14 
“putrid, a particular kind of fly blows its maggots in them. 
“These maggots sometimes, but not often, eat the adjoining 
“ grains, in the manner the weevil does in granaries—perhaps it 
“may be the same insect. But this injury is not very serious, as 
“the blossom being already abortive, there could be no grains in 
“ those husks, and it seldom happens that above three or four 
“ grains in an ear, and not one ear in a hundred, are thus injured. 
“The shrivelled grains are entirely the effect of the fungus, and 
“ not of the insects, as I have since explained to Mr. Stephens. 
“This fungus certainly appears after slight misty rains, which 
“‘ T suppose enables the seed (probably flying about in the air) to 
“fix on the straw, for it always appears in currents through a 
“ field, as if brought by the air. The best cause assigned for it 
“is sowing too late, or on exhausted land, where wheat cannot 
“find good foothold, the sine qua non of a wheat crop. Such 
“crops are always the most affected by it, although the best 
“ husbandry cannot always prevent it. 
“Tt is a most serious evil, and seems to get more and more so 
“every year. In this year (1800) many crops of wheat: have 
“been reduced from a fair prospect of 40 bushels per acre, to 15 
“and some to 12, and at the same time the grain reduced at least 
“ one-third in its value. 
“THOS. DAVIS.” 
“ Tt is a very singular but well ascertained fact, that a Barberry 
“ Bush in a wheat field will produce an effect very similar to the 
“ Blight, without any appearance of Fungus on the straw.” 
Remarks on Messrs. Stephens and Davis's Letters. By the REv. 
L, BLOMEFIELD. 
These letters came into my hands, along with other papers, 
books, &c., from the Rev. L. Chappelow, my great-uncle, in the 
year 1820, in which he died: He was a good naturalist and 
botanist, and his books formed the nucleus of the “Jenyns 
