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experimentalist : the former will suggest whatever occurs 

 to himself, and he will make a list of the nostrums already 

 recommended in our agricultural papers, even by tlie 

 Grub-street gentry, who are very ready to obtrude them, 

 as if they themselves, in their agricultural prac- 

 tice, had tried them with success: any number of these 

 experiments may be made on one ridge in a wheat field, 

 without in the least disturbing the farmer in his process. 



Steeping the seed in various strong mixtures has been 

 often recommended, and is said to have succeeded. No 

 doubt this is commencing very early ; and the expectations 

 are sanguine, that look, from medicating the seed, to affect 

 the new germ nine months afterwards : still, however, the 

 trial is easy, and the experimentalist is not allowed to pre- 

 judge questions; but he should be most careful to mark 

 the plots where his steeped seed is sown, to distinguish 

 them from those where his plain wheat is sown. 



Until some nostrum shall be discovered injurious to the 

 enemy, let us try if by any variation in our present prac- 

 tice, we can strike out some process injurious to the in- 

 vader, but inoffensive to our grain, and not affecting its 

 produce. 



We have many varieties of wheat, bearded, smooth, &c. : 

 the experimentalist is to discover which of these is least 

 liable to be affected by blight or smut ; and having ascer- 

 tained the proportions of their produce, he is then to 

 decide, whether security from these disorders will be suf- 

 ficient to compensate for some diminution of produce, 

 admitting such to be the case with the new-chosen grain. 



Wheats have different periods of attaining their matu- 

 rity : what the French call March wheat, is of quick growth, 

 and is sown with us in February, on account of our more 

 languid climate; or if our own earliest wheats were sown at 

 later periods than usual, it is possible they may not afford 



