82 On Smut iti JVheaf. 



absorbs from the soil, and transmits to the eai'. That 

 the insect is generated in stable dung, and abomids 

 most, where fields are most plentifully manured. That 

 its ravages are confined to the tender blade, in the flower- 

 ing state of the plant, and never take place afterwards. 

 That potatoe plants and clover are infested by similar 

 insects, bred in the manure. That the insect is well 

 known to farmers, and has been long observed, even in 

 their best fields of wheat. When a diseased plant is 

 pulled up, one or more worms are found at the root. 

 Whether the insect is at length transformed into a fly, 

 is not mentioned. He thinks wheat, in the growing 

 state, may be protected from these insects by a weak 

 decoction of aloes, tobacco, and hellebore : a long dou- 

 ble flannel being steeped in it, is drawn over the whole 

 ridge, and back again, so as to touch all the plants, on 

 both sides. 



Having thus briefly stated the result of his researches^ 

 we shall conclude with a few^ remarks. — Should his 

 observations be confirmed by future enquiries, it would 

 seem, that the smut is rather to be considered as a 

 vermicular, than a parasitical disease ; but as worms 

 in the vegetable, as well as in the animal system, are 

 often the effect, rather than the cause of the disease at- 

 tributed to them, it will become agriculturists to exa- 

 mine, whether worms are essential to the production of 

 smut, or only an adventitious circumstance, in certain 

 seasons, as in late crops, and a feeble state of vegetation. 

 Hence the necessity of such further observations, as 

 may sufficiently clear up these difficulties. For instance^ 



