42 ACTION OF MILDEW. 



our supposition. So exceedingly small is each 

 individual spore of the mildew, that sir Joseph 

 Banks was persuaded that any single stoma on 

 the stem would produce from twenty to forty 

 germinating in the hollow beneath it. In 

 such positions, where they are invariably 

 found, they intercept the sap originally des- 

 tined for the nourishment of the grain, while 

 they prey also on the tissues ; so that the 

 grain, by these means, failing to receive its 

 proper nutriment, becomes shrivelled and de- 

 fective, in proportion to the number of the 

 fungi which thus rob it of its sustenance. 

 The corn sample is accordingly bad to the 

 eye and deficient in flour, yielding, at the same 

 time, a quantity of superabundant and inferior 

 bran. 



In all cases where such a little pest as this 

 becomes multiplied to a great extent, it gives 

 rise to fearful consequences. "We find it fre- 

 quently mentioned in the Old Testament, that 

 the " mildew " was one of the Divine judg- 

 ments for the sins of the people, who, even 

 under that infliction, still failed to return 

 to the Lord their God. Solomon, in his 

 prayer for Israel's prosperity and safety, in- 

 treated the Lord that when under the pressure 



