ON THE ARABLE LAND

4SS

mode of pickling is practised by that respectable agricultu-rist George llcnnie, Esq. of Phantassie: The wheat is putinto puncheons which are open at one end, and placed upona frame thirty inches high, so as to admit a tub to stand be-low and receive the pickle when run off by a plug hole inthe bottom of the puncheon, into which, when the plug isdrawn out, a few small twigs of broom may be introducedfor preventing any of the wheat from running off’ with thepickle. The pickle used is water impregnated with refusesalt to such a pitch, as to support an egg upon its surface,and a sufficient quantity thereof being put into the pun-cheons, the wheat is mixed with it to the extent of 8 or 10bushels to each puncheon, filling always the one, while theother is draining off. In this way ten bolls, or forty bushels,may be drained off and pickled in two hours.

The evolution of ammonia in a state of gas, from wheatpickled in stale urine, ns an obvious and certain consequenceof the application of powdered quicklime, has been alreadymentioned. It is well known that the urine of horses a-bouhds in ammoniacal salts, and that the evolution of am-monia, or' volatile alkali, in a state of gas, is produced fromit in great quantity by the mixture of quicklime. In caseswhere stale human urine in sufficient quantity cannot be rea-dily procured for pickling wheat, it is at least worth while totry the efficacy of the urine of horses, which may be had inany desired quantity on every farm. Dunghill liquor mightbe used with the same view, though probably with less suc-cess.

Several farmers, according to the mode adopted by MrRennie, though perhaps not with the same accuracy, use astrong brine of sea salt, sufficiently saturated to float an egg, inwhich they steep the grain intended for seed, and proceed inthe other steps of the process with powdered quicklime, asalready mentioned. But this mode of pickling is often notfollowed by the desired effect, owing, in the opinion of some