48 British UredinccE and Ustilaginece. 



especially in Norfolk, this belief also existed, for we find 

 Marshall,* writing in 1781, says, "It has long been con- 

 sidered as one of the first vulgar errors among husband- 

 men that the barberry plant has a pernicious quality (or 

 rather a mysterious power) of blighting wheat which grows 

 near it. 



" This idea, whether it be erroneous or founded on fact, 

 is nowhere more strongly rooted than among the Norfolk 

 farmers ; one of whom mentioning, with a serious counte- 

 nance, an instance of this malady, I very fashionably laughed 

 at him. He, however, stood firm, and persisted in his being 

 in the right, intimating that, so far from being led from the 

 cause to the effect, he was, in the reverse, led from the 

 effect to the cause ; for, observing a stripe of blasted wheat 

 across his close, he traced it back to the hedge, thinking 

 there to have found the enemy ; but being disappointed, 

 he crossed the lane into a garden on the opposite side of 

 it, where he found a large barberry bush in the direction 

 in which he had looked for it. The mischief, according to 

 his description, stretched away from this point across the 

 field of wheat, growing broader and fainter (like the tail of 

 a comet) the further it proceeded from its source. The 

 effect was carried to a greater distance than he had ever 

 observed it before, owing, as he believed, to an opening in 

 the orchard behind it to the south-west, forming, a gut or 

 channel for the wind. 



****** 



" Being desirous of ascertaining the fact, be it what it 

 may, I have inquired further among intelligent farmers 

 concerning the subject. They are, to a man, decided in 

 their opinion as to the fact, which appears to have been so 

 long established in the minds of the principal farmers that 



* Marshall, " Rural Economy of Norfolk," 2nd edit, vol ii. p. 19. Lon- 

 don : 1795. 



