FARMERS' REGISTER— SMUT BALLS, OR PEPPER BRAND. 



279 



which they had at the time when infection took 

 place. 



Tlie name of this disease is also as undecided 

 and various as the hitherto supposed causes of its 

 existence, the most i)revai]ini? names in England, 

 being Smut Ball, Pepi)er Brand, and Brand JSlad- 

 liers; and many others have been given to it, not 

 oidy by the farmers in almost every county, but 

 also by scientific naturalists. 



No author has yet been found who mentions or 

 describes this species of uredo, tlie distinguishing 

 characteristic of which being its extremely offen- 

 sive smell; I think the most proper specific name 

 for it would be that of uredo fcetida. 



The earliest period at which I discovered the 

 jmrasite within the cavity of the ovida of a young 

 I)lant of wheat (the seed grain of which had been 

 inoculated v.dth the fungi of ^-redn fatida, and 

 sown the 14th of November, 1805) was the 5th 

 of June, 1806, being sixteen days before the ear 

 emerged from its hose, and about t-^-enty days 

 before the sound ears, springing from the same 

 root, were in bloom. At that early stage the in- 

 ner cavity of the ovum is very small; and, after 

 fecundation, is filled with the albumen or farina- 

 ceous substance of the seed, and alreadj' occupied 

 by many young fungi, which, from their jellj^-like 

 root or spawn, adhere to the membrane which 

 lines the cavity, and from which they can be easily 

 detached in small flakes wth that spawn: in that 

 state their very short jjediclcs may be distinctly 

 seen. At first the fungi are of a pure white color, 

 and when the ear emerges from its hose the ovum 

 is much enlarged, but still retains its original shajoe, 

 and, the fungi rapidly multiplying, many have 

 then nearly come to maturity, assumed a darker 

 color, and having separated" fi'om the spawn, lie 

 loose in the cavity of the ovum: the infected grains 

 continue growing, and the fungi continue to mul- 

 tiply till the sound grains have attained their full 

 eize and maturity, when the infected grains are 

 easily distinguished from the sound ones by being 

 generally larger, and of a darker green color; and 

 if opened, they appear to be filled to excess with 

 these dark-colored fungi: but the grains infected 

 with the uredo fatida very rarely bursts, and these 

 fungi are seldom found on the outside of the grain; 

 butif the grain be bruised they readily emit their 

 offensive smell, which is worse than that from pu- 

 trid fish. When the soimd grains are perfectly 

 ripe and dry, and assume their light brown color, 

 the infected grains also change, but to a somewhat 

 darker brown, retaining however the same shaj)e 

 which the ovum had at its formation; the rudiments 

 of the stigma also remaining unaltered. 



If the infected grain be cut in two, it will be 

 found to consist solely of the outermost integument 

 of the ovum, filled with the ripe black fungi, with- 

 out any tract of the embryo or albumen. 



Plants of wheat inlected with the Pepper Brand 

 may be easily distinguished in the field by their 

 size, being generally several inches higher than 

 plants not infected, and larger in bulk; and I have 

 found in all instances a greater number of stems 

 |)roduced from the same root, the ears contahiing 

 more epickets, and those spickets more perfect 

 grains, than were contained in those of sound 

 plants, of the same seed, and gro\\'ing in the same 

 field. 



One plant, produced from seed which I had in- 

 oculated, had twenty-four complete stems; and 



ears, some of the stems with the cars measuring 

 above five feet every part ol the plan* proportion- 

 allji' large, and all the ears entirely infected. Ano- 

 ther specimen had eight stems from the same root 

 five of' them were above six feet high, and the 

 cars entiiely infected; the other three stems were 

 considerably shorter, their ears smaller, and their 

 grains perfectly sound. 



This enlargement of the plant, however, is not 

 to be attributed to the inftiction, but isvmdoubtcdiy 

 the consequence of a luxurious vegetation, pro- 

 duced by a rich or moist soil, which secures and 

 promotes the infection more than a dry or moder- 

 ately rich soil. 



Neither does this disease alvv'ays affect the entire 

 ear: I found some ears hawing one side infected, 

 whilst the opposite side was perfectly sound. Some- 

 times five or six perfectly sound grains are found in 

 an infected ear, and a i^ew thoroughly infected 

 grains are found in an otherwise sound ear. The 

 infected o-rains are always in the last spicket at the 

 apex of the ear; from which it appears that the 

 infecting seed of the fungi did not reach the ovum 

 before fecundation: in some of these grains a por- 

 tion of the albumen was formed, but no trace of an 

 embryo existed; but in others there Avas a consid- 

 erable portion of albumen, and a perfect embryo 

 formed. 



At the time when the sound grains change 

 their color, the fungi, being ripe, cease to multi- 

 ply; they are all of a globular form, and nearly of 

 equal size, viz. j^vi^ part of an inch in diameter. 

 Fig. 8 is yTToVno P^^ of a square inch on the 

 micrometer; it sustains sixteen full grown fungi of 

 uredo fcetida; and this square, being represented of 

 the size of a square inch, English measure, is 

 consequently magnified one hundred and sixty- 

 thousand times in superficies, and the sixteen fungi 

 represented in that square are magnified in the same 

 degree; showing that no less than two millions five 

 hundred and sixty thousand individual fungi would 

 be required to cover one square inch. 



Fig. 9 represents a fungus not quite ripe, with 

 its short pedicle; and fig. 10 a perfectly ripe one, 

 both maixnified one thousand times lineally, or one 

 million times superficially. These figures are thus 

 highly magnified, to show the reticular structure of 

 these fungi, which fijrms the external membrane; 

 and it appears that the internal substance consists 

 of a cellular tissue. 



Fig. 11 represents one of the fungi shedding its 

 seeds^ which is only observable when viewed 

 under water. I could never yet see the seeds of 

 these fungi in a dry state, for they then appear to 

 be mixed with some mucous fluid, which causes 

 them to adhere together in hard lumps. 



That the seeds of the fungi of uredo fcetida are 

 the sole cause of that destructive disease in wheat, 

 the Pepper Brand, I think I have fully ascertained 

 by numerous experiments of inoculating even the 

 finest and purest samples of seed-wheat; and if 

 that fact be admitted, it becomes evident that the 

 prevention of it can only be effected by cleansing 

 the seed-wheat so effectually, that every particle 

 of the fungi and their seeds be entirely removed 

 from the grains. But as these extremely minute 

 fungi, when once mixed with the seed-wheat, in- 

 sinuate themselves into the grooves at the backs 

 and the beards at the tops of the wheat-grains^ 

 I think it almost impossible to dislodge them by 

 the m.cre process of washing. I once received 



