22 BRITISH GRASSES. 



the farmer told him it was entirely his own fault for 

 having neglected to dress the seed. He consoled him- 

 self that he might sell his corn at a low price to the 

 bakers of gingerbread, to whom the dark colour of the 

 flour would be no objection, and the treacle would con- 

 ceal the bunt flavour. Before the dressing of seed be- 

 came a regular system, it was observed that certain crops 

 which had been raised from seed saved from a wreck 

 were free from bunt, and hence it became a plan to dress 

 seed with salt. A very approved dressing is quicklime 

 mixed with boiling water, poured hot upon the seed- 

 corn^ or it is very secure to wet the seed thoroughly with 

 a solution of Glauber's salts ; but Professor Henslow re- 

 commends blue vitriol as the best and most effective 

 dressing. 



Mildew often causes great ravages in the wheat crop ; 

 there are few fields of wheat which are entirely free from 

 it; the stems and leaves being more or less marked by 

 dark dots or lines, composed of the clusters of micro- 

 scopic clubs, which have burst through the cuticle of 

 the leaf, beneath which they have long lurked unseen. 

 Lighter soils are more subject to the ravages of this 

 fungus than heavy ones, and crowded crops than thin 

 ones; but occasionally, as in 1850, it seems to fall as a 

 blight on the crops everywhere, and deteriorate both the 

 quality and the quantity of the produce. 



Rust is another fungous disease, closely allied to the 

 bunt, and sometimes supposed to be a stage of it. It is 

 often called red-gum, red-rag, or red-robin, and appears 

 in the form of orange spots on the leaves of wheat and 

 other grasses. It sometimes attacks the glumes also, and 

 then it becomes very harmful. There is no remedy dis- 

 covered as yet either against the rust or the mildew. The 



