ON THE BLIGHT IN WHEAT. 33J 



appeared full and heavy and nearly fit for the sickle, can 

 scarcely be believed by those who have not observed it, and 

 is astonishing even to those who have watched its progress. 

 It seems to produce something more than a mere cessation 

 of growth. Its action is like that of poison. It p.bsorbs 

 the farina or flour of the fairest and plumpest grain, and 

 reduces it to a mere shell of bran. 



But although the nature of this disease is now so well Remedy 4if- 

 known, the remedy is not so easily found. With all due 

 deference to the great abilities of Sir Joseph Banks, I am 

 not so sanguine as to expect, that it can be eradicated by 

 pulling up the diseased plants: or even, if it were practi- 

 cable, by burning all the straw of every blighted crop. 



The seeds of this destructive plant arc too minute and 

 abundant, and capable of being wafted to too great a dis- 

 tance, to be totally destroyed. A single acre of blighted 

 wheat will produce seed enough to supply a whole district ; 

 and indeed it is too well known to botanists, that the plant The plant not 

 grows and flourishes on many other plants beside wheat, confined to 

 And were there but a single piece of wheat in a country 

 where none had grown before, the enemy would be ready 



for the attack, whenever there was a predisposing cause in Predisposing 

 ,, , . . cause to be 



the wheat crop to receive it. guarded against. 



It is probably not within the power of man to prevent, 

 totally, the ravages of this destructive, though minute 

 enemy to agriculture, but it may yet be in his power to 

 reduce them in a considerable degree, by ascertaining and 

 obviating the causes zchich peculiarly dispose and prepare 

 the wheat plant for its attacks. These may be summed up This debility. 

 in one word, viz. weakness, or debility. 



The class of plants called by botanists mosses and lichens Mosses and Ji- 

 are the insects of the vegetable kingdom, created to prey on w^us^Tin- 

 tceak plants, as the insects of the animal kingdom, are to sects. 

 prey on zceak animals. In both instances, the juices by 

 being weakened and deprived of their acridity become their 

 proper food. The remedy must be to restore to the object 

 its natural health and vigour. 



To apply this argument to wheat, and to show the cause s 

 which render it unproductive, it will be accessary to con- 



Z % lider 



