34G ON THE PRODUCTION OF 
The result of numerous experiments lias convinced me 
that the grain may be taken off a month after it is 
laid. An English naturalist, who lives in the neigh- 
bourhood of Sydney, confirms my opinion in this 
respect, for he writes to me that, as the result of many 
experiments, he has acquired the conviction that the 
eggs may be taken off the cloths 20 days after they 
are laid, without fear of adverse consequences. It is a 
fact that the grain taken up before the autumn fogs 
and the winter frost will dry in a shorter space of time. 
For my own part, I take it up in the course of the 
month of October. When the time is come to remove 
the grain, the cloths are to be taken off the respective 
frames, and plunged in a vessel of water that has been 
boiled the previous evening, and remains at the 
temperature of the surrounding air. To this water 
spirits of wine must be added in the proportion of one 
litre (one pint and a-half) of spirit to ten litres of 
water (15 pints)— one to ten, in fact. This is 
necessary to clear the grain of all contamination. 
Each cloth, being well steeped in the water, is then 
to be stretched on a table, and two persons opposite to 
each other are to scrape off carefully with paper-knives 
the grain from the cloth. The grain thus detached is 
to be again plunged into a vessel of boiled water, 
mixed with spirit as before, at the temperature of the 
air. The good grain will fall to the bottom ; that 
which is barren, or has been injured in removal, will 
float on the surface, and is to be skimmed off. The 
whole is then to be poured into a sieve of fine wire 
gauze, to let the water run off 
The last operation consists in spreading out the 
grain in thin layers upon muslin stretched on frames 
