120 
intelligent farmers concerning the subject. They are, to a man, decided in their opinion as to 
the fact, which appears to have been long established in the minds of the principal farmers, that 
it is now difficult to ascertain it from observation, barberry plants having (of late years more par- 
ticularly) been extirpated from farm hedges with the utmost care and assiduity ; one instance, 
however, of mischief this year I had related to me; and another I was myself eye-witness to. 
Mr, William Barnard, of Bradfield, says that this year, seeing a patch of his wheat very blighted, 
he looked round for a barberry bush, but seeing none conspicuous in the hedge, which was thick, 
he, with some difficulty, got into it, and there found the enemy. He is clearly decided as to the 
fact. Mr. William Gibbs, of Rowton, telling me that a patch of his wheat was blighted in the 
same manner, and that he believed it to proceed from some sprigs of barberry which remained in 
the neighbouring hedge (which a few years ago was weeded from it), I went to inspect the place, 
and true it is that near it we found three small plants of barberry, one of which was particularly 
full of berries. The straw of the wheat is black, and the grain, if it may be so called, a mere 
husk of bran, while the rest of the piece 1s of a much superior quality. 
“These circumstances are undoubtedly strong evidence, but do not by any means amount 
to proof.” 3 
On October 16, 1782, Marshall * writes :-— 
“To endeavour to ascertain the truth of this opinion I hada small bush of the Barberry 
plant set in February or March last, in the middle of a large piece of wheat. 
**1 neglected to make any observations upon it until a little before harvest, when a neigh- 
bour, (Mr. John Baker, of Southrepps,) came to tell me of the effect it had produced. 
“The wheat was then changing, and the rest of the piece (about 20 acres) had acquired a 
considerable degree of whiteness (white wheat) : while about the barberry bush there appeared a 
long but somewhat oval-shaped stripe of a dark livid colour, obvious to a person riding on the 
road at a considerable distance. 
“The part affected resembled the tail of a comet, the bush itself representing the nucleus, 
on one side of which the sensible effect reached about 12 yards, the tail pointing towards the south- 
west, so that probably the effect took place during a north-east wind. 
‘At harvest, the ears near the bush stood erect, handling so‘tand chaffy ; the grains slender, 
shrivelled, and light. As the distance from the bush increased the effect was less discernible, until 
it vanished imperceptibly. 
“The rest of the piece was tolerable crop, and the straw clean, except on a part which was 
lodged, where the straw nearly resembled that round the barberry, but the grain on that part, 
though lodged, was much heavier than it was on this, where the crop stood erect. 
“The grain of the crop, in general, was thin-bodied; nevertheless, ten grains, chosen im- 
partially out of the ordinary corn of the piece, took twenty-four of the barberried grains, chosen 
equally impartially, to balance them.” 
In 1784, Marshall repeated his experiment at Statfold, in Staffordshire, with 
the same result. He sayst—‘‘ Upon the whole, although I have not from this 
year’s experience been able to form any probable conjecture as to the cause of the 
injury, it nevertheless serves to fix me still more firmly in my opinion that the 
barberry is injurious to wheat.” 
Withering, writing in 1787 of Berberis vulgaris, says{—‘‘ This shrub should 
never be permitted to grow in corn lands, for the ears of wheat near it never fill, 
and its influence in this respect has been known to extend as far as 300 or 400 
yards across a field.” 
In 1804 this country suffered severely from an outbreak of wheat mildew, in 
consequence of which Mr. Arthur Young, the Secretary to the Board of Agricul- 
ture, issued a circular of questions, so as to obtain a consensus of opinion, from 
farmers, landowuers, and others, interested in the subject, as to various points 
connected with causation of mildew. The ninth question ran thus,—‘‘ Have you 
made any observation on the barberry as locally affecting wheat?” The replies 
* Marshall, Zoc. czz., p. 359. 
+ Marshall, Ral Economy of the Midland Counties, 1790, Vol. il., p. 11+ 
t Withering, Botanical Arrangement, 1787, edit. ii., p. 366. 
