No.l. 



No. 2. 



35'2 Expcrimenls on the Smid in JMicat. 



and at the time of cuttino- was not much more than one-half 

 the height of the other. The subjoined sketch will better ex- 

 plain the state of each than mere words can do. 



Nearly the whole of No. 2 was 

 pepperbrand: No. 1 was entirely 

 free from it. Each had been rub- 

 bed in a similar manner, only that 

 in the one case infection had been 

 stopped ; in the otlier it had been 

 suffered to take its course. The 

 extraordinary part of the business 

 is, first, that a hard substance like 

 pepperbrand should possess in- 

 fectious qualities at all, and next, 

 that that infection should extend 

 not to the ear merely, but to the whole j)lant. 



I wish some of your correspondents would but try the ex- 

 periment and communicate the result; but let it be done with 

 the strictest attention and care, or it will be worse than useless. 

 Of the necessity of regard to minutiae in such matters, surely 

 there can be no doubt. Every thing hinges on it. 



Mildew in wheat has been so ably and so fully described in 

 Sir Joseph Banks's very elaborate and scientific work* on that 

 subject, that any thing but a reference to the book itself must 

 be superlluous on the present occasion. Suffice it to sa}', it 

 has nothing to do with smut of any kind, nor, I believe, are 

 any kind of steeps available to prevent it. I assert this with 

 confidence; although in opposition to the recorded opinions 

 botli of Sir John Sinclair, and Dr. Cartwright ; the former of 

 whom some few years since strongly recommended steeping the 

 seed in a solution of sulphate of copper, but latterly seems to 

 have changed his mode of attack, by coalescing with the worthy 

 Doctor, and advancing to laj- salt on the tail of the enemy. It 

 ought to be observed, however, that Sir John applies himself 

 a priori to the soil, and recommends a dressing of from 30 to 

 40 bushels of salt per acre : whilst the Doctor sallies forth, 

 pot in hand, to besprinkle the plants with salt and water as 

 they grow. I believe pressure of the soil to be the best re- 

 medy ; for which reason I have always thought highly of the 

 dibble husbandry. To prove the utility of consolidating the 

 soil by well treading it, I once took the pains to tread very 

 carefully one half of an experimental patch of ground which 

 liad been sown with wheat in rows, and the soil of which was 

 rather loose : the treadine: was done not lenirthwise but across 



* Sep Pliil. Mag. vol. xxi. p. .325. 



tlie 



