Seed treatment to prevent or control plant diseases has been practiced, in
some form, for over 300 years. One of the earliest recorded instances of
treating seed was steeping cereal seed in salt brine, during the seventeenth
century. Anecdotal lore is that farmers began this practice after planting
seed salvaged from sunken ships, and noticing its benefits. Since that time,
seed treatment has become a science, with many beneficial chemicals
developed for applying to seed, machines developed to apply specific
dosages uniformly to seed, and the list of known seed-borne or soil-borne
plant diseases which are controlled by seed treatment is growing.