i8 



There is nothing particularly new or striking in the evidence 

 that has been obtained in the various answers to the Schedule 

 of questions, and perhaps it could hardly be expected, as the 

 subject involves close and continued observations, which busy 

 men have not time to give. One or two points, however, 

 stand out prominently, and require special comment. The first 

 is that most of the reporters connect this severe attack of 

 mildew with the changes of temperature, and particularly 

 with the unusually severe white frosts in the spring and 

 summer. And it is remarkable that in previous inquiries made 

 with regard to mildew in this country by the Board of Agricul- 

 ture in 1804, and by the Royal Agricultural Society in 1883, 

 there is a similar agreement as to the connection between 

 its attacks and abnormally cold weather. Another point 

 is the apparent power to resist mildew in some varieties 

 of wheat, as exemplified by Mr. A. Smith's experience above 

 described. Mr. Smith's experience in this direction has been 

 corroborated by the experience of Mr. Rowland with regard to 

 the immunity from mildew of Red Browick. 



PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS CONCERNING 

 MILDEW. 



It appears from agricultural literature that mildew has been 

 common in this country for a long while. Hartlib, in his 

 " Legacy of Husbandry." written in 1655, sa y s > " Our hus- 

 bandry is deficient in this, that we know not how to remedy 

 the infirmities of our growing corn, especially smut and milde . 

 which bring great calamities upon our country, the former in 

 wet years, mildew in dry." 



Jethro Tull, in his Horse-Hoeing Husbandry, published in 

 1731, speaks of mildew as causing " a year of blight, the like of 

 which was never before heard of, and which I hope may never 

 happen again."* It would seem that we do not know more 

 " how to remedy this infirmity of our growing corn " than when 

 Samuel Hartlib penned his Legacy. Though this has been for 

 so long a persistent " infirmity," there have been only three 

 inquiries of any importance concerning it. or at least inquiries 

 of an official, or semi-official character. The first is that of 

 Arthur Young, Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, made in 

 1805, and recorded in the Annals of Agriculture ;f the second was 

 conducted by Sir J. Sinclair, in 1809,^ also in connection with 



Horse-Hoeing Husbandry, by Jethro Tull, p. 74. 



j- Annals of Agriculture and other Useful Arts, collected and published by 

 Arthur Young, Esq., Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, vol. xliii 

 1805. 



J Results of an Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Blight, the Rust 

 and the Mildew, which have particularly affected the Crops of Wheat on the 

 Borders of England and Scotland, by Sir J. Sinclair, Bart., M.P., 1809. 



