186 



ON SMUT IN WHEAT. 



on some plea, proceeding, or default, 

 Avhich is only intermediate, and does not 

 finally determine or complete the suit ; 

 as upon dilatory pleas, when judgment in 

 many cases is that the defendant shall 

 answer over ; that is put in a more sub- 

 stantial plea. Final judgments are such 

 as at once put an end to the action, by 

 declaring that the plaintiff has either en- 

 titled himself, or has not to recover the 

 remedies he sues for. 



Juglans, the walnut, a genus of the 

 monoscia class, and polyandria order of 

 plants; and in the natural method rank- 

 ing under the fiftieth order amentacese. 



Juniperns, the juniper tree ; a genus 

 of the monadelphia order, in the monoe- 

 cia class of plants ; and in the natural 

 method ranking under the fifty-first or- 

 der, coniferoe. 



The propagation of the juniper is by 

 seed. Juniper berries have a strong, not 

 a disagreeable smell, and a warm, pun- 

 gent, sweet taste, which, if they are long 

 chewed, or previously well bruised, is 

 followed by a bitterish one. The pun- 

 gency seems to reside in the bark ; the 

 sweet in the juice; the aromatic flavor 

 is oily vesicles spread thi'ough the sub- 

 stance of the pulp, and distinguishable 

 even by the eye ; and the bitter in the 

 seeds. 



Justification, in law, is an affirming 

 or showing good reason in court, why 

 one does such a thing as be is called to 

 answer ; as to justify in a cause of reple- 

 vin. 



ON SMUT IN WHEAT. 



BY T. BACHELOR. 



This gentlcinan having bad his atten- 

 tion particularly called to the subject of 

 this paper by some observations in the 

 Magazine, determined to commence a 

 series of experiments, to ascertain, if pos- 

 sible, the nature and cause of the disease, 

 as well as to discover whether or not it 

 was infectious. The experiments were 

 made on a limited scale, as they occupied 

 little more than two poles of a garden, 

 sheltered from the north winds by a clip- 

 ped hedge of more than four feet high. 

 The ground had not been manured for 

 the purpose, but was in rather better con- 

 dition than arable lands generally are; 



and the kind of wheat which was sub- 

 jected to the experiments was the com- 

 mon red lammas. The crop was pulled 

 about the middle of August, and the roots 

 and ears carefully numbered, as well as 

 accurately assorted. 



No. 1, was clean wheat rubbed with 

 dry smut and sown at the interval of an 

 hour: of this, sixty-two roots produced 

 538 ears of corn; twelve of these roots 

 had all good ears; fifteen of them all 

 smutty ears; and the remaining thirty- 

 five had some ears of both kinds; — the 

 whole number of good ears was 246, and 

 of smutty ears 292. 



No. 2, was the same wheat soaked for 

 an hour in water, in which smut had been 

 thoroughly mixed: of this, fifty-two 

 roots produced 443 ears, of which 264 

 were good, and 179 smutty; the different 

 roots producing some all good ears, some 

 all smutty, and some of both kinds, as 

 before. 



No. 3, was conducted the same as No. 

 1; — sixty-one roots produced 3S4 ears, 

 of which 156 were good, and 228 smutty. 



No. 4, was conducted the same as No. 

 2: — sixty-three roots produced 355 ears, 

 of which 144 were good, and 2 1 1 smutty. 



No. 5, was clean corn picked out of 

 many smutty ears: — and eight roots pro- 

 duced eighty-five ears, eleven of these 

 were blasted ears, seventy-three were 

 good, and one only was smutty ; some of 

 the roots had all the ears good, and some 

 mixed ears, but there was no root en- 

 tirely smutty. 



No. 6 and No. 7, were both clean 

 wheat of different samples, and were sown 

 without any preparation: 120 roots ))ro- 

 duced 933 ears, of which five only were 

 smutty ; three ofthese five were on the same 

 root, which produced three good ears. 

 As the proportion here was 183 good 

 ears to one of smut, Mr. Bachelor con- 

 cludes that it is nearly the same as hap- 

 pens in common crops, for he had no 

 reason to believe that they were caused 

 by any infection of the seed previous to 

 sowing; and he conceives the case analo- 

 gous to the gaol fever, canine madness, 

 &c., among animals; which, though 

 known to be infectious, yet often origi- 

 nate in a manner for which no cause can 

 be assigned. He also observes that 



J 



