MI L 



MIL 



271 



and in some cases rob it complete- 

 ly of its flour ; and the straw be- 

 comes black and rotten, unfit for 

 fodder. 



The same fungus is generated on 

 many other vegetable substances 

 besides wheat. Those receiving 

 the infection at diflferent seasons of 

 the year, form, as it were, conduc- 

 tors from one to the other,in which 

 fungi germinate, effloresce, dissemi- 

 nate and die, during the revolutions 

 of the seasons. The fungus having 

 arrived at maturity in the spring on 

 a few shrubs, bushes or plants, its 

 seeds are taken up the next humid 

 atmosphere, (hence the erroneous 

 idea that the rust or mildew is cau- 

 sed by fog alone) wafted into the 

 adjoining fields, and the nearest 

 wheat is sure to sufTer the most 

 from it. In damp weather also, its 

 seed is more immediately received 

 into the leaves of trees and shrubs, 

 or into the barks and fruits, or the 

 stems of plants, through the medi- 

 um of those valves or mouths, \vith 

 which nature has supplied them, for 

 the admission of moisture. 



The remedies against Rust or 

 Mildew are, 1. Cultivating hardy 

 sorts of wheat ; 2. Early sowing; 

 3. Raisingearly varieties; 4. Thick 

 sowing ; 5. Changes of seed ; 6. 

 Consolidating the soil after sowing ; 

 7. Using saline manures ; 8. Im- 

 proving the course of crops ; 9. Ex- 

 tirpating all plants that are recep- 

 tacles of rust ; and 10. Protecting 

 the ears and roots of wheat by rye, 

 tares and other crops. The above 

 remedies are enlarged wpon by Sir 

 John Sinclair in " The Code of Ag- 

 riculture,^'^ but his observations are 

 too voluminous to quote in this 



place. We will give, however,his 

 lOth remedy, as follows : 



"A curious and most important 

 circumstance, cotniected with the 

 rust in wheat remains to be stated. 

 In the northern counties of Eng- 

 land, where it is the practice to sow 

 what they call meslin (blind corn) 

 or a mixture of rye and wheat, it 

 has been there remarked, that 

 wheat, thus raised is rarely infected 

 by the rust. It is singular that the 

 same circumstance has been ob- 

 served in Italy. In an account 

 drawn up by Professor Symonds, on 

 the climate of that country, it is re- 

 corded that " wheat mixed with rye 

 or tares escapes unhurt." It would 

 appear from tares being so useful 

 that the seed of the fungus must be 

 taken up by the root, and that if the 

 root be protected it is sufficient. 

 This seems to be so countenanced 

 by other circumstances, as that by 

 treading the ground, and thick 

 sowing of crops of wheat, the crop 

 is less liable to be affected by this 

 disease ; the access of the seeds of 

 the fungi to the root being render- 

 ed more difficult. Mr. Knight is 

 decidedly of opinion that the dis- 

 ease is taken up by the root, and 

 indeed if it were introduced at the 

 ear of the plant, how could it de- 

 scend, and infect solely the stem, 

 which is the case unless when the 

 disease is inveterate. 



" If a field be evidently affected, 

 and the progress of vegetation stop- 

 ped, the only way to preserve the 

 straw and the grain, if any has been 

 formed from being entirely lost, is 

 to cut it down immediately, even 

 though the crop should not be ripe. 

 The straw is thus preserved either 



