160 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch.X. 



most scientific inquirers ; among the most recent of these, Sir Humphry 

 Davy says, that it is occasioned by tlie animalcula of insects depositing 

 their eggs, and recommends lime to be laid upon the land as an effectual 

 preventive. Mr. Bauer, of Kew, seems to have succeeded in proving both 

 the existence of the fungous excrescence, and that of grain worms * ; and 

 the Rev. Mr. Hoblyn declares, ' that the disorder is not so likely to be 

 occasioned by worms, by animalcula, or by fungus, as by tlie contami- 

 nating principle of the putrid oily gluten affecting the chemical compo- 

 sition of the grain t-' The experiments in support of these opinions go 

 far to favour the presumption that they are all right : the existence of tiie 

 fungus seems to be established ; and that regarding animalcula shows 

 that — 



On a careful examination of a crop of very fine wheat, tlie seed of 

 which was known to be perfectly free from any appearance of smut, 

 some grains were, however, perceived to contain indications of being- 

 affected with the disease ; the interior of the kernels having changed 

 colour, though in several shades, varying from light-brown to deep 

 black. The kernels were in every case found to contain a small 

 puncture in the husk, and the change of colour was observed to have 

 commenced in each instance precisely at the spot where the puncture 

 appeared. It was therefore natural to conclude, that it was the work 

 of an insect; and this was proved by eggs having been discovered, 

 which, after a few days, became converted into maggots of a small 

 species. It should, however, be observed that grains were also punc- 

 tured which did not ])roduce maggots. 

 An instance is also mentioned of sniut-balls having been actually 

 hatched into life, from one of which were produced near one thousand ani- 

 malcula |. That this disease is contagious, is stated by Mr. Bauer to be 

 sufficiently proved by the fact, that it can be at pleasure inoculated on the 

 soundest seed-corn. The infection, however, is not so generally nor so 

 readily communicated as the diseases occasioned by the fungi of the smut- 

 balls or dust-brand, a few infected ears of which are capable of contami- 

 nating the whole contents of a barn. 



Whether these worms were of the same species as tliose described by Mr. 

 Bauer, or those dej)0sited by the nheat-jly, we are unable to determine, 

 and think it here unnecessary to inquire. The latter insect has in some 

 years committed extensive devastation on wheat crops ; it is of a deep orange 

 colour, closely resembling a midge, and generally appears when the plant 

 comes into ear, continuing its ravages in great numbers for two or three 

 weeks, and sometimes longer. lis labours commence about sun-set, and 

 it deposits its eggs in the blossom of the plant, where compact clusters, 

 amounting to from six to fourteen in each, are laid embedded in a gummy 

 substance, and from the moment the eggs are thus laid vegetation ceases. 



Of all the injuiries to which wheat is liable, there are perhaps none 

 which are more to be dreaded than those arising from insects, which 

 invariably commit great devastation, and in some seasons spread their 

 ravages to a very alarming extent. Of these the various tribes of 

 the beetle species — whether known under the names of ' wheat-fly,' 



••' This paper is published in the Philosophical Transactions of 1S23, hut may 

 he found, together wiih other very interesting treatises on similar siihjects, accompanied 

 by plates, in vol. ii. of the Penny Mag. 



■j- Prize Essay on the Diseases of Wheat, in the Papers of the Bath Agricultural 

 Society, vol. xiv. 



I British Farai, Mag., No, VI. 



