OF SCOTLAND.

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good judges, to the brine not being of a sufficient strength.For the information of those who may be unacquainted withthis process, it may be proper to mention, that the powderedquicklime is procured by slacking a sufficient quantity ofrecently burnt or calcined lime-stone, with just enough ofwater to make it fall down into a dry powder.

Kiln-drying has been mentioned as an effectual preventiveof smut, instead of pickling. When this is done, it mustnecessarily require very great care not to give the seed wheattoo great a degree of heat, lest its vegetative powers be in-jured, or entirely destroyed ; therefore, the degree of heatnecessary for drying pale malt is all that ought to be ventu-red upon. This process, on the whole, requires so much at-tention and skill, that it is not likely to become general; noris that to be lamented, as the old plan of preventing smut bypickling, when properly executed, is found to be effectual.Several fanners have been miserably disappointed by thescanty growth of seed wheat procured from London , andhave attributed the want of growth to the wheat having beenkiln-dried.

§ 6. The depth —at which seed wheat is deposited in theground, must depend on its being sown either broadcast or indrills. When sown in the former mode, its depth in the soilis quite uncertain and unequal, as it depends on the tender-ness of the soil, and the length of the harrow teeth that areused. When drilled, the coulters of the drill machine maybe in some measure regulated to any desired depth; yet, astheir penetration depends on their own weight, it must varyin proportion to the tenderness or stubbornness of the soil;and they are moveable upwards when they meet with resis-tance from stones, hard clods, or other obstructions. Be-sides, as the land is always harrowed after the use of thedrill machine, the depth at which it deposited the seed, mayin some degree be altered by that operation. The depth offbe seed in the soil, therefore, may vary from a quarter of an