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Letter to Editor
September 9, 1817
Portland Gazette, And Maine Advertiser
Portland, Cumberland County, Maine
What is this article about?
A Bridgeton farmer describes a 25-year method to prevent wheat smut by mixing seed with slaked lime and hot salt brine, reporting near elimination of the issue in treated fields versus heavy losses in untreated ones, and encourages widespread adoption among farmers.
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OCR Quality
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Full Text
Messrs. Shirleys,
Hearing much complaint among farmers this year, of smutty wheat, and seeing in your paper of the 23d of July last, a request for a description of the best method to prevent this evil; wishing likewise if possible to contribute something for the public good: I shall state to you the measures I have pursued for twenty-five years past, and the success attending those measures.
If the wheat be smutty it ought to be washed and dried; then to prepare one bushel, place it in a large tub, or in a pile on the floor; open it in the middle to near the bottom, and put therein three quarts of slacked lime; then take about as many quarts of pickle, as strong as can be made with boiling water and salt; pour the pickle when boiling hot moderately on the lime, constantly stirring the same until it becomes like white-wash; mix the wheat and lime together, like mortar until the lime is displayed over the whole; and if there appears to be more liquor than the lime and wheat will absorb, sift on dry lime until it takes up the whole:--let it lay 12 hours in this state and it will be fit to sow; if it should not be sown until it is completely dry, it will not prevent its vegetating.
Since I have thus prepared my wheat I have not in more than two or three years seen a smutty ear in my field, and then but very few; whereas before I adopted this mode I seldom failed of having my crop much injured by smut. My neighbours generally practice this method, and I believe it is considered as a powerful, if not a complete preventative of that evil.
Two men in this vicinity purchased their seed wheat last spring at 40 miles distance, out of one and the same cask: one of them prepared his wheat as above, the other sowed it in its natural state, the growth of each is sufficient for 25 bushels per acre; but in the wheat that was limed not one head of smut is to be found, whereas in the other about one fourth is smutty; and I have in this and years past found a number of instances nearly similar to the above.--From long experience I am convinced that were farmers generally to adopt the foregoing practice of preparing their wheat, it would be much to their advantage.
BRIDGETON, Sept. 3d 1817.
Hearing much complaint among farmers this year, of smutty wheat, and seeing in your paper of the 23d of July last, a request for a description of the best method to prevent this evil; wishing likewise if possible to contribute something for the public good: I shall state to you the measures I have pursued for twenty-five years past, and the success attending those measures.
If the wheat be smutty it ought to be washed and dried; then to prepare one bushel, place it in a large tub, or in a pile on the floor; open it in the middle to near the bottom, and put therein three quarts of slacked lime; then take about as many quarts of pickle, as strong as can be made with boiling water and salt; pour the pickle when boiling hot moderately on the lime, constantly stirring the same until it becomes like white-wash; mix the wheat and lime together, like mortar until the lime is displayed over the whole; and if there appears to be more liquor than the lime and wheat will absorb, sift on dry lime until it takes up the whole:--let it lay 12 hours in this state and it will be fit to sow; if it should not be sown until it is completely dry, it will not prevent its vegetating.
Since I have thus prepared my wheat I have not in more than two or three years seen a smutty ear in my field, and then but very few; whereas before I adopted this mode I seldom failed of having my crop much injured by smut. My neighbours generally practice this method, and I believe it is considered as a powerful, if not a complete preventative of that evil.
Two men in this vicinity purchased their seed wheat last spring at 40 miles distance, out of one and the same cask: one of them prepared his wheat as above, the other sowed it in its natural state, the growth of each is sufficient for 25 bushels per acre; but in the wheat that was limed not one head of smut is to be found, whereas in the other about one fourth is smutty; and I have in this and years past found a number of instances nearly similar to the above.--From long experience I am convinced that were farmers generally to adopt the foregoing practice of preparing their wheat, it would be much to their advantage.
BRIDGETON, Sept. 3d 1817.
What sub-type of article is it?
Informative
Persuasive
What themes does it cover?
Agriculture
What keywords are associated?
Smutty Wheat
Seed Wheat Preparation
Lime Treatment
Salt Pickle
Preventative Method
Bridgeton 1817
What entities or persons were involved?
Messrs. Shirleys
Letter to Editor Details
Recipient
Messrs. Shirleys
Main Argument
recommends treating seed wheat with slaked lime and hot salt brine to prevent smut, based on 25 years of successful experience where treated crops show almost no smut, unlike untreated ones that suffer significant damage, and urges farmers to adopt this method for better yields.
Notable Details
Wheat Should Be Washed And Dried If Smutty Before Treatment
Example Of Two Men Using Same Seed Wheat: Treated Yielded Clean Crop, Untreated Had One Fourth Smutty
Neighbors Generally Practice This Method And Consider It A Powerful Preventative