13 
. “Tt seems to me, therefore, that the first is a disease of the 
plant originally, or superinduced by such weather as usually 
“ produces the Fungus tribe. But the affair of the insects is 
« clearly an Ordinance of Nature not to be resisted. 
« T should be happy if anything I have said should lead your 
« active mind to further discoveries on the subject. 
“ Yours, &., &c., 
« JAS. STEPHENS. 
“ 99nd Aug., 1800.” 
Mr. Davis's Remarks on Mr. Stephens’s Letter. 
“The shrivelled, diminutive grains of wheat shown to Mr. §8. 
« were occasioned by the blight, and not by insects. 
“ The effect of the blight, or rust, or mildew, as it is variously 
«alled in different countries, and which is clearly the ‘ Uredo 
« Frumenti’ Fungus, is to stop the circulation of the sap in the 
- « wheat straw, when the grain is in a milky state, in consequence 
«“ of which the grains cease to fill and become shrivelled, thin and 
“light. But it is clear that the impregnation is complete before 
« this effect operates, as the grain is equally good for seed as the 
“ most perfect wheat, although the quantity of flour therein is so 
“ much reduced that it is scarcely fit for anything but chickens’ 
“ meat. The only remedy, and that a partial one, is to cut the 
« wheat very green (as soon as the disease appears), and lay it on 
“the ground to receive moisture from the dews for eight or ten 
“days. The straw also is not only rendered black, but is so 
« brittle as to be of very little value. 
“ As to the Insects, Mr. 8. is not quite correct. The disease 
“ig certainly frequent, but not in any degree so injurious to 
“wheat as the Blight. They are generally found in ears of 
«wheat where some blossoms have been rendered abortive by 
« frost, The stamina of the flowers die in the husk, and the 
“anthers, together with the rudiment of the grain, becoming 
