On Smut in Wheat. 77 



same plant ; he observes that wheat seized with mildew, 

 is only fit food for swine or poultry ; and that on ex- 

 amining a mildewed ear with a lens, the appeai'ances did 

 not so fully convince him of its being a fungus, as the 

 other species did ; however he seems inclined to believe 

 it is one, because Abbe Tessier, who had expressly 

 written on the subject, asserts, that the mildew is a very 

 minute lycoperdori, or puff ball, and Sir J. Banks who 

 has lately seen clusters of a mushroom plant on mil- 

 dewed gTain, seems to confirm the opinion. 



Upon the whole then, it would appear that the blight, 

 or mildew is the most destructive species of recticula- 

 ria frwnenti; and Mr. Kirby ver}^ j^istly laments, that 

 some method has not yet been found out, to prevent this 

 blight, as effectuall}' as that, which has long been in use 

 amongst farmers, to secure their crops from the smut, 

 — meaning slacked lime. 



There is yet another species of blight, entirely dis- 

 tinct from any of the preceding maladies, mentioned by 

 Mr. Kirby, namely that which proceeds from the nu- 

 merous race of Aphides^ which cause great ravages 

 among fruit trees, and ai'e now known to produce the 

 honey dew, often visible on the leaves of trees, in a wai'm 

 season ; but this is too remote from our present subject, 

 and would merit a separate discussion. 



Mr. Kirby proceeds to enumerate sundry steeps for 

 seed grain, as alkaline lixivia, common salt, vegetable 

 and mineral acids &c. and concludes that slacked lime 

 is the most efficacious, but acknowledges that lime is 

 dangerous, especially when slacked in the air, and that 

 a farmer by using it, sustained a loss of 300 pounds ster- 

 ling. — Here it mav be doubted whether the remedv ^^as 



