48 British Uvedinee and Ustilaginee. 
especially in Norfolk, this belief also existed, for we find 
Marshall,* writing in 1781, says, “It has long been con- 
sidered as one of the first vulgar errors among husband- 
men that the barberry plant has a pernicious quality (or 
rather a mysterious power) of blighting wheat which grows 
near it. 
“ This idea, whether it be erroneous or founded on fact, 
is nowhere more strongly rooted than among the Norfolk 
farmers; one of whom mentioning, with a serious counte- 
nance, an instance of this malady, I very fashionably laughed 
at him. He, however, stood firm, and persisted in his being 
in the’right, intimating that, so far from being led from the 
cause to the effect, he was, in the reverse, led from the 
effect to the cause ; for, observing a stripe of blasted wheat 
across his close, he traced it back to the hedge, thinking 
there to have found the enemy; but being disappointed, 
he crossed the lane into a garden on the opposite side of 
it, where he found a large barberry bush in the direction 
in which he had looked for it. The mischief, according to 
his description, stretched away from this point across the 
field of wheat, growing broader and fainter (like the tail of 
a comet) the further it proceeded from its source. The 
effect was carried to a greater distance than he had ever 
observed it before, owing, as he believed, to an opening in 
the orchard behind it to the south-west, forming a gut or 
channel for the wind. 
* * * * * * 
“Being desirous of ascertaining the fact, be it what it 
may, I have inquired further among intelligent farmers 
concerning the subject. They are, to a man, decided in 
their opinion as to the fact, which appears to have been so 
long established in the minds of the principal farmers that 
* Marshall, ‘‘ Rural Economy of Norfolk,” 2nd edit. vol ii, p. 19. Lon- 
don: 1795. 
