Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/84

66] COR fit for immediate use. But, if Sea- water can be procured, half the quantity of salt will be sufficient. A basket of about 2 feet in diame- ter at the bottom, and 20 inches deep, should then be placed in the pickle, and the corn gradually im- mersed, in small quantities from one to two bushels ; care being taken to skim off the light grains, which ought not to be sown, be- cause many of them are infected with the smut. As soon as this operation is completed, the basket should be drawn up, and drained for a few minutes over the liquor, wh n it may be repeated, as often as the quantity of grain to be sown may require. This seed will be lit for the ground in 24 hours ; but, where it is to be drilled, it should stand for 48 : and, if the driller meet withany difficulty in perform- ing his work, it will be neces- sary to make the pickle more astringent, by adding lime. Seed, thus prepared, maybe kept for 5, 6, 7, 8, or even 10 days above ground, without any injury or in- convenience. Another mode of preventing the smut in corn, was discovered by Mr. 11. Tkeffrey, of Beer, in Flintshire: who, in a communi- cation to Mr. Young, in the 21st vol. of " Annals of Agriculture," states, that having rubbed out a quantity of corn, he sowed part of if, unwashed. The remainder, about two bushels, was well win- nowed, taken to a brook, arid washed in the following manner : A gallon was put into a wire sieve, that had 8 bars to an inch ; it was first gently immersed a few times in the water, by which means every smut-ball, or animal, was easily discovered, and taken away ; next, the *c e was briskly agitated, lor con about a minute, when the who!-, after being washed, and thrown into a tub with some water, was stirred round with a broom. It was then again put into the sieve, in the same proportion as before, and immersed in the brook, that the remaining particles might sink through the bottom of the sieve, and be carried away by the stream. This wheat was sown in the same field with the former, -where no kind of manure could have the least tendency to produce smut-balls among either. The result at har- vest proved, that the unwashed corn produced as many smut-balls as grains of wheat, while that which had been immersed in tlte brook, was almost entirely exempt from the disorder. We venture to recommend the last-mentioned expedient; for the superiority of gradual washing over that of throwing the whole into a vessel and stirring it, is manifest. By this method, the infection-; matter is not only loosened from the grains, but is carried awaywith the stream, while that, which is only washed in a tub, fee* cannot be totally cleared; for the m ponderous particles ■■sink to the bot- tom, and remain among the seed- corn after the water is poured off. Corn is also liable to be grunvi, or sprouted, when it has partly be- gun to vegetate ; for, if the whole of the grain were to bud, it would become unfit for being converted into bread. Hence it is very diffi- cult to preserve sprouted corn, as the opening of (lie bud occasions it to heat, and the moisture it retains, disposes it still more to undergo the process bf fermentation. It is also more subject to be attacked by in- sects, on account of its being sweeter, more Under, and suscep- tible