Page:Husbandman and Housewife 1820.djvu/160

, nor to convey the seed, in a sack in which smutty wheat had been formerly put.

On the subject of steeping it may be proper to add that it would be well to extend that operation to other grains besides wheat. Every sort of seed should be steeped enough to promote a quick vegetation, and to secure a more uniform growth, which would greatly improve both the quantity and quality of the grain; and if the seed of barley and oats, as well as of wheat were clothed with saline and caustic particles, it would either preserve it entirely from the attacks of vermin, or destroy such as may venture to eat of it.

We have been informed that unslacked lime answers an excellent purpose for preparing wheat for seed. A gentleman states that he put about 4 or 5 pounds of quick lime into a sufficient quantity of water to soak a bushel of wheat, then added the wheat, and permitted it to remain about twelve hours. The lime by slacking raised the temperature of the water to about blood heat, and the wheat became soft and parboiled. On sowing it, however, it sprouted much sooner than usual, flourished remarkably, and produced an excellent crop, entirely free from any appearance of smut.

The following has been recommended by a farmer in Vermont.

"My method is this—I take three quarts of slacked lime to each bushel of wheat, put them into a barrel, a layer of lime, alternately. Then pour in water till it is all covered. In this condition let it stand from two to four days, as the case may require; and the morning before sowing the wheat tap the barrel and draw off the liquor.

In preparing wheat for grinding it is often made too dry, especially after it has been washed to free it from