SMUT IN WHEAT. 113 



IV. 



Letter f 10711 Mr. Robert Hark up, Jheiving that the Smut in 

 Wheat exijis in the Seed, and is greatly remedied by Lime 



To. Mr. NICHOLSON, 

 SIR, Chobham, January 7 , 180C. 



1-iITTLE converfant in agricultural affair^, I am yet to 

 learn wiiat enquiries have been made into tiie nature and 

 caufes of the dileafes oi grain. 



If Ihe following communication on the difeafe of wheat, 

 known by the name o\' fmut, contains any thing new, or may 

 leafl to tariher invefligation ; an early infertion of it will 

 greatly oblige. 



Sir, 



Your obedient humble Servant, 

 R. HARRUP. 



Different caufes have been affigned for the production of Caufes ufually 

 fmut ; fome fuppofing it to arife from too great an abundance ^^^^^"^^ 

 of water flioots, others from intemperate feafons. 



A writer in a refpeclable publication ftrenuoufly contends 

 it! favour of the latter opinion. 



He informs u", that brine, pickling, liming, change of Intemperate 

 feed, and feed of one year old, and upwards, avail nothing. T^^ !5'.? . 



' . J ' ^ . that attention to 



In cold wet fummers, fays he, the fmut jMevails notwithfland- the feed avails 



ing the uie of every means which invention hath urged or 'lo'l^'^S* 



ingenuity pradiced. After a number of obfervatlons, he 



continues, " to fum up the whole of tliis matter, it feqms as 



certain as demonftration can render it, that the ftnut is not 



owing to any defect or imperfection in the feed, but entirely 



to fome corrupt-creating principle in the atmofphere, in the 



blowing feafon, which blights and deftroys the grain in fome 



(hape or other, according to the time it has been blowing, 



when it is ftruck with the blight." 



On the contrary, it would appear from the accounts of thofe Prailicalmen 



who have the moft frequent opportunities of making ob- "fually afcrib« 



fervations, that the primary caufe of fmut is in the feed. " ' 



All the farmers I have converfed with on the fubjed, are 



decidedly 



