A CERTAIN METHOD TO PREVENT THE SMUT IN. WHEAT
Year: 1797

page_text: BAKER'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
BAKER, of the City of Bristol, Seedsman, send greeting.
•
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George, the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eleventh day of October, in the thirty-seventh year of His
reign, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Baker, His especial licence
that I, the said Charles Baker, during the term of years, therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A CERTAIN METHOD TO
PREVENT THE SMUT IN. WHEAT;" in which said Letters Patent there is con-
tained a proviso, obliging me, the said Charles Baker, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
month after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
+
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Baker, do, hereby declare that my. said Invention of a Certain Method
to Prevent the Smut in Wheat is described in manner following, (that is to
say):
Take a broad-bottomed tub, or a cooler, such as is commonly used in cooling
beer, or any other proper thing, of about twelve inches depth more or less, in
which put a sufficient quantity of wheat till the wheat is about four inches
deep more or less, but I conceive four inches to answer best the intended.
purpose; in which tub or cooler, &c., pour a sufficient quantity of water till
the surface of the water shall rise about one inch and a half above the wheat;
more or less; then add two pounds of common salt and one ounce of nitre to
every four bushels of good wheat, Winchester measure, or any less or greater

page_text: BAKER, of the City of Bristol, Seedsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent, Majesty King George. the Third did, by;
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eleventh day of October, in the thirty-seventh year of His.
reign, give and; grant' unto me, the said Charles Baker, His especial: licence
that I,: the said Charles Baker, during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might, use, exercise, and. vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A CERTAIN METHOD TO
PREVENT THE SMUT IN, WHEAT;" in which said Letters Patent there is con-
tained a proviso, obliging me, the said Charles Baker, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
month after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
relation being thereunto, had; may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE; that in compliance with the. said proviso, I, the said
Charles Baker, do hereby declare that my said Invention of a Certain Method
to Prevent the Smut in: Wheat, is described in manner, following. (that is to,
say)
Take a broad-bottomed tub, or a cooler, such as is commonly used in cooling.
beer, or any other proper thing, of about twelve inches depth more or less, in
which put a sufficient quantity: of wheat till the wheat is about four inches:
deep more or less, but I conceive four inches to answer best the intended
purpose; in which tub or cooler, &c., pour a sufficient quantity of water till
the surface of the water shall rise about one inch and a half above the wheat,
more or less; then add two pounds of common salt and one ounce of nitro to
every four bushels of good wheat, Winchester measure, or any less or greater,

page_text: -quantity, according-to-the-quality-of-the-wheat-intended to-be-prepared-for
sowing. Then stir the wheat well with a shovel or any other proper instru-
ment, and skim off the light wheat or other thing that may swim on the
surface of the water, till not the least appearance of corn or any other thing
is swimming upon it, with any instrument that may answer the purpose. Then
draw the mixture from the wheat, or take the wheat from the mixture, by any
proper method; and, if the wheat is wanted for sowing immediately, take a
sufficient quantity of slacked lime or dry wood ashes, either will do, and mix
with the wheat to make it sufficiently dry, and the wheat will be then in a fit
state for sowing immediately. In case slacked lime or wood ashes cannot
be procured, take a few stones of unslacked lime and immerge them in water
in the old accustomed way, and after they are properly dissolved and mixed
then pour, it upon wheat, and after mixing it well with the wheat, the wheat
will be fit for sowing the next day if required; but I prefer dry lime or wood
ashes where they can be procured. The mixture may be used again, by
adding the above proportions of ingredients, in order to make good the waste
or deficiency.
..
The above intended purpose may be answered by salt alone, or nitre alone;
where a difficulty to obtain either may be experienced; but in this case
I should recommend the wheat to be only immerged from one to three inches
deep.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Baker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven.
CHARLES BAKER. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of October, in
the thirty-seventh year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third,
the said Charles Baker came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained, and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the several Statutes made in
the sixth year of the reign of the late King and Queen William and Mary
D