I. 



4. 





rec 





ube. 



to be 



oil 



obfer. 



c 



J hav 

 of the 

 :5icgle, 



1 black 



luch is 

 i, who 



hich is 



as may 

 :ondly, 



lirfiC- 







J 



.^5 



Zoo- 









w 



ater 



'^ to 



.fcop 



e; 



a^i 



Sect. XIV. i. 5 



OF PLANTS. 



323 



and are agai[i mentioned in 



Linneus's differtatlon on the mvifible 



vv 



orld. 



There Is an ingenious paper in the publications of the Bath Society, 

 in which the author obferves, that the fmut in wheat only happens, 

 when wet weather occurs at the tincie of the flowering of the wheat ; 

 which may burft the anthers, and wafli away the farina. He thinks 

 that fteeping the wheat in brine or lime water is an ancient error, and 

 can be of no ufe but to feparate light wheat from that which is good. 



ones 2;rowin2: from the fame 



For he found fmutty ears and good 



root ; and thence it could not depend on any contagious material, or 

 infe6ls eggs, adhering to the feed ; and in fome even the fame ear 

 contained both found and fmutty corns. And laftly, that fome of the 

 corns had one end fmutty, and the other found ; and he concludes, 

 that it muft be owing to the want of impregnation from the defe£l of 

 the farina fecun^ans ; and that the putrefadion fucceeded the death 



of the grain. 



From the obfervatidns of Spallanzani on leguminous plants the 



probability of this opinion is much confirmed. He found that the 

 feed was produced by the female organ of the plant. 



long 



before it 



was impregnated ; which could not happen, till the flower was open, 

 and the anther-duft ripe. Whence it is eafy to conceive, that for 

 want of impregnation, or the vivifying principle, the wheat-corn 

 muft putrefy like the addle eggs of poultry, which are unlmpregnat- 

 ed, and thence die, and in confequence putrefy. 



If this difeafe of fmut (hould become a ferious evil, it might pof- 

 fibly be prevented by fowing the grain in diftant rows; and after 

 fome days fowing other rows between them of the fame, or of ano- 

 ther kind of wheat ; by which means, if wet weather fhould deftroy 

 the anthers of one fet of rows, the alternate ones might fupply fa- 



"- 



rina to their ftigmas, if the weather became favourable. See Bed. 



XVI. 8. 2. 



Wheat difcoloured by fmut may be waihed, and readily dried on 



Tt 2 



a malt 



