the vegetative principle of the 

 jjrain, if it be fuffered to remain in a heap, or in bags, it 

 fhould be committed to the ground within fix or eight hours 

 after it has been thus prepared. He has fometimes known it 

 confiderably injured after being kept twenty-four hours thinly 

 fpread out upon a well aired floor. And as, when the feed 

 is in a very moift ftate, it will not pafs regularly through the 

 drill-machine, it is neceflary on that account to have it drier 

 in the drill than the broad-caft hufbandry. 



When the wheat ufed in the above experiment was pre- 

 pared, a proper veffel was not at hand, and therefore the 

 chamber-ley was fprinkled upon it. This, however, is not 

 a good method, for we lofe the chamber-ley, and the ad- 

 vantage of flcimming off the light grains, black balls, &c. ; 

 and notwithftanding frequent turnings, it fometimes happens 

 that all the grains do not receive a fufficient quantity of the 

 liquid. A proper veflel ftiould therefore be conftantly had 

 recourfe to for this purpofe. 



But on the fuppofition of this difeafed ftate of grain being 

 produced by an infefl, the following method of kiln-drying 

 has been propofed in the third volume of the Farmer's Ma- 

 gazine. Let the wheat be laid upon the kiln about three or 

 four inches thick, the kiln being heated middhngly ftrong 

 with blind coal ; the wheat to continue on the kiln for 

 twenty-four hours, but turned frequently. After taking it 

 off the kiln, it mull be allowed twenty-four hours to cool, 

 during which time it mult be frequently turned, and then put 

 th)-ough the fanners once or twice. After the wheat has 

 Iain a few hours on the kiln, and the fire begins to have efledt, 

 a great number of very fmall worms, formerly undifcovered 

 by the eye, appear on the top of the grain, and are foon de- 

 ftroyed Isy the heat. Thefe come from blacked wheat or 

 other corns that could not be fulpeifted to be indifferent ; 

 or may lie in, or on good wheat, which worms continuing, 

 (when not thus killed,) might confume the corn after it is 

 thrown into the earth, thereby checking the growth entirely, 

 or preventing it from having the ftrength it otherwife would 

 have, to bring forth a ftrong produftive ftalk. It is added, 

 that the firft farmer in Clackmannanfliire who tried the 

 kiln-drying of wheat, inflead of pickling it, learnt it about 

 twenty-five years ago (and he has continued the praftice 

 ever fince) from an Irifliman, who had been appointed by 

 the Board of Truftees to ftamp the linens, &c. mamifatilured 

 in the village of Alva, who afl'erted that it was pradifed in his 

 part ot Ireland ; but at this diftance of time, the farmer has 

 forgot what part of Ireland the man laid he came from. 

 See Pickle and Steki'ING. 



Further, with the view of cleaning fmutty grain,' various 

 methods have been propofed ; as by agitating it with differ- 

 ent fiibllances, as land, and lime made from ftoue, or white 

 or grey chalk, which, wlu-n ufed, fhould be finely fifted, and 

 then well blended with tin- wheat in proportion to the ftate 

 of the fmut, as from one to two bufhels for a load of five 

 quarters, which fhould then be pafled through a machine 

 one or more times, according to the purpofe tor which the 

 wheat is intended. And for common purpofes, it is iuppofed 

 that tlie fmut in wiieat may be removed by a machine with 

 brunies, invented for the purpofe ; but that if it be for feed, 

 it Ihould be put in a trough, or wicker receiver, under the 

 fpout of a pump, or the fall of a ftream, and be brifkly 



ftirred 



