xvi STORY OF BUST IN WHEAT 193 



year's crop will not yield a stone of flour from a 

 sack of wheat ; and it is not impossible that in 

 some cases the corn has been so completely robbed 

 of its flour by the fungus, that if the proprietor 

 should choose to incur the expense of thrashing and 

 grinding it, bran would be the produce, with scarce 

 an atom of flour for each grain." 



Sir Joseph Banks goes on to say : " Though 

 diligent inquiry was made during the last autumn, 

 no information of importance relative to the origin or 

 the progress of the blight could be obtained : this is 

 not to be wondered at ; for as no one of the persons 

 applied to had any knowledge of the real cause of 

 the malady, none of them could direct their curiosity 

 in a proper channel." 



He then proceeds to explain that the corn seems 

 to become infected in spring or early summer, and 

 that the streaks are first orange, and later, as the 

 straw ripens, become chocolate-brown. He knew 

 also that what he calls the " seeds " of the fungus 

 are produced in great numbers, and are very light, 

 so that they could be carried easily by the wind, 

 but he was puzzled as to what became of the 

 fungus during the rest of the year, and how it 

 reached the wheat in late spring. 



But there was at least one direction in which it 

 was hopeful to look for an explanation. During 

 the whole of the preceding century, that is the 



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