Copy of a Letter from Mr. Stephens, of Camerton, near Bath, to 
Mr. Davis, of Longleat, on the subject of Diseases of Wheat, 
dated August 22nd, 1800. With Remarks by the Rev. LEONARD 
BLOMEFIELD, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.8., &c., President. 
(Read March 12th, 1873.) 
“T have examined my Botanical Books for information con- 
“cerning the blighted wheat you put into my hands at Wells. 
“The specimen agrees so exactly with the Plate in Sowerby’s 
“Fungi, No. 140, that there cannot remain a doubt upon the 
“subject. In the Letterpress he states it to be ‘ Uredo Frumenti,’ 
“a new genus of Fungus detected by Persoon (whose work I 
“have not got) and of which there are several species. Mr. 
“Lambert (a very sagacious Botanist) has given to the world 
“a paper on this Fungus, in the Transactions of the Linnean 
“ Society, and which he names as before cited ‘Uredo Frumenti.’ 
“ He seems to indicate this disease in wheat as very prevalent 
“in the West of England, and particularly about Warminster, 
“and that it comes on particularly after rain, but that it has 
“not been known above 12 or 14 years,* with some other 
“ observations wishing the attention of persons more skilled in 
* Agriculture to this important point. 
“Yet the staff of life is attacked also in another formidable 
“‘ way by Insects breeding in the parts of flowering, and which 
“ destroy, or rather lessen the pollen so necessary to the fructifi- 
“ cation that the grain becomes more or less affected, and which 
“T take to be the cause of those shrivelled, diminutive grains 
* you showed me. Indeed the very intelligent letters of Mr. 
“‘Marsham and Mr. Kirby in the Linnean Transactions exhibit 
“to mankind a perfectly new account of this malady, and the 
“ proofs appear equally strong with the facts. 
* “Mr, S. is not quite correct in point of time. This disorder has been 
‘¢ noticed for a much longer period, under the name of Rust or Mildew, 
‘* but it has certainly increased very seriously of late years,” —7Z. D. 
