Annual Report for 1888 of the Consulting E/ilomologlst. 33? 
large amount of weed seed and dirt — more or less useless and 
deleterious in many ways — bi'ought over, and that it is much 
wished by such mill firms as I have been favoured with com- 
munication from, that the cargoes should be sent over clean, so 
as not to require use of the expensive machinery now requisite 
to clear the trash. 
From a milling firm, information is given that : — 
The practice of sending' foreign wheat mixed with rubbish has certainly 
increased of late years, and we find it particularly so in that coming from 
Australia, East India, and Russia. 
It would be a great advantage to millers to have the wheat shipped clean 
or free from admi.\.ture of foreign substances other than wheat. 
The quantity removed varies considerably according to the country from 
whence the particular shipment is received. 
It is a well-known practice on the part of foreign shippers to add a mi.x- 
ture of rye with Russi.an wheat, and with Indian wheat seeds and dirt. 
We thould be very desirous to procure our wheat clean, as it would save 
us from loss aud expense in cleaning. We have in the process to use e.\:- 
pensive and powerful machinery. 
Relatively to the adultaration above mentioned, I showed 
the sample of wheat in my possession, with rye in it, to a corre- 
spondent, at one time resident at Samara, in Russia, as one of 
an agricultural firm there, who informed me that at the time 
when he was resident there, 
If the supply was short, it was a common practice adopted by the mer- 
chants' agents to mix rubbish with good clean samples in order to increase 
the bulk. We have ourselves sold to these men the siftings for the purpose 
of mixing. 
In a work on the agriculture of Russia, by my informant 
above quoted, he referred me to a passage relative to the adulte- 
rated state in which wheat and other seed were exported, and 
gave a detailed instance where weed seeds extracted in cleaning 
were sold at 75 kopecks the pood — that is, about ^d. the lb. — 
the merchants having applied for them to mix with the better- 
dressed linseed and wheat. 
The chief of a very leading firm of corn brokers says, 
relatively to the foul state of imported wheat and other grain : — 
I think there is no doubt but that merchants and millers would very 
much prefer that such cargoes should arrive perfectly clean aud free from 
dirt, straw, and seeds; aud wheat that does so arrive always commands a 
better price in the market. 
He adds a description of the primitive methods of harvest- 
ing in various countries (and foreign addition thus being mixed), 
with observations as to their relative amount of objectionable- 
ness, and (relatively to some observations of my own regarding 
the great nails which I found in corn) he explains that on. 
VOL. XXV.— S. S. Z 
