THE BARBEERY. 153 



writer that on one occasion, when going over his fields 

 with a friend, they were struck with the odd appearance 

 of a semicircular patch of wheat being all blighted with 

 "rust," while the rest of the field was wholly unaffected 

 by the disease. As it was at the edge of the field, the 

 friend remarked that it would be as well to examine the 

 hedge close by, when a barberry-bush, the only one in 

 the neighbourhood, was discovered growing exactly oppo- 

 site the centre of the diseased patch. ' It was grubbed 

 up, and in succeeding years no more "rust" appeared in 

 the field. Had science, instead of denying this singular 

 influence of one plant upon another (testified to, as it is, 

 by many witnesses), addressed itself more carefully to 

 seeking out the cause of it, we should probably not be 

 left now to guesses upon the subject ; but as, in the pre- 

 sent uncertainty, even a "guess at truth" may be of 

 some interest, the following considerations are adduced. 



The barberry is a sensitive plant, endowed apparently 

 with something analogous to the nervous system of ani- 

 mals ; for its blossoms offer a noted specimen of vegetable 

 irritability, easily excited by the insertion of a pin the 

 stamens, if lightly touched at their base, springing for- 

 ward and striking against the stigma, while the petals at 

 the same time close over them. If the anthers be ripe, 

 this movement causes them to discharge their pollen upon 

 the stigma, and then, if touched again, no result is eli- 

 cited ; but if the blossom be immature, the various parts 

 soon return to their former position, and another touch 

 excites a similar commotion again, so that the experiment 

 may be repeated several times upon the same flower. 

 Nor is this all ; for it has been further found that if 

 poison be applied to the plant, should it be of a corrosive 

 nature (such as arsenic), the filaments stiffen into a 

 rigidity no longer capable of responding to the touch 

 which was before so irritating ; whereas if, on the con- 

 trary, a narcotic such as opium be administered, they 

 equally lose the power of making an active spring, but 

 droop in flaccid weakness, easily bent in any direction. 

 As regards their ordinary condition, however, it would 

 appear that some external force must be necessary in 



