On Smut in TVheat. 55 



gree within a few years in Britain, and has been fre- 

 quently investigated by the philosophical and practical 

 agriculturists of that country, and to their remarks I 

 shall be indebted for what I now have to oifer on the 

 subject. 



Mr. Wimpe)',* is of opinion that smut is almost in- 

 tirely occasioned by some vitiating principle in the air, 

 a constant concomitant of wet, stormy weather. His 

 experiments agree with those of Mr. Young in shew- 

 ing, that grain which is vitiated by smut, infallibly 

 causes the produce from it to be smutty : he also proves 

 that the cleanest grains frequently produce smutty 

 crops, notwithstanding change of seed, steeping, and 

 liming, and adds a fact not noticed by Mr. Young, viz. 

 that sound seed taken from smutty ears, produce as clean 

 crops as seed from grains that were perfectly free from 

 smut. 



iVIr. Somervillef thinks that smut is occasioned by a 

 very small insect not visible by the naked eye, in the 

 downy part of the grain. He ascertained the truth of 

 this opinion, by observing some smutty balls perforated 

 in many places with small round holes, and by holding 

 them near a candle, he discovered the insects, resem- 

 bling wood lice in shape. The heat from the concen- 

 trated rays of tlie sim thrown upon the balls with a burn- 

 ing glass, also put them in motion, and shewed them in 

 every different point of view. He supposes that when 

 the balls are broken in the operation of threshing, or 

 come in contact with clean healthy grains, the insects 



* Transactions of Bath Society of Agriculture. 



f Communications to Board of Agriculture. Vol. 2. 



