162 ON THE RUST OR 



wheat J but what afforded an attraction and 

 lodgement for the fungus ? This is the grand 

 question. 



It is stated, that the fungus is a parasitical 

 plant, like the misletoe, but this is not the fact ; 

 the fungus has no power to attach itself to, or 

 penetrate, the healthy stalks of the wheat, any 

 more than the larva of the flesh-fly have, the 

 healthy skin of the sheep. 



Any one who will examine the stalks of wheat 

 growing on a luxuriant, rank soil, at short inter- 

 vals, about the time of its first showing the swelling 

 of the ear; will perceive the vessels to become rup- 

 tured, either from the luxuriant flow of the sap 

 up the tender tops of the plants, being checked 

 by cold winds, or an unhealthy overfulness, or 

 some other casual obstruction ; and the sap being 

 thus suddenly checked, will rupture the vessels, 

 and ooze out through little slits, or longitudinal 

 fissures ; tlie discharged matter will soon assume 

 the appearance of a white jelly ; as it dries, it will 

 become yellow, and then brown, and of a hard 

 texture : and in proportion as the sap-vessels are 

 injured and destroyed, and this exudation takes 

 place, the plant must of course, more or less, fail 

 in its supply of nourishment to the grain. In 

 some cases, the strongest stalks will not be able 

 to push the ear beyond the leaf, and the corn 



