Remark.—It has been doubted whether steeps are of any use, except so far as they facilitate the separation of the light grains, and wash off the seeds of the parasite plants, which are thought to occasion smut, &c. In the best-cultivated parts of Scotland, seed-wheat is steeped in stale urine, or in a brine made with common salt, which, by increasing the specific gravity of the water, floats the unsound grains. The seed is well washed, and then dried, by mixing it with fresh slaked lime, and rubbing it briskly with a wooden shovel. The quick-lime and rubbing is thought to assist in cleansing the seed; but, independent of that, the mere drying the seed quickly is convenient.
1015. To sow Wheat to advantage, without laying on Manure.—It has been found expedient sometimes to sow wheat without laying on any manure; and, in the beginning of February, to collect twenty bushels of lime, unslaked, for every acre, and forty bushels of sand, or the rubbish of a brick-kiln; then, about the end of the month, to slake the lime, which doubles the measure, and mix it well with the sand, and, immediately afterwards, to scatter it by way of top-dressing over the green wheat. As rain generally succeeds, it is soon washed down to the roots of the plants, and gives them a vigor and strength, which, to those who never made the experiment, is astonishing. The lime, sand, and rubbish, are particularly useful in breaking the tenacity of stiff clays. In a clay soil, where coal was very cheap, the clay was slightly burned in the field, and spread over the surface, as the cheapest way of subduing the coarseness and stiffness of the soil. The refuse or rubbish from mines in the neighborhood has been burned, and applied with advantage on the same principle.
1016. Approved method of sowing Wheat on narrow ridges.—The seedsman should walk up one side of the bed and down the other side, always keeping his face, and the hand with which he sows, towards the bed he is sowing; his eye must be continually on the edge of the opposite interfurrow, and deliver his seed principally on the side of the bed next to it: as he returns, the sides will of course be reversed, and the beds become evenly seeded.
1017. Great utility of sowing Buckwheat.—In light lands, buckwheat may be raised to great advantage, as a lucrative crop. When green, it is a fine feed for milch-kine; and when ploughed, is a fine preparation for the land. It fattens pigs with great economy, and, passed through the mill, is, with carrot, a capital feed for work-horses. The seed is excellent food for poultry, and, when ground, makes good bread.
1018. To keep Crows from Corn.—Take a quart of train oil, and as much turpentine and bruised gunpowder; boil them together, and, when hot, dip pieces of rags in the mixture, and fix them on sticks in the field. About four are sufficient for an acre of corn.